51 advocacy groups oppose Trump’s pick for Pentagon policy chief due to past comments

More than 50 advocacy groups are calling on senators to oppose Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Pentagon policy chief.

In a letter to senators Thursday, 51 minority, LGBT, disability and employee advocacy groups called Tata “patently unfit” for the post of undersecretary of defense for policy, citing derogatory comments he has made.

“All of our communities have been directly harmed by Mr. Tata’s words and actions,” they wrote. “We believe that the bigotry and discrimination he has perpetuated over this career disqualify him from any federal appointment and especially one of this importance. He is one of the most openly and brazenly bigoted nominees in recent memory.”

Tata — a retired Army brigadier general, Fox News regular, writer, and former school and state official — has been under fire since CNN reported on derogatory comments he made on Twitter about Islam and prominent Democratic leaders, including calling former President Barack Obama “a terrorist leader” and calling Islam “the most oppressive violent religion I know of.”

“One simply cannot lead a diverse department while having such contempt for diverse people,” the groups argued. “A vote for Anthony Tata would be a vote to confirm one of the most clearly bigoted executive nominees in recent memory. We urge you to vocally and unequivocally reject the Tata nomination.”

The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the letter.

Amid the backlash, several Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, led by ranking member Jack Reed, came out against Tata’s nomination. And several high profile retired generals also withdrew their support for Tata.

Tata walked back his past comments in a letter to Reed and Armed Services Chair Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), first reported by The Hill, in which the retired one-star general asked the leaders “to judge me on my entire 30+ year career and record of achievement and not a few regrettable tweets I fully denounce.”

The letter was organized by the NAACP, Muslim Advocates, the American Federation of Teachers, the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund and the Center for Disability Rights.

The groups also slammed Tata’s record as superintendent of the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, saying he “dismantled a nationally lauded desegregation program.” Tata spent less than two years in the post before being voted out by the school board and was also secretary of transportation in North Carolina under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

No Senate Republicans have publicly opposed Tata so far. But Defense News reported that Inhofe plans to hold a meeting of committee Republicans to gauge their support for the nominee.

Time on the Senate calendar, meanwhile, is short. Tata is one of nine nominees pending in the Armed Services Committee, and the panel’s focus is now on passing annual defense policy legislation, which will be debated on the Senate floor this week and next.

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/25/advocacy-groups-oppose-trump-pentagon-pick-339623
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Connor O’Brien

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