Obama's TSA pick withdraws after Republican roadblock

WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:06am EST

WASHINGTON Jan 20 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pick to head the Transportation Security Administration, Erroll Southers, withdrew from consideration on Wednesday amid Republican concerns that he would attempt to unionize the security force.

Republican Senator Jim DeMint had blocked Southers' nomination and Democrats who control the Senate were going to break that roadblock this month in the aftermath of the airline bombing attempt in December.

"It is clear that my nomination has become a lightning rod for those who have chosen to push a political agenda at the risk of the safety and security of the American people," Southers said in a statement. (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Bill Trott)

We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (2)
urbanfarmhouse wrote:
I do believe that unionizing the TSA is a fairly substantial and inappropriate political agenda, so Souther’s parting shot is laughably hypocritical. Hey, why don’t we unionize the U.S. military as well? Souther’s past statements prove that he would do so if he was given the opportunity. This white house is owned by the SEIU and related labor organizations – check out the details of the visitor’s lists to the WH in the first six months of the administration. Organized labor had and even still has its place (though in some places like the auto industry it has milked the industrial cow literally to death with the rest of the nation suffering consequences), but there are places it does not belong. National security is one of those places.

Jan 21, 2010 1:44am EST  --  Report as abuse
urbanfarmhouse wrote:
I do believe that unionizing the TSA is a fairly substantial and inappropriate political agenda, so Souther’s parting shot is laughably hypocritical. Hey, why don’t we unionize the U.S. military as well? Souther’s past statements prove that he would do so if he was given the opportunity. This white house is owned by the SEIU and related labor organizations – check out the details of the visitor’s lists to the WH in the first six months of the administration. Organized labor had and even still has its place (though in some places like the auto industry it has milked the industrial cow literally to death with the rest of the nation suffering consequences), but there are places it does not belong. National security is one of those places.

Jan 21, 2010 1:44am EST  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »