The GOP As Bully

(Via The Daily Kos) : Opponents of 'Clear Skies' Bill Examined

The chairman of a Senate committee that oversees environmental issues has directed two national organizations that oppose President Bush's major clean-air initiative to turn over their financial and tax records to the Senate.

Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), who heads the Environment and Public Works Committee, asked for the documents 10 days after a representative of the two groups criticized Bush's "Clear Skies" proposal before a Senate subcommittee. Inhofe is the leading sponsor of the administration bill, which is deadlocked in his panel.

The executive director of the two organizations, which represent state and local air pollution control agencies and officials, charged that the request was an attempt to intimidate critics of the measure.

The organizations in question are the incredibly boringly named "State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators" (or STAPPA) and "Assn. of Local Air Pollution Control Officials" (or ALAPCO.) If anyone is looking for a possible insomnia cure head on over to their common website.

The committee's majority staff director, Andrew Wheeler, said the request for the groups' documents did not stem from their criticism of the legislation. He said the panel wanted to determine whether the groups represented only regulators' views or whether they also were subsidized by outside interests, including environmentalists or foundations.

The funding, Wheeler said, "goes to who they're speaking for."

...The Senate committee asked for the information because it had long-standing concerns about the decision-making process of the state air pollution group, and was pursuing those questions as part of its oversight responsibility, Wheeler said.

There is the barest hint of plausibility to this statement. If you look at the STAPPA/ALAPCO publications there isn't any indication as to how common policy positions are reached by the organizations. Without that transparency it is a little difficult, at least for a complete outsider like myself, to be sure the national organization is indeed representing the views of its members. However, there isn't much to indicate that they aren't. You can go read their testimony on things like Mercury emissions, or a letter they wrote to Rep. Joe Barton on the Kyoto Protocols, and while they do have the criticisms to make there doesn't seem to be a partisan quality to them.

"It has nothing to do with 'Clear Skies,' " he [Wheeler] said. "If we wanted to intimidate them, we would have done it before they testified, not after."

True, after the fact it looks like punishment not intimidation. STAPPA and ALAPCO have been around and testifying before Congress for over 30 years, so it is kind of hard to believe the GOP's "We just want to get to know you" line. I suppose the Republican's believe that since so many more state governments are in GOP hands organizations like these shouldn't be giving them a hard time. But I don't know why they should think that, since these groups are made up of professional administrators and not party hacks. (Thank God.)

That is not to say that I'm buying the Daily Kos's line that this proves that the Republicans are "fascists." (What DOESN'T prove that for the DK'ers?) But it does prove that some Republicans are depressingly thin-skinned.