"Small Government" ?= Death
Yes, too often.
Mine Safety has one of the most ignominious histories in the United States (and Worldwide - it's no mistake that mine abuses figured into the drafts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
Of course, if you suspect that the the GOP are just as often as not up to little good on industry relations, then buying Mine Safety Appliances (NYSE: MSA) after the last year's set of potential safety violations would have proved okay, albeit rather ghastly (the stock seems to be going up 'just because', lately, even).
Permission to enter the latest chapter into the record, courtesy of A. Huffington:
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.
