ProdigalHorn
10,000+ Posts
The LinkIn the smallest stories we sometimes find the biggest themes. The small story of the past month has been dysfunction at a backwater federal agency known as the Chemical Safety Board. Yet in this tale of obstruction, bullying and lawlessness we find what is now the clear pattern of the Obama administration.
If you've never heard of the CSB, join the rest of humanity. Created by Congress in 1990, the CSB is charged with probing industrial chemical accidents. Like the National Transportation Safety Administration, it's a rare entity with no regulatory authority; CSB's only job is to investigate and make recommendations. Its board and staff have mainly been wonky safety experts, and the agency largely devoid of political controversy.
That changed with this administration. The scandal popped in late 2013 when the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general, Arthur Elkins (charged with CSB oversight), sent a "seven-day letter" to Congress. Said letters are rare, since they are used (reads the statute) to convey to legislators "particularly serious or flagrant problems" at an agency.
Mr. Elkins charged that CSB leadership was obstructing an investigation into whistleblowing retaliations. The House Oversight Committee was alarmed enough to initiate its own probe, the report of which was issued in mid-June, accompanied by a humdinger of a hearing.
The star witness was Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso, nominated by President Obama in 2010 as CSB chairman. Mr. Moure-Eraso came out of academia but had also spent 15 years working as an industrial hygienist engineer for unions. The Oversight report shows he decided to unilaterally turn the investigating body into a de facto regulator along the European model—ginning up safety recommendations that would impose onerous new burdens on industry.
CSB staff told Congress that seasoned investigators who tried sticking to the facts of investigations—rather than the Moure-Eraso agenda—were bullied, humiliated in front of peers, and stripped of duties by senior CSB leadership. Since Mr. Moure-Eraso took over, at least nine senior employees (nearly one-quarter of the agency) have left. This has crippled CSB investigations and piled up their costs.
CSB once tended to get reports out within six months of an accident; today the average is three to four years. It is still working on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill and has racked up $4.25 million in expenses on that investigation alone. The average CSB probe runs about $400,000.
Mr. Moure-Eraso has shown equal contempt for fellow board members, cloistering himself with handpicked senior staff and defying board authority. When the board wanted more time to approve an annual budget, Mr. Moure-Eraso ordered staff to spend money anyway. When the board obtained advice from CSB General Counsel Chris Warner on how it might prohibit the chairman from making more senior personnel hires without the board's (required) approval, the chairman retaliated by demanding Mr. Warner's resignation. When Mr. Warner refused, Mr. Moure-Eraso hired his own general counsel (without board approval) and demoted Mr. Warner.
An Obama board appointee, Dr. Beth Rosenberg, resigned in May—after only 17 months. She told Congress in June that those who disagreed with "senior leadership" were "marginalized and vilified," and that the "level of dysfunction" had made her continuance impossible.
Then there's the IG investigation. Turns out some CSB employees went with complaints to the Office of Special Counsel, tasked with protecting federal whistleblowers. The IG, Mr. Elkins, in 2012 began investigating an allegation that someone at the Office—in violation of law—had informed the Moure-Eraso general counsel, Richard Loeb, of the identities of the whistleblowers. Concerned there had been retaliation within the CSB, Mr. Elkins demanded that Mr. Loeb hand over documents.Mr. Loeb has testified that nobody at OSC gave him names, but we can't know since he and Mr. Moure-Eraso refused to comply with the IG requests. He informed Mr. Elkins that the documents were covered by attorney-client privilege—a stunt never before tried, since it utterly violates the law decreeing that IGs have unfettered access. This is what prompted the seven-day letter, and Mr. Elkins reported Wednesday that CSB is still refusing to give him documents.
What's notable is just how familiar this tale feels. It might be Gregory Jaczko, the former Obama head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, whose fellow commissioners accused him of bullying and unilateral action. Or maybe the National Labor Relations Board, where President Obama's three illegally appointed board members joined with a never-confirmed acting general counsel to churn out extralegal opinions.
It has shades of the National Mediation Board, where an Obama majority muscled out 75 years of established labor policy to help unions. It feels like OSHA and its dust rule. Or the Justice Department and its armed raid of Gibson Guitar. Or the IRS and its targeting. Or Health and Human Services and its unilateral rewrites of ObamaCare.
It feels, in short, like President Obama. The president says openly that neither Congress nor laws will keep him from implementing his agenda. That attitude now seems to reign at every body in Washington, down to the teeny CSB. Blame Mr. Moure-Eraso for dysfunction, but remember that he's just emulating the boss.
If you've never heard of the CSB, join the rest of humanity. Created by Congress in 1990, the CSB is charged with probing industrial chemical accidents. Like the National Transportation Safety Administration, it's a rare entity with no regulatory authority; CSB's only job is to investigate and make recommendations. Its board and staff have mainly been wonky safety experts, and the agency largely devoid of political controversy.
That changed with this administration. The scandal popped in late 2013 when the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general, Arthur Elkins (charged with CSB oversight), sent a "seven-day letter" to Congress. Said letters are rare, since they are used (reads the statute) to convey to legislators "particularly serious or flagrant problems" at an agency.
Mr. Elkins charged that CSB leadership was obstructing an investigation into whistleblowing retaliations. The House Oversight Committee was alarmed enough to initiate its own probe, the report of which was issued in mid-June, accompanied by a humdinger of a hearing.
The star witness was Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso, nominated by President Obama in 2010 as CSB chairman. Mr. Moure-Eraso came out of academia but had also spent 15 years working as an industrial hygienist engineer for unions. The Oversight report shows he decided to unilaterally turn the investigating body into a de facto regulator along the European model—ginning up safety recommendations that would impose onerous new burdens on industry.
CSB staff told Congress that seasoned investigators who tried sticking to the facts of investigations—rather than the Moure-Eraso agenda—were bullied, humiliated in front of peers, and stripped of duties by senior CSB leadership. Since Mr. Moure-Eraso took over, at least nine senior employees (nearly one-quarter of the agency) have left. This has crippled CSB investigations and piled up their costs.
CSB once tended to get reports out within six months of an accident; today the average is three to four years. It is still working on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill and has racked up $4.25 million in expenses on that investigation alone. The average CSB probe runs about $400,000.
Mr. Moure-Eraso has shown equal contempt for fellow board members, cloistering himself with handpicked senior staff and defying board authority. When the board wanted more time to approve an annual budget, Mr. Moure-Eraso ordered staff to spend money anyway. When the board obtained advice from CSB General Counsel Chris Warner on how it might prohibit the chairman from making more senior personnel hires without the board's (required) approval, the chairman retaliated by demanding Mr. Warner's resignation. When Mr. Warner refused, Mr. Moure-Eraso hired his own general counsel (without board approval) and demoted Mr. Warner.
An Obama board appointee, Dr. Beth Rosenberg, resigned in May—after only 17 months. She told Congress in June that those who disagreed with "senior leadership" were "marginalized and vilified," and that the "level of dysfunction" had made her continuance impossible.
Then there's the IG investigation. Turns out some CSB employees went with complaints to the Office of Special Counsel, tasked with protecting federal whistleblowers. The IG, Mr. Elkins, in 2012 began investigating an allegation that someone at the Office—in violation of law—had informed the Moure-Eraso general counsel, Richard Loeb, of the identities of the whistleblowers. Concerned there had been retaliation within the CSB, Mr. Elkins demanded that Mr. Loeb hand over documents.Mr. Loeb has testified that nobody at OSC gave him names, but we can't know since he and Mr. Moure-Eraso refused to comply with the IG requests. He informed Mr. Elkins that the documents were covered by attorney-client privilege—a stunt never before tried, since it utterly violates the law decreeing that IGs have unfettered access. This is what prompted the seven-day letter, and Mr. Elkins reported Wednesday that CSB is still refusing to give him documents.
What's notable is just how familiar this tale feels. It might be Gregory Jaczko, the former Obama head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, whose fellow commissioners accused him of bullying and unilateral action. Or maybe the National Labor Relations Board, where President Obama's three illegally appointed board members joined with a never-confirmed acting general counsel to churn out extralegal opinions.
It has shades of the National Mediation Board, where an Obama majority muscled out 75 years of established labor policy to help unions. It feels like OSHA and its dust rule. Or the Justice Department and its armed raid of Gibson Guitar. Or the IRS and its targeting. Or Health and Human Services and its unilateral rewrites of ObamaCare.
It feels, in short, like President Obama. The president says openly that neither Congress nor laws will keep him from implementing his agenda. That attitude now seems to reign at every body in Washington, down to the teeny CSB. Blame Mr. Moure-Eraso for dysfunction, but remember that he's just emulating the boss.
