Recently on these pages in The Examiner’s Big Green Special Report, I criticized the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for her disgraceful treatment of New England fishermen.
Marine scientist and career environmentalist Dr. Jane Lubchenco had promised her Senate confirmation panel to bring peace in the long war between commercial fishermen and federal regulators.
Instead, she made it worse, imposing harsh new “catch-shares” fishery regulations, while doing nothing about outrageous fines against fishermen for minor infractions. The revenue from those fines was stashed in a wretchedly mismanaged Asset Forfeiture Fund.
The day after my critique, Dr. Lubchenco was conspicuously absent from a landmark meeting convened in Boston for fishermen and officials by her boss, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who made a stunning announcement.
Locke was going to do what Lubchenco didn’t, bring sweeping reforms to fisheries management. He would also bring a respected federal judge out of retirement as Special Master to review NOAA’s scandalous law enforcement cases – and even allow for improper fines to be refunded to victimized fishermen.
Marc Agger, a fish processor, said, “Wow! That’s a 50-year event – maybe 75!”
It was pointed out to Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, that Lubchenco was not present. Nobody offered an explanation for her absence, although three of her staff members were in the room – and uncharacteristically said nothing, including the normally verbose Eric Schwaab, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service. This was Locke’s show and they weren’t invited to comment.
Why wasn’t Dr. Lubchenco there? Rep. Frank had previously called for her resignation, as did Rep. John Tierney, D-MA, but backed away when President Obama asked him to try working with her – Frank is Chairman of the important House Financial Services Committee, and Obama had a big finance bill coming up. He didn’t need any agency fights getting in the way.
If anybody would know about Lubchenco’s absence, it would be Frank, so I asked him.
He was very diplomatic about it. “We had a September 23 meeting with Secretary Locke in Washington, in my Financial Services Committee room, and Dr. Lubchenco wasn’t there. In Boston, Secretary Locke ran the meeting and she wasn’t there either.”
No explanation. Well, what about Secretary Locke’s comment in Boston about “ensuring vibrant coastal communities and stable economies?” Wasn’t that a slap at Dr. Lubchenco’s almost religious devotion to her convoluted “catch-shares” program that would reduce New England’s fishing fleet by more than half to save fish that many thought weren’t threatened?
I could almost hear the smile in Barney Frank’s voice when he replied, “I assume there’s quite a bit of friction with the Marine Fisheries Service.” Not many politicians can say so much with so little.
There were reports that Reps. Frank and Tierney actually had met with Dr. Lubchenco, and asked her about Dale Jones, the ousted Director of NOAA’s scandalized law enforcement unit. Was he still getting his $158,000 salary? Lubchenco refused to answer, citing the Privacy Act.
That did not sit well with Frank or Tierney. Tierney threatened subpoenas and both saw possible congressional hearings. NOAA finally said Jones was on administrative leave, but still on the payroll.
It’s hard to get anyone to say exactly what happened next, but it boils down to giving up on Lubchenco. Frank and Tierney went over her head to Secretary of Commerce Locke.
An eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity said that when Commerce officials contacted members of Congress to arrange Locke’s Sept. 23 meeting, they asked if they should bring Dr. Lubchenco. The answer from each was a terse “no, thanks.”
Ron Arnold is vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, and author of “Freezing in the Dark: Money, Power, Politics and the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy.”
