Top US housing official resigns

March 31, 2008
Top US housing official resigns

The US housing secretary has resigned amid claims he misused his position.

Critics had been calling for Alphonso Jackson to step down since an FBI investigation into claims of cronyism in awarding housing contracts began.

His resignation comes as the US housing market suffers a slump, with falling prices and high foreclosure rates.

Bush Aide Resigns for Alleged Wrongdoing

March 28, 2008
Bush Aide Resigns for Alleged Wrongdoing

An aide to President Bush has resigned because of his alleged misuse of grant money from the U.S. Agency for International Development when he worked for a Cuban democracy organization.

Felipe Sixto was promoted on March 1 as a special assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and stepped forward on March 20 to reveal his alleged wrongdoing and to resign, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said on Friday. He said Sixto took that step after learning that his former employer, the Center for a Free Cuba, was prepared to initiate legal action against him.

The alleged wrongdoing occurred when Sixto was chief of staff at the center, where he worked for more than three years before moving to the White House.

Snow's on way out; Rove's gone

September 1, 2007
Snow's on way out; Rove's gone

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Tony Snow will leave this month to devote time to writing, speaking and playing a more active public role in combating cancer, a disease he has confronted for three roller-coaster years.

Snow is the latest in a long line of senior Bush advisers to leave before the end of the president's second term. Friday was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove's last day. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation this week. Former White House counselor Dan Bartlett, White House attorney Harriet Miers, budget director Rob Portman, political director Sara Taylor, deputy national-security adviser J.D. Crouch and Meghan O'Sullivan, a national-security adviser who worked on Iraq, also have stepped down.

Justice Department Official Resigns

June 29, 2007
Justice Department Official Resigns

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Justice Department official who was eyed as a possible replacement for one of several fired U.S. attorneys announced her resignation Friday.

Rachel Brand, the assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy, will step down July 9, the department said in a statement. The statement did not give a reason for her departure, but Brand is expecting a baby soon.

Brand was a member of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' leadership team. When officials were planning to fire U.S. attorneys in San Diego, San Francisco, Michigan and Arkansas, Brand was named as a possible replacement for Margaret Chiari in Michigan, according to documents released as part of a congressional inquiry.

White House budget director resigns

June 19, 2007
White House budget director resigns

WASHINGTON — White House budget director Rob Portman is resigning and will be replaced by former Iowa Rep. Jim Nussle, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

Nussle ran for governor of Iowa last year and was defeated. He has been serving in Iowa as an adviser in former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

White House Counselor Bartlett Resigning

May 29, 2007
White House Counselor Bartlett Resigning

Bartlett, 36, told reporters at the White House he has no immediate plans but would "see what type of opportunities are there for me with, obviously, the experiences I've had working at the highest levels of government."

Bartlett joins several top Bush administration officials, including Sara Taylor, the White House political director, and deputy national security advisers J.D. Crouch and Meghan O'Sullivan, all of whom departed last month.

Another Top Bush Aide resigns

May 28, 2007
Another Top Bush Aide resigns

As the Bush administration inches closer to its concluding months, more top aides are headed out to the private sector. Sara M. Taylor, the White House political director and microtargeting guru who has been with George W. Bush from the outset of his first presidential campaign, is the latest staff member to leave the president's employ.

Taylor, 32, was one of the first people put on the payroll of the Bush campaign, trekking through snowy Washington to interview with Karl Rove and Bush, who was then governor of Texas. Taylor worked on the 2000 campaign, and later became a political aide in the White House.

World Bank Chief Paul Wolfowitz Resigns

May 17, 2007
World Bank Chief Paul Wolfowitz Resigns

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has resigned his post, effective June 30.

An internal panel tasked with investigating the lucrative pay and promotion package Wolfowitz arranged in 2005 for girlfriend Shaha Riza found him guilty of breaking bank rules.

The committee also found that he tried to hide the salary and promotion package from top ethics and legal officials within the bank. The report added that there is a "crisis in the leadership" at the World Bank.

Federal student loan official resigns

May 8, 2007
Federal student loan official resigns

WASHINGTON — The head of the Education Department's student loan office is stepping down amid growing criticism that the agency has been lax in overseeing the student loan industry.

Theresa Shaw is leaving her post as chief operating officer of the Federal Student Aid office, a job she has held since 2002, the department said in a statement. The office administers federal student aid programs.

The statement said Shaw told Education Secretary Margaret Spellings in February that she planned to leave the department, but not until June 1.

Resignations Hit Bush Security Team

May 7, 2007
Resignations Hit Bush Security Team

At the White House, four top officials have stepped down, including Crouch; Meghan O'Sullivan, another deputy national security adviser who worked on Iraq; Tom Graham, the senior director for Russia, and director for Asian affairs Victor Cha, point man for the Koreas.

O'Sullivan's departure has set off a search for a "war czar" to oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a job reportedly turned down by a number of senior or retired generals.

Graham's resignation comes as tensions with Russia rise over U.S. missile defense plans in Europe, and Cha leaves amid concerns over North Korea's failure to comply with deadlines to eliminate its nuclear weapons programs.

Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld resigned under fire in November and is not included in the list of 20.

Wolfowitz aide resigns from World Bank

May 7, 2007
Wolfowitz aide resigns from World Bank

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of two key aides to World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz resigned on Monday, saying he could no longer effectively help advance the mission of the institution under the current leadership crisis.

Kevin Kellems, who was an advisor to Wolfowitz since 2002 at the Pentagon and throughout the planning of the Iraq war, told Reuters he was leaving "for other opportunities."

"Given the current environment surrounding the leadership of the World Bank Group, it is very difficult to be effective in helping to advance the mission of the institution," Kellems said.

Forced resignations and stiff prison sentences intensify the escalating blowback from Ohio’s 2004 stolen election

March 21, 2007
Forced resignations and stiff prison sentences intensify the escalating blowback from Ohio’s 2004 stolen election

In a bold move "to restore trust to elections in Ohio," Ohio's newly-elected Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has requested the resignation of all four members of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. The two Democrats and two Republicans were formally asked to resign by the close of business on March 21. Cuyahoga County includes the heavily Democratic city of Cleveland. Brunner is a Democrat who was elected, last November, to be Ohio's Secretary of State.

Felony convictions have also resulted in 18-month prison sentences for two employees of the Cuyahoga BOE as a result of what the county prosecutor in the case calls the "rigging" of the outcome in the recount following the 2004 presidential election. Further problems surfaced in the conduct of Cuyahoga County's May, 2006 primary, in the wake of which Michel Vu, Executive Director of the county's Board of Elections recently resigned.