Obama's nominee to head TSA abruptly withdraws his name

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration abruptly withdrew his name Wednesday as Democratic and Republican senators exchanged charges of politicizing the key security post. The dispute over Erroll Southers, a senior Los Angeles Police Department official, had intensified since a Nigerian man was accused of trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane bound for Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day. Southers, a former FBI agent, issued an unusually bitter public statement about the months-long hold on his nomination by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and other Republican senators who are opposed to collective bargaining at the TSA. "It is apparent that this path has been obstructed by political ideology," Southers said in a statement released by the White House. "It is clear that my nomination has become a lightning rod for those who have chosen to push a political agenda at the risk of the safety and security of the American people," he said.DeMint, who'd blocked Southers' nomination since October, fired back. "Mr. Southers was never forthcoming about his intentions to give union bosses veto power over security decisions at our airports," DeMint said.