White House green jobs czar Van Jones has been accused of being a communist, an old lecture video showed him calling Republicans a**holes, and he's been connected to a 9/11 conspiracy group.
GOP czar revolt scores its first win
By LISA LERER
Republicans who have spent months criticizing the proliferation of "czars" in the Obama White House have finally landed a major punch.
Over the past few weeks, White House green jobs czar Van Jones has been accused of being a communist, an old lecture video showed him calling Republicans a—holes, and he's been connected to a Sept. 11 conspiracy group.
With that type of paper trail, Jones, who resigned early Sunday morning, would have trouble surviving a Senate confirmation.
But while public pressure forced him out — in a statement, Jones accused his critics of a "vicious smear campaign" — his czar status meant the White House skipped that step when it appointed him: Many of the high-level White House policy advisers don't require Senate confirmation for their posts. And while liberals have hailed Jones as a pioneer in the green jobs movement, critics have labeled him a radical — and he's become a liability for a White House that doesn't need another distraction.
Republicans began calling for his resignation on Friday, and asked for a public hearing into how Jones slipped past the White House vetting process. And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Friday avoided addressing the Jones controversy directly, referring reporters back to a Jones statement apologizing for his affiliation with the Sept. 11 "truthers."
The Jones debacle shows how czars — dozens of powerful problem solvers tapped to tackle some of the thorniest problems facing the country — could continue to cause problems for the White House. By some counts, the Obama administration has about 30 czars — a term used as shorthand for long, wonky titles such as Jones's "Council on Environmental Quality's special adviser for green jobs."
To be sure, every president in recent history has had his own czars: President George H.W. Bush appointed the first drug czar, President George W. Bush had a homeland security czar and Hillary Clinton promised to create a "poverty czar" if she won the presidency.
But with so many more czars than previous administrations, the Obama White House faces greater potential for controversy. And the Van Jones case has clearly hit a nerve.
His affiliation with a 1990s group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement has opened him to accusations that he associated with Communists. And in 2004 he allowed his name to be put on a letter requesting an investigation into whether the Bush administration allowed 9/11 to happen as a "pre-text to war." Jones said Thursday he never believed in this so-called "Truther" movement, issued an apology for his past remarks, and said in a statement that his involvement with 9/11 conspiracy theories "does not reflect my views now or ever."
Republicans and a handful of Democrats have called on the White House to review and suspend its use of czars.
"In the wake of these recent revelations, the president should suspend any further appointments of so-called czars until Congress has an opportunity to examine the background and responsibilities of these individuals and to determine the constitutionality of such appointments," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Chairman of the House Republican Conference, who called on Jones to resign.
The czar-attacks have begun to catch fire far beyond the Beltway. In town hall meetings across the country this August, questioners slammed the administration's advisers, claiming that they allowed the White House to wield unchecked power.
It's an argument that's been fed by Republicans in Congress, who see an opening to attack the credibility of the popular administration. In an Arizona town hall meeting last week, Republican Sen. John McCain joked that Obama, "has more czars than the Romanovs" — a laugh line he frequently uses. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich calls the czars, "administrative chaos."
Conservatives argue that the czars are the administration's way of pushing a big government agenda — without Congress getting in the way. And each whiff of controversy, they believe, helps them prove their point.
Conservative pundits are on a czar hunt, combing records for politically dangerous statements made by the policy advisers.
Dennis Blair
Richard Holbrooke
Czars