12/1/2023 0 Comments Creating a personal budget lanceIt was unclear last night just when Lance will actually leave the OMB and return to Georgia. Lance said he was resigning "because of the amount of controversy and the continuing nature of it." Implicitly answering that the price was too high. "However," Lance wrote, "I have to ask the question, at what price do I remain?" In his letter to the President, Lance said he hoped the American people would feel that "I have met well my responsibilities and performed well my tasks." He said he was convinced he could continue as an effective budget director. Morever, Carter added, all the publicity surrounding the controversy had created public doubts "about the integrity of me and our government." He said Lance had personal reasons for wanting to return to Georgia, particularly the need to deal with his mounting personal financial problems. The President acknowledged that the Lance affair had diverted his attention and taxed Lance's time to deal with government matters. It was clear, both from Carter's remarks and Lance's letter of resignation, that the controversy surrounding him would not disappear and would eventually inflict severe damage on the entire administration. "Nothing that I have heard or read has shaken my belief in Bert's ability or his integrity," the President said yesterday. The resignation, the result of weeks of allegations about Lance's free-wheeling financial style and conduct as the head of two Georgia banks before he joined the government, brought to an abrupt halt the public career of Carter's first Cabinet-level appointee, a man whom the President described yesterday as irreplaceable to him.īut in accepting Lance's rsignation, Carter was as adamant as ever in defending his friend's competence and itergrity, employing language similar to that of his news conference one month and three days ago when he declared, "Bert, I'm proud of you." He is close to me and always will be, and I think he has made the right decision because it would be difficult for him to devote full time to his responsibilities in the future." "I accept Bert's resignation with the greatest sense of regret and sorrow," the President told a nationally televised news conference. President Carter, his eyes brimming with tears, yesterday accepted the resignation of his close friend Bert Lance as the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
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