The Hill News

A veteran GOP lawmaker called on Thomas Donilon on Friday to decline President Obama's nomination of Donilon to become the new national security adviser.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) pressured Donilon, the current deputy national security adviser, to decline the new job due to his work in the past as a lobbyist for mortgage giant Fannie Mae and his lack of previous military experience.

"I am calling on Tom Donilon to decline the position of national security advisor to the President," Stearns said in a statement. "His background is in lobbying and politics, and this position should not be politicized. In addition, unlike the person he replaces, former General James Jones, he has no military experience.”

Republicans have seized on Donilon's private sector work for Fannie Mae, the lending-backer that was eventually taken into U.S. government conservatorship at the height of the financial crisis. That company and Freddie Mac remain under g! overnment control, much to the frustration of many GOP lawmakers, who had sought to include reform of the lenders as part of the Wall Street reform bill in Congress earlier this year.

“The American people continue to suffer from the questionable conduct of executives who caused the financial meltdown; yet President Obama is installing some of these executives in high positions within his administration," Stearns said.

He also accused Obama of reneging on a pledge not to employ lobbyists in his White House by elevating Donilon.

"This is totally contrary to his campaign pledge that he would not employ lobbyists," he said.

The White House cautions, though, that Donilon easily the policy Obama put into place at the beginning of his time in office, which prohibited o! fficials from lobbying within the two years prior to joining the administration. Donilon stopped lobbying in 2005.

Updated 11:45 a.m.