Saturday, May 09, 2009

Ex-LA Assemblyman Louis Caldera: Blunders Air Force One NYC Fly Over, Resigns to Obama. What was he THINKIN?

By Randy Economy
www.Economy4ABC.Blogspot.com
Our former local Los Angeles area Assemblyman Louis Caldera is now toast in Washington, DC.

Caldera resigned on Friday from his position as the director of the White House Military Office after approving the now infamous flyover of New York City by a 747 for a White House photo-op. When the plane is occupied by President Obama it is known as Air Force One.

Louis Caldera is a smart cookie. What the hell was he thinking to allow this MASSIVE screw up to occur?

He is NOT the same Louis Caldera I remember and knew when I worked in the California State Assembly as an Assembly Field Deputy to then Assemblywoman Grace Napolitano back in the early 1990's.

Caldera was a "political superstar" in Sacramento and took Washington, DC by storm when he arrive their as President Clinton's Secretary of the Army during Clinton's first term in office.

President Barack Obama has accepted Caldera’s resignation, and asked for a review by senior White House staff and Defense Secretary Robert Gates “to make recommendations to him to ensure that such an incident never occurs again.”

As Secretary of the Army from 1998 to 2001, Caldera, together with the Army's Chief of Staff, General Eric K. Shinseki, announced and set into motion a new vision for a more versatile and highly deployable force.

During his tenure, Caldera also successfully led a reversal of recruiting shortfalls and initiated a range of highly popular educational programs for soldiers and potential recruits. As Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service from 1997 to 1998, Caldera ran the federal grant-making agency that supports the volunteer service programs AmeriCorps, the National Senior Service Corps and Learn and Serve America.

Elected to three terms in the California State Assembly, Caldera represented the 46th District, located in and around downtown Los Angeles, from 1992 to 1997.

During his tenure, Caldera chaired several business and finance committees, and was an active proponent of measures to improve the lives of children, particularly in the areas of education, foster care, and health and safety. He was the Author of California's Bike Helmet Law, and was also the former President of the University of New Mexico.

Prior to his election to the Assembly, he worked as a Deputy County Counsel for the County of Los Angeles and as an attorney in private practice, including at the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers.

The fly over New York City of Air Force One cost US taxpayers almost $400,000.00, not to mention enstilling fear into millions upon millions of New Yorkers who still remember the horrors of 9/11.

Louis Caldera. One Good Guy who lost his way in Washington. It just goes to show you that the Bigger you Get in Politics, the Harder You Fall.

Your thoughts? RREconomy@aol.com
Randy Economy

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