Without Senate hearing, ex-Wake County schools boss Tony Tata placed in Pentagon post
Just days after a Senate committee canceled his nomination hearing, former North Carolina state official Tony Tata has been placed in a top Department of Defense position.
Tata, a former Wake County schools superintendent and NC Department of Transportation chief, had been nominated by President Donald Trump for the No. 3 post in Defense.
“Mr. Tata withdrew from consideration before the Senate Armed Services Committee his nomination to be the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement emailed to McClatchy. “He has been designated as the official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy reporting to the Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Dr. James Anderson. He looks forward to continuing to help implement the President’s National Security agenda.”
CNN first reported the news Sunday night.
On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee canceled his nomination hearing about an hour before it was slated to start. Tata, a retired Army general, has been a controversial pick because of his previous public comments. His nomination was opposed by several Muslim and civil rights organizations.
“There are many Democrats and Republicans who didn’t know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very significant position at this time,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Oklahoma Republican and the chairman of the committee, in a statement. “We didn’t get the required documentation in time; some documents, which we normally get before a hearing, didn’t arrive until yesterday.”
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that Trump “still supports General Tata.”
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee called the appointment an “evasion of scrutiny.”
“Our system of checks and balances exists for a reason and the Senate’s role in the confirmation process for administration appointees ensures individuals at the highest levels of government are highly qualified,” said Rep. Adam Smith, a Washington state Democrat. “If an appointee cannot gain the support of the Senate, as is clearly the case with Tata, then the President should not put that person into an identical temporary role. This evasion of scrutiny makes our government less accountable and prioritizes loyalty over competence,”
Tata was Wake County superintendent from December 2010 to September 2012, a tumultuous tenure best remembered for a controversial new school assignment plan. He served as the head of the transportation department under Gov. Pat McCrory from 2013 to 2015.
Tata, who was the 82nd Airborne Division’s planning chief for the 1994 invasion of Haiti, retired from the Army as a brigadier general in 2010.
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This story was originally published August 2, 2020 at 9:11 PM with the headline "Without Senate hearing, ex-Wake County schools boss Tony Tata placed in Pentagon post."
