Senators Leahy and Specter write to Gonzales over Rove's e-mails: Stop defying us
The Chair and Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee aren't happy with the Attorney General. They've subpoenaed the Justice Department to get Karl Rove's e-mails -- but, they haven't gotten them. Now, they're setting a deadline:
In a sharply worded letter made public Wednesday, the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee scolded Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for failing to comply with their requests and subpoena for e-mails of top White House strategist Karl Rove.
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking Republican Arlen Specter (Pa.) have asked for Rove’s e-mails related to the firings of several U.S. attorneys. The two senators are growing more impatient with the Department of Justice and gave Gonzales a strict deadline to produce the documents.
“You ignored the subpoena, did not come forward today, did not produce the documents and did not even offer an explanation for your noncompliance,” the senators wrote late Tuesday. “Your action today is in defiance of the Committee’s subpoena without explanation of any legal basis for doing so.”
collective responsibility
If an industry association works to undermine safety regulations and this leads to injury and death, does the principle of collective responsibility obtain?
It seems that some such principle must be put in force to discourage the likes of the George Bush types and other sociopaths one encounters in public affairs.
The British Petroleum Refinery explosion in Texas City several years ago is such an instance where the policies of this administration sought to appease industry lobbies by relaxation of inspection standards at OSHA, this leading to 17 deaths.
If, for the purpose of achieving bonus criteria defined by cost savings, company executives eliminate mandated safety considerations from products or operations and by this cause death, is this not criminal liability? If not, perhaps it should be. Otherwise, the executives simply fork over stockholder dollars, collect their bonuses, and go scot free. The practical effect is that they suffer not for their culpabilities and transgressions. This is no deterrant, and deterrant is what is needed if deaths and injuries are to be avoided.
Good point
Why should criminals be immune from the law simply because they form a band?
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May 16, 2007 Bush Nominee to
May 16, 2007
Bush Nominee to Get Payment From Old Job
By STEPHEN LABATON
NYT
WASHINGTON, May 15 — A senior lobbyist at the National Association of Manufacturers nominated by President Bush to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission will receive a $150,000 departing payment from the association when he takes his new government job, which involves enforcing consumer laws against members of the association.
The lobbyist, Michael E. Baroody, wrote recently to the commission’s general counsel that the severance was an “extraordinary payment” under a federal ethics rule, requiring him to remove himself from agency matters involving the association for two years. Under the rule, a payment is “extraordinary” if an employer grants it after learning that the employee is being considered for a government position and it is not part of an established compensation or benefits program.
Mr. Baroody said in the letter that the payment would not prevent him from considering matters involving individual companies that are members of the manufacturers’ association, many of whom are defendants in agency proceedings over defective products or have other business before the commission. Nor would it preclude him from involvement with smaller trade groups like those representing makers of home appliances and children’s products that have alliances with the association.
As chairman of the commission, Mr. Baroody’s salary would be $154,600. With the severance payment and an additional lump sum of $44,571 for unused leave time, Mr. Baroody would receive $349,171 this year. That amount, which excludes Mr. Baroody’s pension and retirement payments, nearly matches the $344,607 salary that Mr. Baroody earned as the second-highest-paid executive at the association last year.
The nomination of Mr. Baroody, executive vice president at the association, has provoked heavy criticism from Democrats and consumer groups. He is the latest in a line of industry officials and lobbyists to be given senior jobs by Mr. Bush at federal safety agencies that oversee matters like workplace and mine safety and transportation as the administration has sought to roll back hundreds of regulations that businesses viewed as excessive.
As a major trade organization for the largest companies in the country, the National Association of Manufacturers often has issues before the Consumer Product Safety Commission. It recently prevailed on the agency, for instance, to relax the requirements for when companies must notify the agency about defective products. The White House, Mr. Baroody and the commission would not make available the letter that Mr. Baroody wrote describing the $150,000 payment. A copy was provided by a Democratic Congressional aide who found it in Mr. Baroody’s nomination file in the Senate.
A spokeswoman for the White House, Emily Lawrimore, said the administration was satisfied that Mr. Baroody “has taken the steps necessary to avoid any conflict of interest in the event he is confirmed.”