The Command Post
2004 US Presidential Election
« Carlos M. Gutierrez Nominated For Commerce | Main | Republican Dino Rossi Certified As Winner Of Washington's Gubernatorial Election »
November 30, 2004
Bush | Tom Ridge Resigns - Updated
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is resigning, FOX News confirmed Tuesday. He is expected to announce his decision at a 2:45 p.m. EST press conference.

In an e-mail circulated to senior Homeland Security officials, Ridge praised the department as “an extraordinary organization that each day contributes to keeping America safe and free.” He also said he was privileged to work with the department’s 180,000 employees “who go to work every day dedicated to making our company better and more secure.”

Government officials, speaking on grounds of anonymity because a formal announcement was pending, confirmed his resignation.

Ridge was responsible for the implementation of the Homeland Security Advisory System.

The Bush administration - since its Nov. 2 presidential election victory - has already accepted the resignations of Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Education Secretary Rod Paige, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

Update:

Among those mentioned as possible candidates for Ridge’s replacement are Bernard Kerik, interim Minister of the Interior for Iraq and former New York City police commissioner, former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Joe Allbaugh and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt and White House homeland security adviser Fran Townsend. Others are also believed to be interested in the job, including Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security in the Homeland Security Department.



Posted by Michele at November 30, 2004 01:54 PM | TrackBack
Comments

I dunno about anyone else here, but I for one won’t miss him. He got the AG post as a consolation prize, after he lost the Missouri governor’s race to a dead man.

Good riddance.

Posted by: gus3 [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 30, 2004 04:19 PM

Looks like I mis-spoke. I confused Ridge with Ashcroft.

For the record, although I may take issue with the mere existence of the DHS, I have no beef with Tom Ridge. My apologies to anyone I may have offended, including Mr. Ridge himself.

Ashcroft, on the other hand…

Posted by: gus3 [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 30, 2004 04:47 PM

Tom Ridge seemed a decent enough guy. The “yellow/orange/red” terrorism warnings are kind of goofy, but I don’t see that they do much harm, either. Ridge was the better administration spokesman when we were going through the anthrax attacks.

I disagreed with Howard Dean for his unsubstantiated accusations that Ridge had politicized the terrorism warnings in the closing months of the election.

How much he accomplished in making us safer is not clear, but there have been no terrorist attacks since 9/11 and he gets credit for that, I suppose.

Posted by: rdelephant [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 30, 2004 06:12 PM

well I for one am shocked by RDE’s post. Both civil and salutary.

Good for you!!!

Posted by: skip [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 1, 2004 11:08 AM

Quoth rdelephant:

there have been no terrorist attacks since 9/11 and he gets credit for that, I suppose.

That’s like giving me credit for having no elephants within five miles of San Juan Capestrano. Viz. “proving a negative”.

Posted by: gus3 [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 1, 2004 04:06 PM

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (Click here should you choose to sign out.)

As you post your comment, please mind our simple comment policy: we welcome all perspectives, but require that comments be both civil and respectful. We also ask that you avoid the extensive use of profanity, racist terms (neither of which we consider civil or respectful), and other boorish language.

We reserve the right to delete any comment, and to prohibit you from commenting on this site, if we feel you have broached this policy. As a courtesy, we will first send you an email noting a violation so you understand the boundaries. This will occur only once, however, and should we ban you from our comment forums we expect that ban to be permanent.

We also will frown upon those who suggest that we ban other individuals for voicing unpopular opinions, should those opinions be voiced in a civil and respectful manner. The point of our comment threads is to provide a forum for spirited though civil and respectful discourse … it is not to provide a forum in which everyone will agree with your point of view.

If you can live by these rules, welcome aboard. If not, then we’re sorry it didn’t work out, and thanks for visiting The Command Post.


Remember me?

(You may use HTML tags for style)