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Letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland and Governmental Affairs opposing the nomination of Tracy Henke to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security

September 28, 2005

The Honorable Joseph Lieberman
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Lieberman:

On behalf of the 1.4 million members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the federal employees that we represent, I am writing in opposition to the President's nomination of Tracy Henke to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security.

AFSCME represents employees at the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, where Ms. Henke serves as the Acting Assistant Attorney General. Formerly, Ms. Henke served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department's Office of Justice Programs. The Bureau of Justice Statistics falls within her area of oversight. As a political appointee at the Department, Ms. Henke was responsible for the demotion of the Bureau's Director, Lawrence Greenfeld, whose only fault in his 23 years of exemplary government service was to try to provide the public with an accurate report on traffic stops and racial profiling. Because Mr. Greenfeld would not agree to remove a critical finding of the study report which indicated that there were disparities in how racial groups were treated once they were stopped by police, he was asked to resign six months short of full retirement.

Allegations of political interference with statistical analysis has caused tumult among many Justice Department statisticians for the last three years under Ms. Henke's realm. Mr. Greenfeld tried to shield the Bureau from such political interference but fell victim in the process.

Ms. Henke's nomination to the Department of Homeland Security should be rejected. She has allowed her political ambitions to cloud her reasoning and has jeopardized the effectiveness of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Political appointees have come under scrutiny for lack of emergency preparedness experience since the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was folded into the Department of Homeland Security. AFSCME fears that Ms. Henke's political appointment to the Department of Homeland Security is a similar case. Her previous position as Policy Advisor to Senator Bond does not indicate the skills set demanded by her new appointment. Ms. Henke lacks emergency preparedness credentials, and she has demonstrated a lack of political independence at the Department of Justice.

For these reasons, we urge you to reject her nomination to this important post.

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