Block William Lynn Nomination to be Deputy Secretary of Defense

[davidswanson]

Call your senators now!
By Winslow Wheeler, AfterDowningStreet.org


It is unfortunate the Senate must debate this nomination. It should not be before us. For two reasons -

1. We promised the American people change in Washington. Appointing a chief corporate lobbyist to the top position in the Pentagon that recommends whether or not a weapon system should go forward is, indeed, change - but in the wrong direction.

2. A waiver for this lobbyist to be Deputy Secretary of Defense might be defensible if he had a spectacular record when he served in the Pentagon during the Clinton administration. But there is no such record.

We should pay close attention to Mr. Lynn's record in the Pentagon in the 1990s. Here are some "highlights," if that is what you want to call them:

· Despite the Pentagon's then atrocious record for its financial management incompetence - documented by years of GAO and DOD Inspector General Reports - as the Comptroller of the Defense Department (its CFO), he actively sought for the Pentagon to be let off the hook on complying with statutes requiring it to improve its record. His reason? It would "hurt morale."

· As Senator Grassley has told us, Mr. Lynn also tolerated, and apparently also personally advocated, some bizarre financial management procedures, known as "Pay and Chase" and "Straight Pay" that permitted Defense Department bureaucrats to make payments to corporations whether or not there was a documented and valid invoice from that contractor in the department's records.

· As Comptroller, Mr. Lynn also packed Pentagon budgets with politically driven gimmicks pretending false savings and adjusting the top line of the DOD budget to better accommodate political "optics."

I regret to say that Mr. Lynn is not the man for this job.

[terisan]

1. Why all these nominations of dishonest people. ?

[glitch]

4. I wish I knew. I'd sleep better at night.

Or not.

[mike_c]

2. agreed-- this is not the sort of change I want to see....

eom

[robinlynne]

3. Absolutely right! I'm glad others are as incensed as I was about this nomination.

Nominating a Republican for any cabinet position was already not acceptable to me . Right wing democrats almost as bad. but a lobbyist Republican in the Pentagon, where we need to CLEAN HOUSE right now , hell no! Absolutely positively no. The Pentagon needs some major audits, budget cuts, an end to outsourcing and privatization. The very last person who should be anywhere near the pentagon is a lobbyist. no. no. no.

[Thrill]

5. LYNN CONFIRMED 93-4

http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00062