Sullivan once again blocked
Good:
The confirmation of US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was thrown into further doubt yesterday, when a Republican senator who is blocking the nomination renewed complaints that Sullivan has refused to loosen licensing rules for guns.
more stories like thisThe development means that the future leadership of the US attorney’s office in Boston will remain cloudy for the foreseeable future, because the Bush administration has been unable to nominate a replacement.
For now, Sullivan is performing both roles while his nomination is caught in a crossfire over gun policy.
Senator David Vitter of Louisiana said yesterday that he met with Sullivan late last year to discuss what Vitter described as burdensome regulations imposed on gun owners and dealers by the bureau, which Sullivan has led as acting director since September 2006. Vitter asked Sullivan to address the concerns in writing.
“I recently received his answers to those questions, and I was disappointed in his responses, so I am going to continue to hold this nominee,” Vitter said in a statement released to the Globe. “The nominee seems to support the ATF’s current inadequate policies and exhibits a lack of willingness to address these problems.”
Good for Vitter.
February 14th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
He very well may not be confirmed at this point. Nonetheless, he’ll be serving as director of ATF until Bush leaves office either way. I doubt at this point that Bush will withdraw the nomination.
February 14th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I knew that when they added the ATF director confirmation requirement back in 2005 that it would pay worthy dividends like this. The upshot is that we will eventually get ATF directors that reflect the gun attitudes of congress, not the attitudes of whoever the president owes a favor to.
February 14th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Of course a Democratic president would probably approve him.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Bush and Rove have ruined the Republican Party as a home to conservatives by promoting………..people like this.
I doubt he’s much of a guardian of liberty as a fed prosecutor either.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:41 am
I’m not sure what you mean by this, remember, he was nominated by Bush, so he obviously approves too.
Did it take the Heller brief to convince everyone that he’s no friend to the RKBA?