Playing politics with miners' lives

This has been a especially deadly year to be a miner. It's never been a safe job, but advocates and unions argue that a corporate-friendly approach to regulation is to blame for the growing numbers of worked killed on the job -- some 35 already this year.

In the face of this growing tragedy, leaders in Washington had a chance to step up to the plate, prove they weren't in the pocket of corporate interests, and take a stand for safety. Unfortunately, as SusanG reveals in a post at DailyKos, they've done exactly the opposite:

On a day when we learn from the AP of 15 safety violation citations issued to the Darby mine in Kentucky in the weeks leading up to the explosion that killed five miners on May 20, we also are treated to the news that the Bush administration gave a job to its nominee to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration, Richard Stickler, whose appointment to head the agency has been blocked in the Senate.

Mr. Stickler, you see, drew the wrath of Robert Byrd and Edward Kennedy (and most labor organizations and other Democratic reps) in hearings - held after the West Virginia mining disasters earlier this year - by stating that he "thinks the laws are generally adequate." Well, that statement plus the fact that he's spent his career on the payrolls of coal mining companies, often advising them on how to bend safety rules in order to increase profit, according to Kennedy, and ... oh, yeah ... he has a history of serving as an executive of companies that have racked up injury and death rates significantly above the national average in the mining industry.

So Senator Byrd put a hold on his nomination. The appointment went into limbo, or so it seemed. But naive citizens should learn to never underestimate the determination of our "unitary executive" government to finagle an industry insider onto the public payroll:

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Labor Dept. Hires Blocked Nominee for Mining Post

The man President Bush chose to oversee federal mine safety laws has not been able to win Senate confirmation but has gone to work anyway at the Labor Department.

The department recently hired Richard Stickler to serve as an adviser on mine safety issues, and he has been on the job a week, Dirk Fillpot, a spokesman for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said yesterday.
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Even more comforting, of course, is the fact that a White House spokesperson denied that Stickler's hiring signals that the administration has given up on his MSHA appointment; he's simply being paid (by us, of course, as well as the taxpaying families of miners everywhere) as a consultant until his proverbial "up or down vote" (yes, this tired phrase was trotted out) comes to pass.

As usual, Jordan at Confined Space has more.