Obama Adviser Jones resigns amid controversy
(Environmental official had signed 9/11 petition, disparaged Republicans)
"The answer to that is, they're a—holes." -Van Jones, Obama's green jobs adviser, referring to Republicans in a video that surfaced this week of a Berkeley, California event in February.
President Barack Obama's Adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday.
Jones, an administration official specializing in Environmentally friendly "Green Jobs" with the White House Council on Environmental Quality was linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.
The resignation comes as Obama is working to regain his footing in the contentious health care debate.
Jones issued an apology on Thursday for his past statements. When asked the next day whether Obama still had confidence in him, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said only that Jones "continues to work in the administration."
Vicious Smear Campaign
The matter surfaced after news reports of a derogatory comment Jones made in the past about Republicans, and separately, of Jones' name appearing on a petition connected to the events surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. That 2004 petition had asked for congressional hearings and other investigations into whether high-level government officials had allowed the attacks to occur.
"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in his resignation statement. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide."
Jones said he has been "inundated with calls from across the political spectrum urging me to stay and fight."
But he said he cannot in good conscience ask his colleagues to spend time and energy defending or explaining his past.
Jones flatly said in an earlier statement that he did not agree with the petition's stand on the 9/11 attacks and that "it certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever."
As for his other comments he made before joining Obama's team, Jones said, "If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize."
Extremist Views
Despite his apologies, Republicans demanded Jones quit.
Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana said in a statement, "His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate." Missouri Sen. Christopher Bonds said Congress should investigate Jones's fitness the job.
Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck repeatedly denounced Jones after a group the adviser co-founded, ColorofChange.org, led an advertising boycott against Beck's show to protest his claim that Obama is a racist.
James Rucker, the organization's executive director, has said Jones had nothing to do with ColorofChange.org now and didn't even know about the campaign before it started.
Jones, well-known in the environmental movement, was a civil-rights activist in California before shifting his attention to environmental and energy issues. He is known for laying out a broad vision of a green economy.
Nancy Sutley chair of the council, said in a statement released early Sunday that she accepts Jones resignation and thanked him for his service.
"Over the last six months, he had been a strong voice for creating jobs that improve energy efficiency and utilize renewable resources," she said. "We appreciate his hard work and wish him the best moving forward."
Van Jones Resigns
The White House, in an unusual post-midnight announcement Sunday, said its “green jobs czar” Van Jones would resign after fierce criticism from Republicans about some of his statements and associations prior to joining the administration.
Jones was under fire for his past affiliation with the 9/11 conspiracy “truthers” and for calling Republicans “a**holes” in a video before he was appointed to the Obama administration. Republicans had also begun using him to escalate criticism of the administration’s deployment of czars across the policy landscape, saying that they were being used to avoid Senate scrutiny of appointees.
"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in his resignation statement published via the Associated Press. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide."
Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, accepted his resignation in a statement released early Sunday. "Over the last six months, he had been a strong voice for creating jobs that improve energy efficiency and utilize renewable resources," she said. "We appreciate his hard work and wish him the best moving forward."
There was no accompanying explanation on the unusual timing of the announcement, shortly after midnight on a Sunday morning before a holiday. Historically, the preferred White House time for potentially embarrassing announcements has been Friday evenings before holidays.
While the Jones controversy appears to have gotten its momentum from conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, it spread rapidly into more mainstream channels.
Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), a top member of the subcommittee that oversees green jobs, had called for congressional hearing on Jones.
Bond released a letter he wrote to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chairman of the Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee, saying Jones "is becoming increasingly erratic and unstable as reflected by incendiary comments and repugnant associations made public in recent days."
Bond said that Jones' membership in a 1990s anti-war group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement shows his "Marxist" and "Leninist" roots.
"Refusal to conduct an oversight hearing by the subcommittee would heighten concern over whether this administration is committed to mainstream, inclusive, positive leadership and policies, Bond wrote.
Sources: MSNBC, Huffington Post, Politico
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