State Dept's USAID Administrator Tenders Resignation, "Effective Immediately"

[Rose Siding]

Resignation of Ambassador Randall Tobias

Ambassador Randall Tobias informed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today that he must step down as Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and US Agency for International Development Administrator (USAID) effective immediately. He is returning to private life for personal reasons.

First as the administration's Ambassador for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS relief (PEPFAR) then as USAID Administrator and Director of Foreign Assistance, Randy has been a leader in helping the most vulnerable populations around the globe whether it was by acting to alleviate hunger or preventing the spread of infectious disease or directing assistance to victims of natural disasters. Under Ambassador Tobias' leadership at PEPFAR, the United States supported delivery of life-saving antiretroviral treatment to hundreds of thousands of people and saved countless other lives through AIDS prevention programs. As the State Department's first Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, Randy helped lead one of the Department's most far reaching reforms in recent memory, resulting in better matching of policy goals and delivery of international assistance. The lives saved and made better around the globe by Randy's work at the State Department constitute a rich legacy on which he can look back with justifiable pride.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/apr/83957.htm

Sometimes Fridays just sneak up on me.

[babylonsister]

1. So when will that other shoe be dropping? Something we need to know,

Randy? Why the haste?

[MadMaddie]

2. Something is coming....blowing in the wind my friends...

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Are we winning yet?

[DURHAM D]

3. I think I shall assume (until I hear differently) that he is moving

over to the WB in order to fill the job that will soon be left behind by Wolfowitz's departure.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Scattering like rats

[IChing]

5. Geez what a bunch of hogwash from the Government site

about the great things this asshole has done.


No AIDS Experience
"Why is this man who has no experience with AIDS, no experience with diseases in developing countries, going to be running a $15.0 billion AIDS program?," Sharonann Lynch, spokesperson for the Health Global Access Project, asked in July 2003.

"To administer the $15-billion plan, Bush cynically named someone who has no experience with AIDS and none with diseases in developing countries: Randall L. Tobias, the former chairman of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. Tobias was chosen to ensure that U.S. moneys are given to those who purchase AIDS-fighting meds at top dollar from Big Pharma, instead of giving them to countries so they can themselves buy generic AIDS drugs at the lowest possible prices — meaning the money won’t go nearly as far as it could," Doug Ireland wrote in LA Weekly.

Abstinence & Faithfulness "Yes", Condoms & Generic Drugs "No"
At the 2004 AIDS conference in Bangkok, Tobias "was greeted by the protests of activists opposed" to both the Bush administration's policies and to Tobias, Mary Curtius, reported in the July 11, 2004, Los Angeles Times.

"Tobias, some activists said, could expect a reception similar to the one given Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson at the last conference. Thompson was booed off the stage at the 2002 conference in Spain." Shanonann Lynch said Tobias "has given his critics fodder by emphasizing abstinence and faithfulness as effective ways of preventing AIDS while downplaying the role of condoms, and by failing to embrace generic drugs as substitutes for more expensive, patented brands."

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Randall_L._Tobias

[babylonsister]

6. Thanks for that! Nice to have some balance. nt

[AlCzervik]

7. Dead hooker, live pool boy?

[deminks]

8. OOpsy, he was on the Madame's list

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/senior_official.html

Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation. Tobias, 65, Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the US Agency for International Development, had previously served as the Ambassador for the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.

A State Department press release late Friday afternoon said only he was leaving for "personal reasons." On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the "Pamela Martin and Associates" escort service "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." Tobias, who is married, said there had been "no sex," and that recently he had been using another service "with Central Americans" to provide massages.

Tobias' private cell number was among thousands of numbers listed in the telephone records provided to ABC News by Jeane Palfrey, the woman dubbed the "D.C. Madam," who is facing the federal charges. In an interview to be broadcast on "20/20" next Friday, Palfrey says she intends to call Tobias and a number of her other prominent DC clients to testify at her trial.

"I'm sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, four to eight years, because I'm shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever," Palfrey told ABC News.

[Venus Dog]

10. HEHE

:popcorn: :toast: :beer:

[bvar22]

11. Who would YOU call for a massage?

1. A Professional Masseuse who would probably charge around $100 and give you an excellent massage?

2. A Professional Call Girl who would probably charge $1000 and wouldn't know a massage from a hand job?

Hmmm. Tough one.

[C_U_L8R]

12. Just a massage ??

Is that republican code for "I like to dress in rubber"

[AlCzervik]

13. Huh! i was half right.

live hooker.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2826241

[IChing]

14. Abstinence & Faithfulness "Yes", Condoms & Generic Drugs "No" --that was his program

[Rose Siding]

15. Could there be any more deadly hypocrisy?

Just one more hateful, hateful hypocrit.

He had the gall to tell ABC News that he only used the service for massages-

"Tobias resigned after ABC News contacted him with questions about the escort service, the sources said. ABC News released a statement last night saying Tobias acknowledged Thursday that he had used the service to provide massages, not sex."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18359307/

And I'm sure the photos in his copy of Playboy go unnoticed as he pours through the riveting articles. :eyes: