BlueBloggin

With the ever growing list of products that will kill us or make us sick to the point of being hospitalized; it’s not shocking how these things happen. Once again the Bush administration exhibits their contempt for America. The Consumer Product Safety Commission the very agency that’s in charge of protect us, has been taking trips paid for by industry lobbyist they regulate. Shocking I know that there would be ethics violation associated to the administration.

According to internal records obtained by Washington Post; some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.

• The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency’s acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New OrleansHilton Head Island, S.C. and a golf resort on

• Notable among the trips — commonly described by officials as “gift travel” — was an 11-day visit to China and Hong Kong in 2004 by Stratton, then chairman. The $11,000 trip was paid for by the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, an industry group based in an office suite in Bethesda whose only laboratories are in Asia.

• But CPSC officials defend the industry-paid trips as a way for the agency to be in contact with manufacturing officials and hear their concerns despite a limited travel budget. Commission spokeswoman Julie Vallese said the agency’s counsel and its ethics officers conducted “a full conflict-of-interest analysis” of the trips and stand behind their decisions.

• Several ethics experts and lawyers say the two administrators’ travel records, some of which they reviewed at the request of The Post, suggest a conflict of interest.

• “This is a blatant violation of the ethics code,” said Craig Holman, an expert on governmental ethics law for the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. The rules allow nonfederal sources to pay for trips, “but not if you’re a private party with business pending before the agency,” he said.

• The records show that Nord and Stratton repeatedly accepted gift travel for events from industries subject to CPSC enforcement. In February 2006, the Toy Industry Association provided Nord with rail fare, two nights in a hotel, meals — and even $51 to pay her Union Station parking bill — to attend the American International Toy Fair in New York, one of the industry’s biggest product exhibitions.

I guess that explains how all those tainted toys made it to store shelves. When Bush finally goes every single government agency from the White House to street sweepers will have to be overhauled. For decades to come, Americans will be paying for the countless number of screw ups from the worst president and the worst administration in American history. Now that’s a legacy to be proud of George.

Posted by nytexan November 2nd, 2007 | Category: Bush, CPSC, Consumer Product Safety, Hal Stratton, Nancy Nord, Politics, administration, consumers, ethics | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL