Sestak’s command raises questions
Retired Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak is garnering national attention in his bid to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Curt Weldon and is touting his 31-year Navy career as proof of his fitness for public service.
Adm. Sestak, who commanded the Cruiser Destroyer Group Two and George Washington Battle Group, served in combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the 1990s, he advised President Clinton on defense policy.
The admiral has called the Iraq war a “tragic misadventure,” and asserts he was against Operation Iraqi Freedom from the start. He may find a sympathetic ear among some Seventh District voters.
While district voters will salute Sestak’s long military service to his country, they may also question the Democratic newcomer’s leadership ability in light of his removal from a high-level Navy post last summer.
According to a July 25, 2005 Navy Times article written by Christopher Cavas, Sestak was blamed for a “poor command climate” while serving as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations.
When asked about this by The Times Herald, Sestak refuted the Navy’s official conclusion.
His removal was one of the first changes made by Adm. Mike Mullen when he took over as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) in July, according to Navy Times.
Though the Navy’s response regarding the admiral’s departure is vague, its comments are nonetheless unflattering. Perhaps the Navy has treated Sestak unfairly. District voters will have to decide that for themselves.
“Command climate and how people exercise their leadership responsibilities are key priorities for Admiral (Mike) Mullen,” a Navy Department source told Navy Times, “and this position is one of the key jobs that will help determine the success of the Navy, its people, and its future force structure.”
Sestak, who earned a master’s and doctorate at Harvard University, was the first director of the “Deep Blue” group following Sept. 11, 2001, charged with creating new ideas for naval warfare.
“While the (Chief of Naval Operations) truly appreciates and supports the analytic rigor Vice Adm. Sestak brought to his job, (Mullen) feels a change is needed during this critical time.”
A former Navy officer interviewed by The Times Herald said the command climate comment was “a euphemism for poor leadership that results in low morale amongst the sailors and officers. If everyone is upset, angry and there is a general lack of camaraderie, we would call that ‘poor command climate.’ For a captain or admiral to be reassigned is big. A career end.”
Sestak, a Delaware County native, retired from the military earlier this year and moved back to the area recently with his family.
Since announcing his candidacy Feb. 2, Sestak has raised more than $150,000, according to an article by William Bender in the Delaware County Daily Times.
Recently, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry endorsed the retired admiral and contributed money to his campaign, according to the Daily Times.
In touting Sestak’s competitiveness in the local race, his campaign points to Kerry garnering 57 percent of the vote in Delaware County in the 2004 presidential race. But ironically, Kerry’s Navy service in Vietnam and past anti-war sentiment was used to defeat him.
Sestak got an even bigger boost financial boost last week from former Clinton administration colleagues former Sandy Berger, Harold Ickes and Richard Clarke at a fundraiser at the Washington offices of the Meyer, Suozzi English & Klein law firm, described as the “political shop” of former President Clinton and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Since Sestak bills himself as a native son focused on local issues, voters may wonder why former Clinton officials have such a keen interest in getting him elected in the suburban Philadelphia district.
Berger, once Clinton’s national security adviser, pleaded guilty last April to removing classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 relating to terror threats during the 2000 millenium celebration. He cut some up with scissors, according to an April 1, 2005 Associated Press story.
Early on in the bizarre episode, Berger claimed the stolen material was an “honest mistake,” but later acknowledged that he intentionally took and deliberately destroyed documents. He was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, fined $50,000 and had his security clearance suspended.
The Meyer, Suozzi firm’s Washington office is managed by Ickes, the former deputy chief of staff for President Clinton’s who led Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 2000 senate campaign. In a 2004 New York Magazine article, he is called “the most important person in the Democratic Party.” The law practice has offices in Long Island and Albany, New York.
With such powerful political friends from the Clinton administration funding his run for Congress, district voters may also want to ask the candidate what he’ll have to do to return the favor if he gets elected.
E-mail Keith Phucas at kphucas@timesherald.com.