TSA nominee withdraws

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration withdrew his name Wednesday, a setback for an administration still trying to explain how a man could attempt to blow up a commercial airliner on Christmas Day.

Erroll Southers said he was pulling out because his nomination had become a lightning rod for those with a political agenda.

Obama had tapped Southers, a top official with the Los Angeles Airport Police Department, to lead the TSA in September, but his confirmation has been blocked by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who said he was worried that Southers would allow TSA employees to have collective bargaining rights.

On Wednesday, Southers said the confirmation process made him question his willingness to participate in public service.

"I am not a politician. I'm a counterrrorism expert. They took an apolitical person and politicized my career."

Southers said he couldn't give DeMint a definitive answer on the collective bargaining issue because it wasn't a yes or no question, and required access to information he wouldn't have had until he was confirmed.

DeMint said in a statement that "answering simple, direct questions about security and integrity" appeared to have been too much for Southers.

"TSA screeners can already join unions, but collective bargaining would force TSA officials to ask union bosses for permission to make critical security changes," DeMint said.

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Questions also were raised about a reprimand Southers received for running background checks on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend 20 years ago. Southers, a former FBI agent, wrote a letter to lawmakers acknowledging that he had given inconsistent answers to Congress on the issue.

In an October affidavit, Southers said he asked a police employee to run a background check on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend, and was censured by his FBI superiors 20 years ago for what he said was an isolated instance.

But a day after the committee approved his nomination and sent it to the full Senate, he wrote to the senators and told them that he was incorrect, that he had twice run background checks himself.