Friday May 11 1:36 AM ET

Bush Nominees Discuss Corporate Ties

By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three top executives of major corporations nominated by President Bush as civilian heads of the nation's armed forces said Thursday that their corporate ties would not influence how the Pentagon doles out big defense contracts.

At their confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, all three testified that they would consider disqualifying themselves from decisions that involved their corporate connections after Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., raised the issue.

``If there's a conflict with prior knowledge or involvement, then I would certainly recuse myself,'' said Gordon England, the executive vice president of General Dynamics and Bush's pick to be Navy secretary. ``But if there is no conflict, I certainly would not plan to do that, sir.''

James G. Roche, Bush's pick for Air Force secretary, and retired Brig. Gen. Thomas E. White, nominated as Army secretary, also agreed to recuse themselves if they felt there was a clear conflict of interest.

Roche is the corporate vice president of Northrop Grumman Corp. and White is the vice chairman of Enron Energy Services. General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman are among the nation's top defense contractors.

Democrats were not so certain the nominees could remain impartial.

``This is just more of the president filling posts with big business buddies who, without question, will make sure that the nation's contracts benefit their mutual friends,'' said Marcy Woodman, a Democratic policy analyst based in Washington. ``Even if they recuse themselves, their underlings will know which company they better award a contract to.''

Roche, a 23-year Navy veteran, was a Democratic aide for the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1983 to 1984, and was a senior staffer for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1979 to 1981.

White, who served in the Army for 23 years, has served as chairman and chief executive officer of Enron Operations Corp. and as chairman and chief executive of Enron Power Corp. since joining Enron in 1990. He was executive assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell when Powell headed the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the first Bush administration.

England, the Navy nominee, has worked for General Dynamics since 1980, except for four years when he served as president of Lockheed Fort Worth, as a program manager for Amecom (Litton Industries) and as chief executive of GRE Consultants.

Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, said recusal might be the best option in some cases.

``There needs to be a sense of confidence by the American people that these are honorable men that are making these decisions,'' Quigley said. ``If there comes a point where there's a recusal or something like that necessary to create that public confidence, I'm sure that will be the case. I also think there's all kinds of checks and balances built into the system to make sure that the public confidence in those officials remains high.''

The hearing will continue into next week.

-- Greased GOP Wallets (honorable@my.ass), May 14, 2001

Answers

Have to even wonder why AP and the Bush Oligarchy bother with replying here. Chalk it up to McCain pandering, dispute amongst crooks.

If a Pentagoon spokesman can get by saying the point is "creating a sense", and not a reality, I doubt few around this country barely conscious. This issue is a nobrainer, course there will be conflicts of interest. These guys are where they are from making a career out of that art. This is news?

-- (blah@zzz.com), May 14, 2001.

The corruption builds daily.

It makes no sense to place people with a clear conflict of interest into positions where they are the ones who will decide if they will recuse themselves. Taking the positions in the first place shows a lack of integrity. Their participation in decision making is going to be based on how they "feel" about a conflict of interest?

This administration isn't even pretending to to be honest any more. The actions of this administration are like the plot of a bad novel.

They are getting so brazen they don't even try to hide their corrupt goals any more. No where in the campaign did Americans express a desire for the actions Bush is taking to or for this type of government to be put in place. The people who voted for him were not told that he would do the things he is doing. He ran under false pretenses, his campaign promises were intentional lies, told only to get him put into office so he could achieve goals never shared with the public at large. If he had run for office telling what his real intentions were, he would never have gotten anywhere close to receiving the votes he actually did get. Never again can anyone trust what they are told by republicans running for office. In 2002, no one will believe anything they are told by a republican candidate. Why would they? The only question that remains is how long it will take to undo all of the damage they are doing now. After 2002, Bush will not have any power left, in 2004 the American people will make sure there isn't any possibility for republicans to be in control any more. The damage Bush and Co. are doing right now to the republican party will effect the way people vote for decades to come. And it will not be in favor of the conservatives. Thank Goodness for the internet, if it were left to the mainstream media, most of the corruption being perpetrated would not be exposed as is being done on-line. I do worry about how they are planning on trying to control the internet.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), May 15, 2001.