November 16, 2004 | Ridge Resigns?

CNN and others are reporting that Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is resigning.

This would not come as much of a surprise, since there has been talk for a while that he wanted to step down to make more money (if I remember correctly it was something about having two kids in college).

Possible successors include Asa Hutchinson, the Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security.

Back in the late 1990's when Al Qaeda cells were planning attacks against the country, Hutchinson was a Republican Congressman from Arkansas.

In fact during that time, Hutchinson, a former prosecutor, served as one of the trial managers for Clinton's impeachment in 1999.

From a Washington Post article just prior to the trial in the Senate:

For the most part, the managers tend not to worry about such criticism, serene in their belief that the evidence requires the removal of the president. Indeed, they have delved into the perjury and obstruction-of-justice case against Clinton with vigor.

Hutchinson has mounted a timeline and charts on the walls of his Longworth Building office; he has even interviewed possible witnesses on his own, in the event the Senate ultimately permits live testimony.

In his final statement (all of which were closed to the public until after the voting), Hutchinson said:

It seems to me that throughout this long drama, many have sought to put Ken Starr on trial or the House managers on trial. Was Ken Starr on a vendetta or was he just doing an unpleasant job? Whichever, we have to deal with the facts and the evidence. Did the House managers, as we have heard from the President's counsel so often, 'want to win too much?' Frankly, both sides wanted to win, both sides were fervent in their presentations, and I'm glad we didn't hear half-hearted arguments. A vigorous prosecution and defense is the basis of a successful adversarial system. What we are doing is important.

He simultaneously served on the House Select Committee for Intelligence.

Posted by Ryan Singel at November 16, 2004 12:55 PM

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