I'll quit my job, says security pick's wife

The wife of homeland security chief nominee Michael Chertoff has agreed to resign her job as a government lobbyist if her husband gets the job.
Meryl Justin Chertoff, a vice president for New Jersey-based Nancy Becker Associates, used to work for one of the Homeland Security Department's agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Brian Besancene, a spokesman for the White House, said that Meryl Chertoff has not personally lobbied homeland security for her clients. But he did not know whether anyone else at the company had - and he referred calls to the company.

Neither Becker nor Meryl Chertoff returned several calls and E-mails yesterday.

The White House later issued a brief statement, saying the wife of the homeland security nominee "has announced that she's resigning from the firm effective on his confirmation. The step she's taking is above and beyond what's legally required and she's taking that step so that there's not even the appearance of conflict."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/270883p-231982c.html

by Halliburton.