Thursday, October 22, 2009
12:03 PM
Snowe holding up Sargeant nomination
Madison businessman Winslow Sargeant passed a Senate committee vote last month to serve as Small Business Administration counsel, but a final confirmation vote before the full Senate has hit a snag.
Reports indicate that U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine is holding up Sargeant's nomination in the chamber. Snowe, the ranking GOP member of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, joined the remaining five Republican members in voting against Sargeant's confirmation in committee.
During the hearing on SBA nominees, Snowe said that the nominee to serve as SBA counsel should have a legal background. Sargeant, who directs a Madison investment firm and holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from UW-Madison, does not have a law degree.
"Although I believe Dr. Sargeant brings a wealth of small business experience to his candidacy, and would be an outstanding nominee for countless other positions within the SBA, I do not believe that now is the time to deviate from Advocacy's regulatory role during this critical time in our nation's economic recovery," Snowe said in a statement on the committee vote last month.
Committee chairwoman Mary Landrieu, D-La., responded that there is no statutory retirement that the counsel be an attorney, and that two of Sargeant's prospective predecessors in the Bush administration have endorsed his nomination.
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