Thread: Sen. Trent Lott to resign by end of year

Sen. Trent Lott to resign by end of year


By JACK ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer

Lauren Victoria Burke / AP Photo
Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott of Miss., becomes teary-eyed on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007, after speaking to reporters after the Senate confirmed Judge Leslie Southwick to the federal appeals court in Mississippi. Lott, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, The Associated Press has learned.
JACKSON, Miss. -- Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, congressional and Bush administration officials said Monday.

Lott, 66, scheduled two news conferences in Pascagoula and Jackson later in the day to reveal his plans. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, Lott intends to resign effective at the end of the year.

No reason for Lott's resignation was given, but according to a congressional official, there is nothing amiss with Lott's health. The senator has "other opportunities" he plans to pursue, the official said, without elaborating. Lott was re-elected to a fourth Senate term in 2006.

Lott's colleagues elected him as the Senate's Republican whip last year, a redemption for the Mississippian after his ouster five years ago as the party's Senate leader over remarks he made at retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party in 2002. Lott had saluted the South Carolina senator with comments later interpreted as support for southern segregationist policies.

After the 2006 elections, when Democrats recaptured the Senate, Lott was put in charge of lining up and counting Republican votes as whip, the No. 2 job behind minority leader Mitch McConnell.

His 2006 comeback was an apt outlet for the Mississippian's talents. He was the rare majority leader who seemed to relish the vote-wrangling duties that some of his predecessors loathed.

Lott becomes the sixth Senate Republican this year to announce retirement.

Mississippi's Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, will appoint Lott's replacement, who will serve until the 2008 elections, when voters will elect someone to serve out the balance of Lott's term, which runs through 2012. Rep. Chip Pickering of Mississippi, a former Lott aide who recently announced his retirement from the House, is widely seen as a potential successor. Pickering could not immediately be reached for comment.

The smooth-spoken Lott found himself in hot water in December 2002 after going too far in his praise of GOP Sen. Strom Thurmond at the South Carolinian's 100th birthday party. Lott said Mississippi voters were proud to have supported Thurmond when he ran for president on a segregationist platform in 1948, and added: "If the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."

A few days later, Lott issued a statement saying he had made "a poor choice of words" that "conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my statement."

But the damage was done. President Bush distanced himself from Lott's remarks, telling an audience the comments "do not reflect the spirit of our country."

Lott then made a round of public appearances, apologizing for his gaffe. He called his remarks "insensitive" and said he regretted "reopening old wounds and hurting so many Americans." He also apologized on Black Entertainment Television and promised to use his position to help push through initiatives that would benefit minorities.

Lott later wrote in a book - "Herding Cats: A Life in Politics" - that President Bush hurt his feelings by disavowing the comments in a tone that was "devastating ... booming and nasty."

Another event during Lott's exile changed his relationship with the White House: Hurricane Katrina. The massive storm devastated Lott's home state, not to mention his oceanside home in Pascagoula. He found his refrigerator a few blocks away in a neighbor's yard. For him, the administration's bungled response was personal. He considered retiring.

http://www.miamiherald.com/889/story/320836.html

Just heard this come over the wire.

Thank you for small favors.

He should have done this years ago.

Sen. Trent Lott to resign
NBC News: Minority whip would leave Senate before end of the year

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images file
The sudden departure of Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., may be linked to a new post-Senate career lobbying law that takes effect at the end of the year.

BREAKING NEWS
NBC News
updated 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
NBC News has learned that Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the minority whip is in the midst of informing close allies that he plans to resign his senate seat before the end of the year. It's possible a formal announcement of his plans could take place as early as today.

Lott's office initially denied that he he would step down, but subsequent requests for information about his plans went unanswered.

While the exactly reason Lott is stepping down before he finishes his term is unknown, the general speculation is that a quick departure immunizes Lott against tougher restrictions in a new lobbying law that takes effect at the end of the year. That law would require Senators to wait two-years before entering the lucrative world of lobbying Congress.


Also unclear at this point is how Lott's seat would be filled. One Lott supporter said he hoped Republican Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour would appoint U.S. Representative Chip Pickerting to the post, keeping the seat in the hands of Republicans, at least in the short term.

Lott's departure would leave a vacancy in the Senate GOP Leadership. As minority whip, Lott is the party's #2, behind Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Sources tell NBC News Lott is backing Arizona's Jon Kyl to replace him in the party leadership, but that would be determined by secret ballot within the Republican caucus.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21973397/

Lott's possible replacement Pickering has OK grades from Numbers, although I am concerned about his recent "D" grade on amnesties. If anyone has info on this, please post:

http://grades.betterimmigration.com/tes ... &VIPID=471

http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/7797316.html

"The issues I raised with the President reflect the 'Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005' (HR4437) which I co-sponsored and the House of Representatives passed in December of 2005," said Pickering. "This legislation was not acted on in the Senate and it died there. It is my hope that any legislation we pass in the future is more reflective of that strong border security measure than the current legislation in the Senate."

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04437:

This may be good. There have been many times in the last few years
that I would hear something he said being discussed on the radio and
thought "huh"?

Even the worst might have a good idea now and then.

As far as I know Pickering is better than Lott, i.e. opposed to amnesty, doesn't favor scuttling the 1st Amendment because some radio host criticized his position on immigration, but other than that the only thing I know about him is that his father was crucified by the racist Democrats in order to appease the radical wing of their party.

Outside of a few specific congressmen I'm familiar with, e.g. Myrick, Blackburn, Sensenbrenner, Bilbray, Steve King, among others, I don't much about what stances each member has taken over the years. I assume that he voted for the enforcement-only bill Sensenbrenner pushed in the last Congress, so he's good on that issue at least.

Woohoo! Another one bites the dust....Don't let the door hit ya in the ass, good Senator. I disagree with the article's notion that Lott is resigning because of a "controversial" statement about Strom Thurmond that he said over FIVE years ago. Lott is resigning because the cat is out of the bag about who he really is. He is a globalist, an OBL, a traitor, and a scum bag. They have to retire, or we will retire them at the voting booth.

We are picking them off one by one

Numbers gave him a grade C on his career, recently it improved a bit. I mainly hate him for what he said about talk radio listeners influence policy too much. And the comments he made about the Mexican Truck deal on the Senate floor. He said something about Americans being affraid of competition from our neighbors. I hope I can find a video of it, because he sounded just like a Bushite OBL stooge.

Lott and Feinstein claiming that we are ignorant of the immigration legislation they tried to pass. Lott claims there were a lot of good things in it that we apparently overlooked. Feinstein will make you want to puke. However, she was better about the Mexican truck deal than Lott:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBsbvP0-410