Obama Official Supports Lawmaker's Opponent Over Nuclear Lab Stance

Anonymously contributed: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Global Security Newswire July 17, 2012 Obama Official Supports Lawmaker's Opponent Over Nuclear Lab Stance A California congressional delegate's purported opposition to nuclear weapons activities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory prompted the Obama administration's special envoy for strategic stability and missile defense to endorse the lawmaker's electoral opponent last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. A representative of the laboratory's legislative district must acknowledge the facility's benefits, including its contribution toward a "a safe and reliable and effective nuclear stockpile," said Ellen Tauscher, a former House member who for 12 years worked alongside Representative Pete Stark (D-Calif.). "It's important that we have somebody ... with the aptitude and the attitude to do what's right, and not be either agnostic -- or working against it," Tauscher said. The former undersecretary of State for arms control and international security backed the candidacy of Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Eric Swalwell, Stark's Democratic rival. Stark, 80, has resisted U.S. financing of nuclear arms preparation efforts at the laboratory and cited the possible effects of those activities on the surrounding area. Updated congressional districting, though, would place Lawrence Livermore and the California branch of the Sandia National Laboratories back into Stark's area of representation. "We ought to pack [the laboratory] up and move it to Nevada," former LLNL spokesman Jeff Garberson quoted the lawmaker as saying. Stark campaign chief Sharon Cornu, though, on Thursday stated the congressman is "an enthusiastic supporter of basic research and the jobs [the laboratory] creates in our communities." Stark "has been very vocal in his support for the scientific and economic mission of the lab and its important work in maintaining the current nuclear arsenal," but he does not favor "an expansion of the U.S. nuclear stockpile," Cornu said.