N.Y. Congressman Nominated for Army Secretary

N.Y. Congressman Nominated for Army Secretary
By CARL HULSE
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: June 2, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/us/politics/03army.html?hpw


WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Tuesday that he will nominate Representative John M. McHugh of upstate New York, the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, to be the next secretary of the Army.

The nomination will give Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration, a Republican voice at the Pentagon. Mr. McHugh’s resignation from Congress will also mean a second special House election in New York, where Democrats managed to hold on to a Republican-leaning seat earlier this spring after Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate.

The president praised Mr. McHugh as “a champion of our men and women in uniform,” a lawmaker possessing both “patriotism and pragmatism” who has commanded respect from his colleagues in both parties.

Mr. McHugh said that “in every year of my experience, Republicans and Democrats alike have put aside those differences and worked for the most important common good, that is, the welfare, the interests of the men and women who voluntarily put on the uniform of the branches of the United States military, and their families, because they serve as well.”

Mr. McHugh said he was proud and moved to have been chosen, adding that the Army is his favorite among the services. “I grew up in the shadows of Fort Drum,” he said by way of explanation.

Mr. Obama formally offered the Pentagon position to the lawmaker on Monday afternoon. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. McHugh would join a former House Republican colleague, Ray LaHood of Illinois, the secretary of transportation, in the Obama administration.

Mr. McHugh, a nine-term House member, represents a sprawling northern New York district that includes the Fort Drum Army base. He has a solid reputation with members of both parties for his knowledge of military affairs. He also serves on the Board of Visitors for the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Democrats say they would have a chance at winning his seat although it would still favor a Republican candidate. If Democrats were able to flip the representation, it would leave only two Republicans in New York’s 29-member House delegation with redistricting looming after the 2010 Census. Although Mr. McHugh never had trouble getting re-elected, his district was carried handily by Mr. Obama last year.

Besides Mr. LaHood and Mr. Gates, Mr. Obama has also nominated Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman, a Republican, as his ambassador to China. The White House is also considering Republicans for other executive branch appointments, a plan that aides say demonstrates that Mr. Obama is serious about working with Republicans despite resistance from the party’s leadership on Capitol Hill.

One effort to add a Republican to the Cabinet went awry when Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire changed his mind after accepting an invitation to be commerce secretary.

Assuming he is confirmed, Mr. McHugh, 60, a native of Watertown who also served in the state legislature before entering the House in 1993, will fill a job made especially difficult by the stress on ground forces from carrying the heaviest load in fighting two wars.

In fact, two of the recent Army secretaries found their careers cut short when their actions, and those of their service, angered the sitting defense secretary.

The current Army secretary, Pete Geren, also a former congressman, got the job in 2007 when Francis J. Harvey was let go by Secretary Gates. Mr. Gates was angered by the service’s actions — or lack of sufficient action — to address problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Another predecessor, Thomas E. White, was forced to resign as Army secretary in 2003 over questions about his ties to the scandal-plagued Enron Corporation and his advocacy for an artillery system canceled by Donald H. Rumsfeld, who was then the defense secretary.

If confirmed in his new role, Mr. McHugh will have some responsibility for putting into place the new Pentagon procurement program that passed Congress last month at the urging of the White House and Mr. Gates.

David Stout and Thom Shanker contributed reporting.