While I think there is value in bringing people with knowledge of an industry into governmental roles the regulate that industry, it’s important to remember that such roles are meant to regulate and govern the industries in question, not to promote or shill for them.
Which, of course, brings us back to the Bush Administration. Take the Richard Stickler, the federal Mine & Health Safety Administrator, Richard Stickler. As MHSA lead, he was responsible for oversight of places like, oh, Crandall Canyon in Utah. Not surprising for the “business friendly” White House, there was controversy over the appointment.
Increasing attention is now being paid to Stickler, the federal government’s main mine man. Stickler used to be a mining executive who – according to various media reports – ran mines which had several fatalities and “…an incident rate that was often twice the national average.”
Hey! That means he’s got a lot of hands-on experience with safety issues! That’s a good thing, isn’t it?
Also not surprising, Bush didn’t take “No” for an answer, no matter who was saying it.
Also coming to light, is the fact that Stickler’s nomination to head the mine administration was twice rejected by congress and rejected when Republicans were still in charge. Rejected reportedly by senators who were concerned about Stickler’s safety record when he operated mines.
After his nomination was twice rejected by the Senate, President Bush gave Richard Stickler the mine safety job with a recess appointment. That’s a presidential appointment made when congress is not in session.
Hey! I’m the Nominatorer! I get to choose the guys working for me — all that silly “advise and consent” horse pucky aside! It’s the Unitarian Executive, y’know? If I gotta show even my fellow Republicans what’s what, well, it’s not like they’re gonna be getting the shaft, y’know?
And in a proud Katrina-like example of the leadership-in-a-crisis skills that we’ve come to expect from Bush appointees, folks are asking questions about where Stickler was when the whole Crandall Canyon collapse happened.
Finally, congressional investigations and hearings are now expected to look at a key provision of federal mining law, one which requires the U.S. Government to be the main communicator when an accident occurs.
ABC News now notes it took the mine safety administration two days to take public control of the Crandall Canyon Mine. ABC also adds, “Others were irate that [mine owner Bob] Murray was allowed to publicly predict success and contradict MSHA itself while agency officials quietly looked on.”
I expect we’ll be hearing more about Mr Stickler in the days to come.
(via Les)
Well, this is the GOP vision of what they want for America…picture any third world country run buy and for the World Bank of the IMF and that is the goal.
I expect the spineless Lieberdems (the bluedogs) to roll over and play dead as they always have when their GOP masters walk in the door.