Commerce Secretary Nomination and Withdrawal
On February 2, 2009, Politico and CNN reported that Gregg accepted President Obama's offer to be the next United States Secretary of Commerce. If Gregg had been confirmed by the Senate, he would have had to resign his Senate seat and be replaced with an appointment by Democratic Governor John Lynch. Sources from both parties confirmed that Gregg's former chief of staff, Republican Bonnie Newman, would have been chosen to replace him. The Washington Post had alleged that Gregg would not accept the appointment unless Gov. Lynch agreed to appoint a Republican to fill his seat until 2010. In February 2009 many news outlets noted that Gregg had, in 1995, voted to abolish the United States Department of Commerce. Although he has stated that he supports the stimulus package promoted by President Obama, he has stated that he will recuse himself from voting on the package.
With reports that the Obama Administration would move the United States Census Bureau, typically run by the Commerce Department, out of Gregg's jurisdiction, Republican leaders urged Obama to allow Gregg to run the census or withdraw Gregg's nomination. On February 12, 2009, Gregg withdrew his name from consideration for the position of United States Commerce Secretary, citing disagreements with issues surrounding the census and the stimulus bill. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement regarding Gregg's withdrawal in which he accused the senator of not following through on his alleged statements of support for Obama's economic agenda made during the vetting process:
Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President's agenda. Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama's key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart.
While speaking to press afterward, Gregg acknowledged responsibility for his decision and accepted the blame for accepting and then rejecting the Commerce Secretary nomination.
In an interview response to the AP, Gregg was quoted as saying, "For 30 years, I've been my own person in charge of my own views, and I guess I hadn't really focused on the job of working for somebody else and carrying their views, and so this is basically where it came out."
In February 2009, the Associated Press reported that Gregg and his family had profited personally from federal earmarks secured by the Senator Gregg for the redevelopment of the Pease Air Force Base into an industrial park. According to Senate records, Gregg has collected from $240,017 to $651,801 from his investments in Pease Air Force Base, while helping to arrange at least $66 million in federal aid for the former base. Gregg claimed that his withdrawal from consideration for the Commerce Secretary was unrelated to the White House's discovery during the vetting process of his involvement in his family's real estate investments in Pease.
Read more about this topic: Judd Gregg
Famous quotes containing the words commerce, secretary, nomination and/or withdrawal:
“Indeed, I believe that in the future, when we shall have seized again, as we will seize if we are true to ourselves, our own fair part of commerce upon the sea, and when we shall have again our appropriate share of South American trade, that these railroads from St. Louis, touching deep harbors on the gulf, and communicating there with lines of steamships, shall touch the ports of South America and bring their tribute to you.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“... the wife of an executive would be a better wife had she been a secretary first. As a secretary, you learn to adjust to the boss’s moods. Many marriages would be happier if the wife would do that.”
—Anne Bogan, U.S. executive secretary. As quoted in Working, book 1, by Studs Terkel (1973)
“I shall not seek and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“A separation situation is different for adults than it is for children. When we were very young children, a physical separation was interpreted as a violation of our inalienable rights....As we grew older, the withdrawal of love, whether that meant being misunderstood, mislabeled or slighted, became the separation situation we responded to.”
—Roger Gould (20th century)