Posted on 04/13/2006 4:04:12 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON -- A Democratic senator is blocking Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum's nomination to be ambassador to Australia over allegations he improperly influenced the government's lawsuit against the tobacco industry.
In a letter to President Bush, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said it was premature to place McCallum in a new position of trust as long as the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting an ethics inquiry into the handling of the tobacco case.
Any senator may place a hold on an executive branch nominee, an act that can be overcome with 60 votes.
The civil racketeering tobacco case, filed during the Clinton administration, alleges the cigarette companies knowingly engaged in deception for decades by denying that nicotine was addictive and downplaying the dangers of smoking.
At the end of the tobacco trial last year, the Justice Department bypassed the position of one of its own witnesses and reduced the amount the Bush administration was seeking from the tobacco industry from $130 billion to $10 billion.
At that time, McCallum, the No. 3 official at the department, defended the reduction against Democrats and anti-smoking groups who said the Bush administration had caved in to the tobacco lobby.
McCallum said lowering the figure was dictated by a court ruling that went against the government.
He also said the $10 billion for a smoking cessation program could be increased if court-appointed monitors found the industry committed acts of fraud.
The controversy led the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility to launch an ethics inquiry.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Turbin Dickie is at it again - obstruct, condemn, accuse, lie, give false testimony, etc. It's all in the Dimocrap playbook, page one of one.
Recess appointment.
The Pres. ought to tell Sen. Durbin he should STFU as long as there is a criminal referral with his name on it over at the DoJ in regards to his blabbing about the secret satellite ops he and Gabby Rockefeller outed a while back.
Not to mention the ongoing investigation into the outing of the secret CIA prisons he's a "senator of interest" over.
We are seeing the ThugoRats at their very best. Pure obstructionist politics -- and they offer NOTHING to America --- except amnesty for votes for every illegal in our country.
Every story has its Darth Vader...we have too many of them.
If Turdbin is against this, it must be a good nomination of a good guy.
Durbin. Just one more Democrat senator in need of early retirement.
Maybe Dick Turban wants to get some more floor time on the Senate to accuse American soldiers of being Nazis and like the Pol Pot regime and Soviet Gulag guards.
Turdbin...LOL...
lol~ Juvenile, I know... but it makes me laugh too!
And just whom did they deceive, morons? 50 years ago, most people I grew up with knew smoking was addictive and unhealthy.
Durbin is controlled by Chicago Mayor Daley and the Cook County crooked pols/corrupt labor union gang/and shyster Chicago lawyers.
Maybe it's time to appoint Durbin as abassador to Mongolia.
The more Turbin talks the more his strings show.
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