SEN. JUDD GREGG WITHDRAWS AS COMMERCE SECRETARY NOMINEE
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) withdrew his name for consideration as the Commerce Secretary in the Obama administration. In his statement he said,
"I want to thank the President for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. This was a great honor, and I had felt that I could bring some views and ideas that would assist him in governing during this difficult time. I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle. However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy."
I'll be honest, I have not followed Judd Gregg's career at all. I don't remember his name coming up often as I was looking at major votes Republican Senators made that I disagreed with. I also don't remember seeing his name often as I researched Senators who were instrumental in pushing for conservative ideas. I'm not saying he's done neither. I'm saying he never stood out to me. So with all that said, I was thinking he was extremely foolish for accepting the nomination for the Commerce Secretary under President Obama. I'm glad he has come to his sense and realised he was being used as a pawn in high stakes game of chess.
Some in the Obama administration seemed to be caught off guard by the withdrawal while others said Gregg had signaled he was having second thoughts. All of that is just spin anyway.
Gregg was the second Obama nominee for commerce secretary who has withdrawn. Gov. Richardson of (D-NM) was the first to be nominated and the first to withdraw because of a federal investigation into whether or not he improperly exchanged government contracts for contributions to three Richardson political committees.
