Bush Appointment of Product Safety Commissar: Another Fox in Henhouse

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/05/16/bush-appointment-of-product-safety-commissar-another-fox-in-henhouse/

Bush Appointment of Product Safety Commissar: Another Fox in Henhouse

by Mike Hall, May 16, 2007

In television’s golden quiz show era, contestants who didn’t win the big prize often were presented with “lovely parting gifts,” maybe a set of steak knives, a month’s supply of laundry detergent or even a clock radio.

Keeping that tradition alive and well, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is presenting its outgoing senior lobbyist, Michael Baroody, with a parting gift—a $150,000 severance payment as he leaves that stage for a new job, The New York Times reports.

So what you say? Well, Baroody is President Bush’s choice to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the U.S. agency that enforces consumer safety laws against companies, many of which are members of NAM. Consumer groups are lamenting the choice of Baroody, and this latest bit of news is likely to heat up the confirmation battle.

Of course, this is not the first “fox in the henhouse” drama staged by the Bush administration. Like for instance, Bush’s multiple recess appointments of Richard Stickler, a former mine executive, to head the nation’s Mine Safety and Health Administration.

As the Times says about Baroody:

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.

The $150,000 severance, combined with Baroody’s long-time relationships with the same NAM members he may have to investigate, might give the appearance of a conflict of interest. Federal ethics rules say that if an appointee to a federal agency receives an “extraordinary payment” from an employer after the employer learns the employee is being considered for the post, the nominee must remove himself or herself from agency matters concerning the former employer.

FULL story at link.