Bush urged to drop former arms buyer from board

[dArKeR]

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Republican Sen. John McCain on Friday urged President George W. Bush to drop former Pentagon top weapons buyer Edward Aldridge from a presidential space commission to avert a potential conflict of interest.

In a letter, the Arizona Republican said he believed the potential conflict stemmed from Aldridge's job as a director on the board of Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT,Trade).

McCain also said that Aldridge had "demonstrated exercise of poor judgment on several major defense programs."

McCain, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, noted that Lockheed and Boeing Co. (BA,Trade) together owned the United Space Alliance (USA), which operates the U.S. Space Shuttle and is NASA's largest contractor. In addition, Lockheed was a top contractor to NASA for other services.

"Thus, Lockheed Martin will likely participate substantially in programs related to your initiative and, thereby, stands to benefit significantly from many of the decisions and recommendations that Mr. Aldridge will make as the Chairman of the your Commission," McCain said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4253810

[KissMyAsscroft]

1. Ummm...once again McCain shows his true colors....

Ummm, McCain....the entire Bush administration is one big conflict of interest.

Either he is incredibly stupid, or complicit.