B Todd Jones - Obama ATF Nominee

Political Realities ^ | 04/26/13 | LD Jackson

[LD Jackson]

Some things just never change. As would be expected, most conservatives do not agree with many of President Obama's decisions. When it comes to the people he nominates for positions in our government, he seems to have a knack for ruffling our feathers. Such was the case with both of his nominees to the Supreme Court and several of his nominees to join his Cabinet and other prominent departments in Washington. I don't expect Obama to nominate a full-blown conservative to any position he has open, but does he have to nominate people who have a natural affinity to continue the same failed policies he has pursued for four years?

Case in point is his current nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Better known as the ATF (not sure what alcohol and tobacco have to do with firearms, but that's another story), the agency is not exactly heralded by many in our country. B Todd Jones is a former federal prosecutor in Minnesota and is the current interim head of the ATF. He is closely associated with the failed gun-running operation into Mexico conducted by the ATF. Fast and Furious was an unmitigated failure and directly caused the deaths of several people, on both sides of the border. The Obama administration, from the top down, have worked furiously to keep the operation under wraps, ostensibly to insulate President Obama from any possible fallout that would have harmed his reelection campaign. Not only is B Todd Jones associated with Fast and Furious, but he also has a natural affinity of shutting down whistleblowers, if we are to believe the claims that are being made against him.

(Fox News) Carolyn Lerner, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, confirmed in an April 13 letter to Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that her office was investigating two accusations against Jones.

The first was an allegation of retaliation.

“The (Assistant U.S. Attorney) alleges that personnel actions, including a suspension and a lowered performance appraisal, were taken in retaliation for protected whistleblowing and other protected activity,” Lerner wrote.

After an initial review, the matter was sent up the chain to the OSC’s Investigation and Prosecution Division, which is currently conducting an investigation into the complaint.

The second matter involves a former employee who alleged gross mismanagement and claimed Jones abused his authority in the Narcotics and Violent Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota. The OSC said it was actively reviewing those claims and that it had not decided whether to refer the case to the Department of Justice.

A third complaint mentioned in the letter against Jones had been dropped due to insufficient evidence.

It remains to be seen if these allegations against B Todd Jones will bear fruit, but it makes one wonder why President Obama would insist on nominating someone like him, knowing the uproar and possible scandal that may follow. It reminds me of how he has steadfastly covered up for Attorney General Eric Holder, even when he has clearly been at fault for his part in covering up Fast and Furious. No matter how much President Obama may claim that he wants to correct any mistakes of his first term, or to want to make his second term better, he clearly isn't serious about those attempts.

If he was, why has he chosen B Todd Jones to head the ATF? What has he not forced Eric Holder to resign? Why does he insist on continuing with the same kind of employees that has permeated his first administration? The answer to all of those questions is simple. He sees nothing wrong with what has gone on during his first four years in the White House. The only real change he wants to see is to further entrench his administration in his liberal philosophy. He has no desire to compromise his liberal principles, no matter how many lives are lost because of the people he has hired. If B Todd Jones is confirmed as the Director of the ATF, we can expect more of the same failures we have witnessed in the first four years of the Obama administration. In my book, that's not something I am looking forward to.

[Doogle]

“MAKE IT HURT”

[Flintlock]

Whatta jerk.

Wake up and smell the coffee, idiot.

The goal here is to FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE THE COUNTRY....from one that is a fuctioning and relativly successful Representative Republic to a TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP. Now, what’s so hard to understand about THAT?

[Flintlock]

I fergot to say......PERSONNEL is POLICY, after all.