The latest federal scandal
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 01:57 p.m., April 7, 2008
Updated 01:57 p.m., April 7, 2008
Is it safe to fly on a commercial airliner?
That’s a question that many people have asked themselves as they waited to get their shoes out of the scanner or endured a pat-down by a Transportation Safety Agency employee. Probably, they were fretting about terrorists.
But testimony in Congress last week made it clear: The greatest threat to air safety may not be terrorists, but the airlines themselves and the federal government.
A group of inspectors testified to problems with maintenance and inspections they had identified at Southwest Airlines. When they reported their findings, they were threatened with professional reprisals.
The inspectors were employees of the Federal Aviation Administration, not Southwest Airlines. The threats came not from the airline, but from the whistleblowers’ own FAA bosses.
The FAA was created to promote air travel and to oversee airline safety. The best way to do the first job is to do the second job well.
Does the American public still have the strength to be shocked by these revelations? Recent years have seen many instances in which federal regulators cozied up to the industries they were supposed to regulate. Questions have been raised about the behavior of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Justice, Congress and the White House. The nation is threatened with scandal exhaustion.
So, the FAA is helping airlines avoid its own rules about aircraft maintenance and safety? Gee, that’s awful. (Yawn.) Wonder what tomorrow’s scandal will be?
Washington’s “culture of corruption” is a big campaign issue for Democrats this year. But merely labeling the problem does not make it go away. Cleaning up this mess will take Republicans as well as Democrats, and all three branches of government.
When it comes to scandals, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his pricey call girl are small potatoes.
Right now, the biggest prostitution ring in the nation is the government. For the right price, some federal regulators will crawl into bed and cuddle up with anybody.
And private profit trumps public safety every time.