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

[der Alte]

talk continues to wind around about whether the Dems will turn things around. Pls.

our nxt prez is going to be Newt Gingrich who will continue the wrecking & destroying he showed was so popular when he was in the House.

I just don't have a good feeling right now & hilly doesn't make me feel better.

[HLM]

I missed yesterday's cut-off for suggested questions for candidates, but today's post makes the question I would pose even more relevant and on-topic. It is this:

"It's been said that politics is the delicate art of getting money from the rich and votes from the poor, based on the promise of protecting each from the other...

If you are elected, whom will you protect?"

[der Alte]

call me crazy, but I have been hearing about mine safety all my life & I'm old now. nothing much ever seems to happen.

I have the notion that Sen. Robt Byrd could push thru mine safety measures that have been around so long they've got cobwebs on. Someone assure me he has always looked out for WV interests besides roads. If mine safety is more than he can manage, he should take his ret. check & go home.

[smendler]

You can sum this all up in one handy phrase, which I happily hand out for anyone who wants to run with it -- put this on bumperstickers and buttons and t-shirts and billboards:

"CAPITAL DOESN'T CARE"

Capital doesn't care ... about people's lives, or national borders, or communities, or laws, or nature itself. It just wants to make more capital, and to that end it will devour everything it can into get its maw. That is the nature of capital.

It is up to people to care, of course - but people get caught up in capital's desires, and imagine that because they are in service to capital, they don't have to care either. They therefore justify heinous action (or inaction) by saying things like "business is business."

The term for this is simple and well-known:

It's called "selling one's soul."

[Bob B.]

Here's my letter to our local paper on Turd Blossom:
I keep reading in your paper and hearing so-called pundits talk about this guy Karl Rove as some sort of special genius --the "architect." Let's see, as best I can figure his architectural accomplishments include playing a major role in orchestrating the following: dividing our nation almost irreconcilably while spouting claims of being a uniter, generating the largest increase ever in the country's deficit, using government offices to further narrow political advantage, ignoring the obvious warnings of 9/11, failing to apprehend those who planned 9/11, invading and occupying Iraq needlessly and arguably illegally, obliterating the US military's morale and capacity, disgustingly and incompetently handling the effects of Katrina, destroying more jobs than anyone since Hoover, stagnating wages except for the super rich, doubling gas prices, heightening man's contributions to global warming, subverting and ignoring credible science, adding to the destruction of the environment, exacerbating Middle East crises, ruining US international reputation and alliances, causing sky-rocketing trade deficits, exporting US jobs at record pace, blatantly ignoring centuries-old legal and moral principles, taking major steps to destroy public education, disregarding and even reversing US commitments regarding nuclear weapons, and the list goes on and on. If we have come to the place of honoring someone of this ilk, heaven help us all.

[yellowdogSC]

Works for me.

THANKS!

[Pete Ross]

What an accurate descriptive statement of the Bush criminal conspiracy!

[ProgressiveChange]

If those committed to change ever got together instead of wringing their hands and pursuing diverse agendas, progress would be probable.
The common denominator and foe is corporate finance of our election campaigns. While hundreds, if not thousands, of consumer advocacy, grass-roots, and labor organizations pursue specific goals, they function in a 'silo effect' environment. They don't meet or communicate on common ground. The current system impairs them all from achieving their goals.

Imagine a democracy which prohibited private financial contributions to political campaigns and funded them through tax revenues exclusively.

Imagine a government, which subjected politicians who accept jobs as lobbyists or other shils for corporations within a decade of leaving office, to criminal prosecution.

Imagine a voting system devoid of corruptible and dysfunctional machines, polling places, voter nullification, and corrupt election workers.

We have a strictly vote-by-mail system in Oregon. Ballots are received a few weeks or so in advance of the elections. They require signatures by voters. Imagine the financial savings to the public in a system devoid of thousands of machines and polling places, payment of election day workers, transportation costs for equipment, lost work time on election day, etc. Imagine the convenience to voters --- no adverse, weather, driving, or standing in line constraints. Oregon's 'voter turnout' is amongst the highest in the nation consistently.

Unless we fundamentally change our campaign finance and voting practices, we face the real prospect of never realizing:

Elected officials totally accountable to voters

Trustworthy election results

Changing the profile and upgrading the quality of candidates attracted to serve in public office

[Meteor]

Question: People should know whether or not Karl Rove has a security detail to protect him while he makes the rounds to the TV studios of the MSM. Who is paying for it?

People are suckers to support either party that pays the MSM millions to bring us more of the same goddam Fascist drivel.

[Paul]

How do you get even with a guy who publicly calls you "turd blosson"?

Become his political advisor, elect him to the Presidency and then have his legacy be that of the worst person to hold the office in 100 years.

Karl Rove - Master of Payback.

[tandrmcdonald]

Re: Stickler.
Why am I not surprised? Now, what do we do about it?
Gramma Rose

[ama nesciri]

I can't understand the fondness for the title "czar" in America.

Noun 1. cza rczar - a male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917)
tsar, tzar
Russia - a former empire in eastern Europe and northern Asia created in the 14th century with Moscow as the capital; powerful in the 17th and 18th centuries under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great when Saint Petersburg was the capital; overthrown by revolution in 1917
crowned head, monarch, sovereign - a nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right
2. czar - a person having great power
autocrat, despot, tyrant - a cruel and oppressive dictator
[cf The Free Dictionary]

[FWIW-Barneygoogle]

Thank you, Arianna! You speak for us all when you lambast those Repugnicans for the damage they have done to our union! We now have a nation '...of the corporate, by the corporate and for the corporate'. Period. I hope that I'm wrong, but I've heard whispers that BushCo are planning to start a war in the Middle East before the end of this administration and that they will use that war to, for the first time in history, suspend elections and declare Marshal Law in order to keep the Bush Adinistration in control. Don't know if it's true or not, but, if so,it may indicate that it is truly time for the people to rise up and take back their government from those who have stolen it from them. Stay tuned!

[noamjunior]

Lets not forget 9-11 happened in part because Bush's political cronies, appointed to national security positions ignored the obvious warnings and advice from previous national security personnel.

[Cthulhubob]

Yes, brave men like George Tenet and Louis Freeh would have protected us. Oh wait, Tenet was still the director of the CIA and Freeh left 10 weeks prior to 9/11. Damn. If only they hadn't been ignored by Bush. I'm sure they had detailed plans of the attacks and could have told him how to stop it. Obviously Bush wanted the attacks to happen. Remember, fire doesn't melt steel.

[Pete Ross]

Try Richard Clark who tried tirelessly to warn the Bush Cabal but was fired and replaced - along with virtually everyone else who was competent from previous administrations.
Read his book, Against All Enemies, and see what he says about how the Bushwackers were warned (by him among others) and ignored the warnings.

[Progressive-Pauline]

“Sins, like chickens, come home to roost”
--Charles W Chesnutt
When will the chickens come home for this administration? The detriment this administration has caused is so far reaching and so profound. We will be digging our selves out for years to come (absolutely no pun intended). Karl Rove and his political shenanigans placed each and every American at risk for years to come. We have know idea how much damage this administration has caused.

[StephenB]

Arianna,

You get my vote first time every time! But having said that I've got to tell you that you're making this one way too complicated -- the dots go like this:

Bush Disaster

Those dots connect every time.

[Moondancer1]

And BushCo is the "pro-life" administration. What a cast of reprehensible characters - every one of them.

[Pete Ross]

"Pro-Life" and homophobia are the tools that Rove and the rest of the Bush crime cabal use in order to gain total support from their core supporters based on religious faith - The fundies whose leadership placed their religious agendas above the health and well being of our country. Some of them are just now realizing how badly they have been used.
Under the Bushies they have all but gutted the First Amendment because of its mandate for separation of church and state and government's capability to function in general because they do not believe in paying taxes. Unfortunately this will be hard to address because Bush has loaded the Supreme Court and we will see repugnant, regressive decisions coming from it for a long, long time.