Posted on 01/06/2010 11:53:41 PM PST by Stultis
A group of seven Republican senators has written a letter to the White House raising new questions about the nomination of Erroll Southers to head the Transportation Security Administration. In the letter, Sens. Jim DeMint, John McCain, Charles Grassley, Tom Coburn, Pat Roberts, Sam Brownback and Mike Johanns threaten to hold up the nomination until the White House provides more information about Southers' account of a 1988 incident in which he was censured by the FBI for improperly accessing a criminal database during a domestic dispute. Southers was an FBI agent in California at the time.
"We believe that Mr. Southers submitted erroneous, and possibly misleading, information regarding ethical violations during his service the Federal Bureau of Investigation," the senators write. "In light of this, there are a number of questions that must be answered so the Senate can effectively render its Constitutional responsibility to advise and consent."
Wednesday afternoon, McCain and Coburn both put holds on the Southers nomination, meaning it cannot go forward until their concerns are resolved. DeMint placed a hold on the nomination in mid-November.
Southers told the Senate Homeland Security Committee about the incident in a sworn affidavit submitted before his hearing last November 10. He said he had received a letter of censure from the FBI because he had, in 1988, "asked a coworker's husband, who worked for the San Diego police department, to run a database check on my ex-wife's new boyfriend." Southers explained that he had only been separated from his wife for a very brief time and was "concerned for the safety of her and my infant son." He said the database search turned up an outstanding arrest warrant for the man, but he admitted that "it was a mistake to have used my official connections to investigate the matter."
At the hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, the committee's ranking Republican, questioned Southers in general terms about the incident and received assurances from him that it was an isolated matter. Collins also remarked that she had asked for a copy of the FBI letter of censure but had not yet received it. What happened after that is not entirely clear, but in the days following the hearing, Collins received information suggesting that Southers' account of the incident was not correct. Nevertheless on November 19, after consultation with the White House, Collins, along with the rest of the committee, voted to send the Southers nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.
The next day, November 20, Southers wrote a letter to Collins and committee chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman admitting to mistakes in his affidavit. As it turned out, Southers did not ask a friend to do the database search -- he did it himself And there was not just one database search -- there were two. And Southers had shared the information with others.
In the new letter, the seven GOP senators are trying to discover how much the White House knew about the Southers problem. "When did Mr. Southers first make the Office of President Personnel aware of his censure by the FBI?" they ask. "In his November 20, 2009 letter to the [committee], Mr. Southers stated that after submitting an inaccurate questionnaire to the Senate he 'reviewed the documents associated with [his] censure' to refresh his recollection. Please provide a copy of the documents Mr. Southers referred to in that letter." Also: "Did Mr. Southers provide these documents to the Office of Presidential Personnel?"
The lawmakers are also attempting to figure out how much Southers had told the White House about the problem at the time Southers gave his affidavit to the Homeland Security Committee. "After he submitted his questionnaire to the committee, did Mr. Southers inform the Office of Presidential Personnel that the information it contained was inaccurate?" the senators ask. The lawmakers also ask the White House to "list the names of anyone who reviewed Mr. Southers' FBI personnel file, including the letter of censure, in advance of the submission of responses to questionnaires from Senate committees."
The letter is an escalation of the so-far low-level conflict surrounding the Southers nomination. Until Wednesday afternoon, Sen. DeMint had stood virtually alone in opposing Southers. (DeMint originally questioned Southers' fitness for the TSA job because Southers would not answer DeMint's questions over whether he would work to unionize the agency's 60,000 employees.) Now, with the addition of high-profile Republican lawmakers like McCain, Grassley, and the others, the questions about Southers will likely attract much more attention, both within the Senate and in the White House.
"There seems to be a growing integrity problem with this nominee," DeMint said in a statement Wednesday evening. "He first stonewalled Congress on important security questions, and then he misled Congress about aspects of his own personal record."
So far, the White House has stood firm behind Southers, accusing DeMint of blocking the nomination for political purposes.
The way I see it. The Donks are more afraid of Libertarians, Conservatives, Taxpayers and Tea Partiers..Than Terrorists.
Good for DeMint. Glad to see he’s getting some support. They all need to get in the ring. Collins just isn’t too bright - gullible is the word.
It’s NOT just the union issue. More importantly, as an FBI agent, Souther’s abused access of information. He should have been canned. Then he lied about it to Congress. Both behaviors would disqualify him for a job as a TSA agent.
To put him in charge of the TSA is to state that there are no problems with abusing authority.
Kinda like putting a tax cheat in charge of the IRS. Oh, wait...
“Collins just isn’t too bright - gullible is the word.”
No, Collins is stupid.
But I also read this:
It is a violation of the federal Privacy Act to access such confidential information without proper cause. The law says that "any person who knowingly and willfully requests or obtains any record concerning an individual from an agency under false pretenses shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $5,000."
So, while it may have been an error in judgment, it was also a crime.
Souther got spanked by his bosses at the FBI, but was he charged with the crime that his bosses at the FBI knew he committed?
It sounds to me like all he got was the spanking and his FBI bosses dropped the issue there, no criminal charges.
Why should I feel comfortable with this ya-hoo running the TSA?
Using Souther's (and his Dem supporters') terms to describe his offense, we could also say that the Nigerian Panty Bomber also committed "a grave error in judgment." Should he run the TSA?
Neither should Souther.
With thousands of good, honest FBI agents in the Bureau, you'd think they could find a better nominee than Souther. That is, if the Obama Administration really wanted a competent, honest honest guy in the position.
So what are this guy's qualifications anyway?
Oh I get it - he must be DIVERSE. /sarc
The administration seems to want a staff of people who believe “Do as I say - not as I do.” Like Tim Geitner - cheats on his taxes then becomes Treasury Secretary. Disgusting.
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