Labor choice Puzder quits
President Trump’s labor-secretary nominee withdrew on Wednesday after it became clear he would fall short of the votes needed to win Senate confirmation.
Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. chains, said in a statement that he was “honored to have been considered by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Labor and put America’s workers and businesses back on a path to sustainable prosperity.”
He added, “While I won’t be serving in the administration, I fully support the president and his highly qualified team.”
Democrats opposed Puzder (pictured) from the start, claiming his companies mistreated workers. Republicans were rattled by the disclosure that he failed to pay taxes for an undocumented housekeeper until a couple of months ago and by de- cades-old allegations that resurfaced of spousal abuse, even though his exwife recanted them.
Before the withdrawal, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a staunch Puzder supporter, urged the White House to pull the nomination when four Republican senators notified him they would cast no votes and up to 12 said they might not back him, according to multiple reports.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of the GOP leadership, said Puzder wasn’t willing to proceed with an oft-delayed confirmation hearing, last rescheduled for Thursday.
“I think there was a view that he would be a good witness” if “he was willing to go through with the process and he decided not to,” said Blunt of the planned hearing before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Sen. Marco Rubio (RFla.) on Twitter hailed Puzder’s “right & honorable choice” to withdraw.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) called the move “a victory for the American worker.”
Puzder needed at least 50 votes for Vice President Mike Pence to cast the 51st and deciding vote. But Republicans control only 52 Senate seats, so four defections doomed him.
Domestic-abuse allegations by Puzder’s ex-wife, Lisa Fierstein, arose when a 1990 video of her appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show resurfaced. Puzder consistently denied the claims before Fierstein withdrew them.
Democrats looking for a Cabinet-level Team Trump scalp finally got one Wednesday, as Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination for secretary of labor. Will that satisfy the blood lust?
Puzder was an excellent pick. His take on the issues — warning that minimum-wage hikes can kill jobs, that excessive rules on overtime pay only gummed up the workplace — were mainstream Republicanism.
More, the fast-food CEO knew from personal experience the real impact over-regulation has on businesses, both large and, especially, small. That would’ve made him far harder for the career bureaucracy and entrenched special interests to “roll.”
Which is why Big Labor had set its sights on Puzder from the get-go.
But he was also subjected to some incredibly cheap attacks, including on the “sexist” nature of some of his restaurant ads that (gasp!) featured bikini-clad women.
The most vicious one, however, was the surfacing of a 1990 video in which his thenwife appeared in disguise on Oprah Win- frey during her divorce suit to charge Puzder with spousal abuse.
Never mind that she quickly retracted the charge, endorsed her ex-husband’s cabinet bid and ripped his critics.
What apparently sunk him, though, was his admission that he’d for years employed an illegal alien as a domestic housekeeper and failed to pay the required employment taxes. That prompted several GOP senators to jump ship.
Especially following the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, the Republicans may also hope that Puzder’s defeat will satisfy the Democrats’ furious base. Perhaps the hard-left protesters will lay off Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, so he can start guarding the party’s (and the nation’s) longterm interests, and let the Senate return to more normal operations.
It’s a shame the nation will lose Puzder’s expertise and ability. It would be worse if Democrats, having tasted blood, abandon all decency in the search for more victims.