Details after the jump...
Oh yeah, tonight's nominee: Richard E. Stickler.
Previous SCUM-O's:
4/14: Philip Cooney
4/15: Dr. Reid Lyon
4/16: Dr. William Banner, Jr.
4/17: Alice S. Fisher
4/18: Dr. W. David Hager
4/21: Robert Coughlin
4/22: Julie A. MacDonald
4/23: Jeffrey Holmstead
Ehat does Senator Edward Kennedy have to say about Dick Stickler?
The Republican leadership’s decision to cancel the vote on the Stickler nomination today shows growing consensus that the nation’s coal miners and their families deserve much better.
Mr. Stickler has a troubling history of bending the rules for mine companies and looking the other way when it comes to the safety of mine workers. Too many brave coal miners have lost their lives in recent months to allow a nominee with his record to go forward. I urge President Bush to reconsider and to nominate someone to this crucial position who is a proven champion for mine workers’ safety.
We've known about this for a long time, or at least e should have known. As Jordan Barab put it at HFireDogLake in May 2006:
I'm not sure if anyone is reading this who matters, but it is clear to me that President Bush should withdraw Richard Stickler's name as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
It's wort reading that article to see why he's right.
Of course, Stickler was a recess appointment in October 2006, since he couldn't be confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. As UMWA President Cecil Roberts told the AFL-CIO's Mike Hall:
Mr. Stickler spent the overwhelming part of his career as a coal mine executive....The nation’s miners cannot tolerate another mine executive running the agency responsible for protecting their health and safety. Too often these mining executives place priority on productivity, but fail to focus on miners’ health and safety. Too many times, MSHA has not done all it is charged to do to promote miners’ health and safety....Miners need someone leading MSHA who makes their heath and safety their number one priority.
We know why, now. As Mike Hall reported at the beginning of this month:
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) was "negligent" when it approved a mining plan that most mine safety experts believe played a major role in the Crandall Canyon coal mine disaster that killed six miners last August, a new report from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Inspector General’s office finds. Three rescue workers were killed several days later attempting to reach the workers.
It's really a pretty damning report, and I leave it to you, dear reader, to absorb it for your own knowledge.
Of course, there were those who saw this coming, and those who recognized last August how negligent this Bushpuppet Administration has been. From Mike Hall's report this month:
Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says the report confirms what the union has alleged for years—that the relationship between mine owners and MSHA is too cozy.
We’ve argued for years that many at the upper levels of MSHA are more interested in helping mine operators increase production than they are in helping miners stay safe. The Kennedy report and the I.G. [Inspector General] report both blow the lid off the internal workings of the agency, exposing for all to see what actually happens and confirming what we’ve said.
In August,
Posters at Democratic Underground had something to say (this link solely for gratuitous reflection).