Speaking of Bush’s cabinet, John Snow was expected to be the ninth member of Bush’s cabinet to leave, but instead that honor falls to Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, leaving just six members of Bush’s first-term, 15-member cabinet remaining.
As Bush cabinet secretaries go, I never found Principi outrageously offensive, which is probably why he had to go. Indeed, earlier this year, Principi had the audacity to tell lawmakers on the Hill that his VA budget “received $1.2 billion less than it requested from the White House.” As Congressional Quarterly reported in February:
Some members of Congress “charged that the decision by the Office of Management and Budget only proved the administration’s disinterest in supporting veterans’ programs.” Principi’s disclosure “gives veterans’ advocates increased ammunition to argue that the White House is shortchanging veterans.”
Sure, as the campaign season picked up, Principi’s efforts as a partisan hack became more blatant — in May, he peddled outrageous nonsense such as, “Our active military respond better to Republicans [because of] the tremendous support that President Bush [has] provided for our military and our veterans” — but I still appreciated his honesty when it came to budgetary matters.
His occasionally-straight talk may not, however, have won him enough friends to keep his job. NBC reported yesterday:
A nominee to succeed Principi, 60, as head of the federal government’s second-largest department was expected to be named soon, perhaps this week.
Principi appeared to be leaving the administration against his own wishes. He indicated in an interview last month with his hometown newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, that he hoped to stay on for Bush’s second term.
Nevertheless, Principi’s exit has now allowed Bush to tie Nixon for the most turnover among two-term presidents in the post-WWII era, despite Bush’s stated desire to do the exact opposite. One of these days, Norman Mineta at Transportation should bring the total to 10.