Former DP World Exec's Nomination Held Up (Bill Nelson-F)

A Democratic senator said Thursday that he'll prevent an executive with a Dubai-owned company from being appointed head of the agency that oversees ports until he's sure the company is selling all its U.S. port operations to an American buyer.

President Bushin January nominated David Sanborn, DP World's director of operations for Europe and Latin America, to head the Maritime Administration. Shortly after the nomination, DP World's planned purchase of a company that runs six major U.S. port facilities became the center of a roiling political controversy.

DP World did complete its purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., but DP World has since agreed to sell its U.S. port operations to a U.S. company within six months. Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) of Florida said he'd hold the nomination until he knew more about Sanborn's role in the process that allowed DP World to purchase the port operations in the first place.

"Foreign government-owned companies should not operate ports," said Nelson spokesman Dan Shapiro. He said Nelson would keep the hold on Sanborn until he knows for sure what arrangements DP World has made to dispose of the port operations. "We want to wait and see how it's worked out and then we'll reconsider the nomination," Shapiro said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060317/ap_on_go_co/ports_maritime_appointee_1

is running for re-election here. True it's against Cruella Harris, but it's time the DINO did something.