CRONY ALERT: National Transportation Safety Board

[barbaraann]

MARK V. ROSENKER
ACTING CHAIRMAN

Mark V. Rosenker of Virginia was designated by President George W. Bush as Vice Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board on April 3, 2003 for a term of two years. He was sworn in as a Member of the Board on March 21, 2003, after Senate confirmation. On April 2, 2005, the President re-designated him Vice Chairman, and he currently serves as Acting Chairman. The President also renominated him for a new 5-year term as a Member, beginning January 1, 2006. Rosenker is currently going through the Senate confirmation process.

Beginning January 20, 2001 until the announcement of his nomination to the Board, Mr. Rosenker served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Military Office. In this capacity, he had responsibility for policies, personnel and plans that involve Department of Defense assets in direct support of the President.

Prior to his White House appointment, Mr. Rosenker was Managing Director of the Washington, DC office for the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), overseeing the development, implementation and management of a national public information program dealing with all facets of organ transplantation in the U.S. Before joining UNOS, Mr. Rosenker served 23 years as Vice President, Public Affairs for the Electronic Industries Alliance.

Mr. Rosenker’s interest and experience in transportation safety dates back more than three decades to his time at a major national public affairs organization. His clients there included the American Safety Belt Council, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and the Safety Helmet Council of America. He later served as Director of Communications for the American Moped/Motorized Bicycle Association.

Mr. Rosenker’s professional experience also includes service in the federal government at the Department of Interior, the Federal Trade Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In 1990, he was appointed by President Bush a member of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). After serving four years, Mr. Rosenker received the Commission’s highest honor, the ABMC Meritorious Service Medal.

A Major General in the Air Force Reserve, General Rosenker entered the Air Force in 1969 through the University of Maryland ROTC program. He is a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College. His current reserve assignment at the Pentagon is Mobilization Assistant to the Commander of the Air Force Reserve Command.

Vice Chairman Rosenker was the Board Member on scene for the Safety Board's investigation into the April 2004 derailment of Amtrak's City of New Orleans near Flora, Mississippi, and the November 2004 crash of a charter jet aircraft in Houston, Texas (the plane was on its way to pick up former President George H.W. Bush for a flight to Latin America). He also was part of the NTSB's Go Team for the June 2003 capsizing of the charter fishing vessel Taki-Tooo, near Garibaldi, Oregon, which took the lives of 11 of the 19 people aboard.

http://www.ntsb.gov/Abt_NTSB/bios/rosenker.htm


Is there something wrong with me that I would like to someone with scientific experience in aviation heading up the NTSB? This man is primarily a PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER and WHITE HOUSE INSIDER.

[Roland99]

1. Sounds like the mess in KY. with Gov. Fletcher's staff doing away with...

merit-based hiring for the transportation department. Fletcher pre-emptively pardoned nine people.

[barbaraann]

2. I think there must have been a lot of highway money involved.

n/t

[dflprincess]

3. A crony as vice chairman of the NTSB?

Another reason for anyone who crosses Bush to avoid small planes.

And when Wellstone was killed, this guy was "Director of the White House Military Office. In this capacity, he had responsibility for policies, personnel and plans that involve Department of Defense assets in direct support of the President."

Yeah, I know, my tinfoil hat is beginning to cut off circulation to my brain.

[barbaraann]

6. Oh, boy, I didn't notice that until you pointed it out.

Gulp.

[IkeWarnedUs]

4. more about NTSB problems

Each of the five NTSB Board members serve for five years with a mix of Democrats and Republicans. The Chairman is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for a two year term. Bush has nominated Ellen Engleman Conners to serve a second term as chairman(person). Her first term expired March 2005. The White House website shows her nomination as pending. The process is supposed to start with the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, but there is no mention of her or the NTSB on their site. In the mean time, Vice Chairman Rosenker (the Vice Chair is not subject to Senate approval) is the acting Chairman.

There have been problems at NTSB for a few years:

NTSB Chair Criticized by Colleagues
St. Petersburg Times 9/20/04

Three members of the National Transportation Safety Board are unhappy with Chairwoman Ellen Engleman Conners for managing the watchdog agency with a heavy hand.

The board members have sent her a letter that indicates she has restricted their travel, blocked their hiring and tried to limit their conversations with NTSB staff and the news media. She has even suggested what clothes they should wear to board meetings.

The three members - Carol Carmody, Richard Healing and Deborah Hersman - wrote 31/2 pages of complaints. They said they wanted to hire their own staff, as NTSB members have in the past. They want to be able to speak with the news media because, under the NTSB's policies, "no board member is precluded from responding to a request for an interview." And they asked for complete freedom to talk with investigators and other NTSB staffers.

<snip>

Engleman Conners, formerly with the U.S. Department of Transportation, was appointed to the safety board by President Bush. In her outer office, she prominently displays large photographs of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. That raised eyebrows among some safety board officials because the agency is supposed to be independent so it can criticize the administration if necessary.

Link: http://www.sptimes.com/2004/09/17/Worldandnation/NTSB_chair_criticized.shtml

Transportation safety board in turmoil
GovExec.com 7/29/05

In his final public appearance as a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Richard Healing put his inner engineer on display.

<snip>

Healing's last day at the board was July 29, a year and a half before his term expires. His resignation leaves the board -- which investigates the causes of most major aviation, rail, marine, and other transportation accidents -- without a member who has a background in engineering or aviation. The lack of such expertise worries transportation safety advocates, who fear that the NTSB's effectiveness will drop. Healing's departure also comes amid some internal turmoil at the board that has employee representatives warning that morale has sunk to a new low.

<snip>

Worries about the lack of engineering or aviation experience began to bubble up when John Goglia, an engineer who held an FAA aircraft mechanic's certificate, resigned from the board last year. Goglia expressed concern that only one member, Healing, remained with an engineering background. Healing is a licensed professional engineer who worked on aviation safety issues for the Navy before his NTSB appointment. "Most of the accidents -- probably all of them -- involve technical issues," Goglia said.

Goglia pointed out a line in the law governing NTSB's operations that says, "At least three members shall be appointed on the basis of technical qualification, professional standing, and demonstrated knowledge in accident reconstruction, safety engineering, human factors, transportation safety, or transportation regulation."

<snip>

Despite the controversies, transportation accident rates are at all-time lows. A major commercial airline crash hasn't occurred in three years. That may, in part, explain why the NTSB is issuing fewer recommendations than at any time since 1970. In addition, NTSB spokeswoman Peduzzi said that the board has changed its recommendations' philosophy. "We are now focusing on issuing the 'must-have' recommendations, rather than the 'nice to have,' " Peduzzi said.

Still, some worry about that approach. Goglia, the former member, said he's concerned that a political desire to show safety improvements is driving the reduction in new recommendations. An outside aviation safety expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he thought that the reductions were designed "not necessarily to improve safety, but just to get the numbers down."

Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0705/072905nj1.htm

[barbaraann]

5. Wow.

Every time you scratch the surface of the Bush Administration, pus oozes out.