Washington – The head of the Small Business Administration, criticized for his agency’s handling of loans to aid recovery after the 9/11 attacks and last year’s hurricanes, announced Tuesday that he was stepping down.
Hector Barreto, picked by President Bush to head the SBA in 2001, said he was leaving the administration to head the Latino Coalition, a Hispanic advocacy group based in Washington.
Bush chose a business executive, Steven Preston, to replace Barreto. Preston is an executive vice president at the ServiceMaster Co. The Senate must confirm his nomination.
Barreto’s departure comes at a time when new White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten is shaking up the administration in the face of record-low approval ratings for the president.
A spokesman for Barreto said he had not been forced to resign by the White House.
“He was not asked to leave,” the SBA spokesman said. “He has been invited to join this prominent Latino organization, and he has decided to do so.”
The Associated Press reported last year that a substantial amount of nearly $5 billion in SBA terrorism recovery loans awarded after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had gone to companies that had not wanted the loans or were unaware they would would receive government money earmarked for victims.
In December, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Small Business Committee, called for Barreto’s resignation, contending that he “has simply run SBA straight into the ground.”
