Connect the Dots: Karl Rove's Politics Uber Alles Strategy and the Utah Mine Disaster

What makes Karl Rove's politics uber alles strategy chilling is connecting the dots between it and the Utah mining disaster.

Rove's unprecedented use of federal assets for political gain, laid out in yesterday's Washington Post, meant that every tool at his disposal was employed to help foster his goal of a permanent Republican majority. "It was all politics, all the time," Rep. Henry Waxman told WaPo.

"It was total commitment," marveled Rep. Thomas Davis III, who worked closely with Rove in 2002 on the GOP's House reelection campaign. "We knew history was against us, and [Rove] helped coordinate all of the accoutrements of the executive branch to help with the campaign."

These accouterments included, in the words of the Post, "enlisting political appointees at every level of government in a permanent campaign that was an integral part of [Rove's] strategy to establish electoral dominance." But Rove's plan involved much more than having Cabinet officials make election year visits bearing federal goodies to the districts of embattled Republicans; it also meant using the government's regulatory mechanisms to reward major GOP contributors. Major contributors such as Big Coal.

Coal mining interests have donated more than $12 million to federal candidates since the Bush-era began with the 2000 election cycle, with 88% of that money -- $10.6 million -- going to Republicans.

And what did that largess buy the coal mining industry? Mine safety regulators far more interested in looking out for the financial well-being of mine owners than for the physical well-being of miners.

Exhibit A is Bush's "mine safety" czar, Richard Stickler, whose agency both approved the controversial mining technique used at the Crandall Canyon Mine before the collapse, and oversaw the rescue operation.

Stickler is a former coal company manager with such a lousy safety record at the companies he'd run that his nomination as head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration was twice rejected by Senators from both parties, forcing Bush to sneak him in the back door with a recess appointment.

In other words, the guy the White House tapped to protect miners is precisely the kind of executive the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration is supposed to protect miners from. And now Stickler is the one who will lead the "investigation" into what happened in Utah -- unless there is enough public outcry to force a truly independent investigation.

Of course, industry-friendly regulators like Stickler have been the rule under Bush, not the exception. Indeed, Bush's first mine safety czar was Dave Lauriski, a former mining executive who had earned a reputation for aggressively defending the interests of mine owners. For chapter and verse on Lauriski, read this terrific article by Ken Ward, Jr. in the Washington Monthly, but here is the nub of the matter: Lauriski took office promising mine owners that he would "collaborate more with stakeholders on regulatory initiatives" and become "less confrontational" with mine operators.

Exactly what did he mean by "less confrontational"? According to Ward, during his tenure, Lauriski "filled [MSHA's] top jobs with former industry colleagues, dropped more than a dozen safety proposals initiated during the Clinton administration, and cut almost 200 of the agency's 1,200 coal mine inspectors. Mine-safety experts have linked many of these actions to the causes of deadly mine safety accidents since 2001." Among the mine-safety regulations Lauriski dropped was one that would have deepened investigations of mining accidents.

No doubt Murray and the owners of the coal mines where over 170 miners have died since Lauriski gutted those safety regulations are happy that he did.

Lauriski resigned after 60 Minutes revealed that the MSHA had improperly awarded no-bid contracts to coal industry companies to which he was tied.

It's worth noting that the person Bill Clinton appointed to head MSHA, J. Davitt McAteer, was not a coal-industry insider -- indeed, he had been a key force behind the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, had worked with Ralph Nader on workplace safety reforms, and was running a public-interest law firm focused on occupational safety when Clinton tapped him. He therefore came to the job with a very different perspective than the one required by Rove's objective of using government agencies as accoutrements for the GOP's permanent campaign.

Putting foxes in charge of the henhouse has been standard operating procedure for Rove's hyper-politicized White House. The long list of industry hacks given key slots at federal agencies will forever stand as the ultimate tribute to Rove's effectiveness in turning the federal government into an arm of the Republican Party -- and a payback machine for those that funded it. For a primer on the hackocracy, check out the New Republic, TomPaine.com, and the Denver Post.

In far too many cases, these cynical appointments that put the Party's interest above the public interest, have left our country less safe, our environment more polluted, our fellow citizens less healthy -- and, in the case of the Crandall Canyon Mine, three of them dead, and six others in all likelihood entombed in the mine forever.

Karl Rove may be on his way out the door, but the destructive legacy of his politicization of the federal government will be with us for many years to come.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[CAWebb]

Arianna thank you for your coverage of the mine disaster....the one in Utah and the one in Washington. The linking of the Sec. of Labor to the senator from Kentucky....a large coal mining state needs to be covered. If any office should be aware of the plight of the miner...it is the wife of a Kentucky senator. Instead...business as usual and the working man and woman has no voice. Your coverage has given this story more "legs" than it would have had. Your coverage is needed to continue the pressure to make changes in law and oversight that are very necessary. I continue to hope that some issue this admiinstration has damaged will take fire and create an outcry. Maybe this is it. As the daughter of a Kentucky coal miner, I thank you in his behalf.

[gotalife]

Our media is not covering Iraq so the blogs should step up.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...

Marlaki's visit to Syria and Russia's sale of missiles to Syria are not being reported.

You can get stories from the British media like the Guardian, the Times, BBC, etc...

[truthyguy]

Everyone knows the story behind the failure to regulate mine safety.

The question is what is going to be done about it. Is anyone going to be called to account?

[deminmo]

We need an old fashioned stand up protest, in the largest numbers that can be fit into Washington. Pick a day...sometime soon, everyone gets there by bus, train, plane, car, carpool, whatever. Carry signs, shout slogans but do it all without resorting to riots and chaos. Could it be done?

[gullible]

Sounds good! But, some doubt that the media would explain the 'event's' purpose accurately and with complete video ocverage. America could well remain in the 'dark'.

[StevenAlexander4th]

Having read most of the posts, aren't what most of you saying is as follows:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — THAT WHENEVER ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT BECOMES DESTRUCTIVE OF THESE ENDS, IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR TO ABOLISH IT, AND TO INSTITUTE NEW GOVERNMENT, LAYING ITS FOUNDATION ON SUCH PRINCIPLES AND ORGANIZING ITS POWERS IN SUCH FORM, AS TO THEM SHALL SEEM MOST LIKELY TO AFFECT THEIR SAFETY AND HAPPINESS."

[DrMikeC]

Forgive me. I am a foreigner and would like somebody to explain just why America elected Mr Bush...twice.

[AxelDC]

Once was a mistaken; Twice is a character flaw.

[HartlessBeest]

DrMikeC. This is America and very strange things happen here all the time. As for Bush being elected twice, I am even more baffled than you.

[AxelDC]

These are just the fruits of America's plutacracy. Democrats are just as wholly owned by corporations as Republicans. Look at how Ms. Healthcare Reform 1993 is now Miss Healthcare Industry Queen 2008.

Bush was bought and paid for by the "Mavericks" and "Pioneers" who paid for his campaigns. Hell, Ken Lay flew him around Texas to get him elected governor. Corporations don't stay in business by wasting their money, and they expect a return on their investment. Bush has yet to put public interest ahead of his corporate paymasters' profits.

Nine dead miners are just acceptable losses in the accounting books of coal mine owners who save millions by not having those pesky regulators breathing down their necks. An increase in accidents is just an additional cost to bear in search of higher profits.

[irishmail42]

Partisanship has always been a part of American politics and elections. However, in the recent past, after an election the game playing simmered down in favor of providing the people with a modicum of by-partisan policies. But Karl Rove and George Bush, in an effort to create a “permanent Republican majority” have raised the stakes to a new and dangerous level by continuing to play the game as part of governing. After almost eight years, I can only hope than a majority of the American people recognize this fact and reject the price the country must pay for such behavior.

[woodywood]

Rove has done severe damage to Our Nation and is responsible for the wedge driven deep into the heart of Our People. He is not a Genius, He is a Mad Man. Much like Manson was a Mad Man. He should be FULLY INVESTIGATED for crimes against the People and Crimes against the Government. History will not sugar cote this discussing vile Man.

[GW Crow]

Ah, I'm just sick of it all! A people governed by terror, and wars on terror, a President that is now off to see the wizard for a brain, inside the beltway/outside the beltway....housing market tanking, gas prices soaring...New Orleans...Michael Vick...judges freeing perverts and killers...Chinese goods that are bads....China & Russia engaged in war 'games'....Hillary, Rudy, McCain and Obama......and let us not forget the other guy, Osama....the one that Bush was going after that ended up being the one he didn't think much about....and then 'Mission Accomplish­ed'.....an­d to think that the Hale-Bopp comet does not come back around for another 2000 and some odd years....pull the trigger 'cause I'm ready to go now!!!

[TimeToThink]

Well, as Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Well most of the people were fooled for some years because they didn't do their homework or care a whit about the country as long as they were not drownding in the cost of their self-induulgences.

Now they are drownding (many of you are who now preach so loudly). And now they start to look. All out of self interest only of course, but that's better than not looking at all.

And guess what? We have a country in shambles. And now you moan "How could this happen? Damn Bush and his group!" as if most of you didn't give him either active or passive permission.

Bless you who saw it around the time of Bush's election and started the protests. But you are few. Now the rest of you want someone to rescue you???

Rescue yourselves - you have the power. 'We have met the enemy and they are us." - Pogo

[frank67]

The corporate MSM never provides NEWS. It's all BS. CNN has been trying to outFOX FOX ever since Ted Turner left!
"An OPEN mind is CLOSED." Sounds like something Dan "Potatoe" Quale would say! Come to think of it - GWB talks like Quale - gibberish!

[realitytrumpsbull]

China is coming...India has all our information...these guys sold out, next step, run for the hills...

[daus]

Arianna,

Great post. I wasn't aware of the mining situation with regard to Rove. I'm not surprised given what has transpired since Bush stole the presidency. To this point, they have effectively done away with the three branches of government...which was formed with the purpose of checks and balances.

Congress is apparently being paid under the table, including the democrats. If not, they're the most "whimpie" body ever to grace Washington. We had BETTER elect John Edwards or we can count on this crap continuning far into the future. Edwards became aware of all this mess when he was a one-term senator. This is why he is divesting his holdings in Fortress funds who prey on poor people...giving them loans they know can't be paid back. Thus the reason Edwards highlights these crooks in Washington.

[abluevoice]

As bad as the short term effects of this corrupt Republican rule for 7 years as directed by Rove has been, the long term bill is starting to come due. These self and corporate serving political pimps that have occupied the White House, the Congress and the Supreme Court have put in place structrual changes that have destroyed our once great consensus based Democracy.
Arianna points out one of the bills comming due in safety regulations in the mining business turned over to the anti-regulators. The environment protection turned over to the polluters is still comming due, and the biggest bill is comming due on the overwhelming debt these Republicans have sunk this country with. The pending tightening of credit, the downfall of the housing market that has kept this phony Republican economy propped up, is another bill comming due. The costs of this war on the wrong battlefield in Iraq is another bill comming due. The costs of tax cuts for the rich and prescription drug payoffs for insurance and drug companies is another bill comming due. And how will they pay for these bills? They will print more money making the the dollar even more worthless in the world economy and leading to a recession and inflation unlike anything seen before. But they will walk away in 08 and blame it all on the Demos, who continue to turn the other cheek to the Republicans abuse of power and the American people.