Tuesday's win for Republican Linda McMahon was all over the media yesterday and as usual, the MSM was talking about her relationship to WWE. They missed the real issue. I don't care about the "soap opera elements" concerning the WWE and steroids. I'm more interested in her explaining her disregard for employee safety and why she abdicated her responsibility when she served on Connecticut's State Board of Education to review a student athletes' safety law.
Successfully taking the WWE from a small business to what it is today is a great accomplishment and you don't grow that big without being a bit hard nosed. What I'm concerned with is what is she willing to sacrifice for success?
To start, I'd ask:
Ms. McMahon, does the prospect of becoming a Senator have any impact on how you view employee safety? Student safety?
I'd follow up with:
Ms. McMahon, as a Senator, would you support greater safeguards protecting student athletes, all athletes for that matter, from sports related head injuries?
Ms. McMahon, here's a clip of an interview you did with CNN
Ms. McMahon that's what both you and your husband said then,
How does your view differ from your husband's view on repetitive head trauma?
Ms. McMahon, have you revised your position on repetitive brain injuries?
Ms. McMahon, how much science do you need before you will agree that repeated head injuries lead to permanent damage?
Ms. McMahon, can you explain as the former head of WWE, why scientific evidence that repeated head trauma leads to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE was ignored?
Ms. McMahon, can you explain why WWE doesn't follow the NFL on head injury policies to protect WWE athletes?
Professional wrestling is scripted entertainment where the employee's play roles and is different than boxing or mixed martial arts in that way. Despite the scripting and the planned outcomes, the wrestlers do sustain sports injuries like any other professional athlete.
Ms. McMahon, could you explain why the WWE waited until March 2010 to ban chair shots to the head? Why didn't you ban this move when you were CEO of WWE?
Ms. McMahon, could you explain why your wellness program focused on steriod use and didn't include head injuries while you headed up the WWE?
Why did it take until the Spring of this year for the WWE to implement the ImPACT concussion management program when the scientific evidence was piling up years ago?
I have no trouble with McMahon heading up a huge company. What I have a problem with is her denial of scientific, peer reviewed data that points toward a policy change and she blew it. She chose her self-interest over the well being of her employees. She knew or should have known repetitive head injuries is detrimental to her employees and failed to use that knowledge in her policy making public role as a member of Connecticut's State Board of Education. It's fair to assume she will continue to have tunnel vision should she win the Senate seat.
We have an example of how McMahon will behave should she win the Senate seat and Connecticut deserves better.
A man who served an unprecedented 5th term as Connecticut's Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal will do a better job.