Congressman Connie Mack (FL-14) sent a letter to all of his colleagues in the House of Representatives today explaining why Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner should resign or be fired.

Mack’s letter follows:

Why Secretary Geithner Should Resign or be Fired

March 20, 2009

Dear Colleague:

Washington is failing the American people.

Bailouts, TARPs, and stimulus plans are brand new concepts that are tearing apart our time-tested ideals and values.

The Bush Administration started this, and some of us opposed it from the start. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has not only continued it, but expanded it.

There have been many people who have had important influence on this destructive attack on our free market system. None, however, have played a cumulatively more important role from President Bush through President Obama than our present Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner.

From the onset, Secretary Geithner was one of the so-called masterminds of the bailouts, and was intimately involved in picking the winners and losers.

Instead of allowing dysfunctional corporations to fail, declare bankruptcy, or restructure, it was Secretary Geithner’s policies that protected these failed corporations, funded them with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, and led to the federal government’s unprecedented and harmful ownership of private business.

Secretary Geithner’s Senate confirmation hearing was an international embarrassment. It raised questions that continue to hound him on issues of financial integrity and transparency, judgment and competence. Since his confirmation as Secretary of the Treasury, he has not only failed to quell those questions, but his actions and inactions have exacerbated them and created many others.

This week’s news regarding AIG, begs new questions about what Secretary Geithner knew, when he knew about it, and what he did about it.

But these questions aren’t just limited to the bonus scandal. New information continues to come to light about how AIG funneled tens of billions of taxpayer dollars last year to other financial institutions and Secretary Geithner’s role in crafting the policies that made that possible. And with respect to the bonus scandal, Secretary Geithner must now also explain what role he played in ordering Senator Chris Dodd to make legislative changes that made the payment of these massive bonuses possible in the first place.

Secretary Geithner has lost the confidence and faith of the American people and he has lost the confidence of this Congress. The Treasury Department is in disarray. Taxpayer dollars are being wasted. America’s economy hangs in the balance. America needs and deserves a Treasury Secretary who can truly lead us forward, and we can’t afford to wait and hope that someday Secretary Geithner might be able to do his job.

Secretary Geithner should resign today for the good of the country. If he won’t, he should be summarily fired and replaced with someone who can get the job done without destroying the economic foundations and values upon which this nation was built.

It is time for Congress to let our voices be known on this important issue.

Your comments and support would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

CONNIE MACK
Member of Congress

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