Posted on 12/03/2004 3:35:24 PM PST by nanak
WASHINGTON - Asa Hutchinson has been looking for a chance to return to Arkansas and may have been given one Thursday when the White House disclosed former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik will be nominated to head the Department of Homeland Secrity, sources said.
In choosing Kerik, Bush passed over Hutchinson, presently the department's undersecretary for border and transportation security.
With the president's choice now clear, a source close to Hutchinson said Thursday night the Arkansan plans to announce he is leaving the department and will begin laying groundwork to resume a political career back in the state, with the governor's seat a likely target in 2006.
According to friends, Hutchinson has been looking for an opening to close a chapter on his federal service that has included working as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and as a top official at the Department of Homeland Security.
"He is definitely not in a huff" over not being pickedto succeed outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, said the source, a longtime associate who said he has spoken to Hutchinson regularly in recent days, including Thursday after Kerik's appointment was disclosed.
"Oh, he is leaving" the homeland security department, the source said. "He's been kind of torn about it, but he is interested in getting back into the political game."
"I have talked to him and he has made that clear," the source said. "He's been talking to people in Arkansas for the past month -- people who might be supporters from a political and a fund-raising perspective."
Hutchinson could not be reached Thursday night. Shannon Galey, spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security, said talk of Hutchinson resigning "is merely speculation at this point.
"The undersecretary will make his plans known at a later date," Galey said. "I know he has a lot of personal friends he talks to, but when Asa makes his plans known he will make them known to the president first."
Pack your freaking carpetbag, lowlife RINO traitor, and go back to wherever the frigging hell you came from, dammit! It's idiot-moron-cretins like you who are compromising America's security. America is ill-served by your seditionist ilk.
Is Mike Huckabee term limited and not able to seek re-election as Governor? If not, wouldn't this be one heck of a Republican primary? And, if Huckabee is term limited, when is the next U.S. Senate election in Arkansas? From what I understand, he is an INCREDIBLY popular governor and I don't want to see him get out of the game.
Calm Down. I am not a RINO for your kind information. As far as this DONKEY called ASA HUTCHINSON is concerned, he is following into the footsteps of his RINO brother Tim Hutchinson into political oblivion. For us, that is one less RINO to deal with.
No, no no no, NOT YOU, n. I'm talking to Hutchin-scum, NOT YOU. Sorry if I mis-directed the reply, FRiend. Truly.
I apologize for confusion.
Long Live AMERICAN NATIONALISM.
We need TOM TANCREDO FOR PRESIDENT 2008.
Assa is a miserable failure. Let him return to the land of double-wides and chicken farms and stay there.
We'll get real Americans loyal to this country to defend the homeland and secure the borders.
Let me add my voice to the crowd saying: Asa, get your sorry ass back to Arkasas!
What a poor excuse for a man.
Well, the idjits are out early. Must have hit happy hour already.
See what I mean, Howlin? Not only is it enough to trash the job Hutchinson did, these knuckle-draggers have to trash the man himself.
FR has become a loony bin since the election, with all the Birchers and Buchananites crawling back out of the woodwork.
ping
So, you're here to DEFEND Asa Hutchinson's position on illegal aliens and border control?
You think Hutchinson knows better than the people here who want secure borders and illegals removed?
Hey, Asa can be governor of Arkansas as long as he likes. Just keep him the heck away from anything that affects MY life.
Asa Hutchinson is a great person. I think that you might have him mixed up with his brother Tim.
That is an ignorant, gratuitously cruel statement.
I'm not here to defend his position.
Your ridiculous comment was way out of line.
I am very glad that 'Asa' was passed over. His lack of backbone disqualified him. And I am glad he is leaving. I hope Kerik takes this a cue that he needs someone to actually enforce our immigration laws in there. Given Kerik's track record, if he takes border enforcement as one of his issues, things will change dramatically. I hope President Bush tells him to enforce our laws...and he does so.
Yes, he has done an excellent job in welcoming illegal aliens.
Asa "The Donkey" Hutchinson is very loyal person, I agree. He is very loyal to the open borders crowd. Asa is very loyal in being disloyal to our motherland AMERICA.
Asa going back to ARKANSAS; good riddance.
As I said, Asa Hutchinson delivered Arkansas for presidential candidate George Bush in 2000. The outcome of that election actually did affect you as an American citizen.
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