Republican Racketeers: Violent Roots of Republican Policies

On the Friday night before Christmas 2017, The Rachel Maddow Show reported on Trump ties to the mafia, and the history of Republican efforts to undermine health and safety agencies and repeal regulations developed to protect the American people. For me, it was déjà vu!

On the Friday night before Christmas 2017, The Rachel Maddow Show reported on Trump ties to the mafia, and the history of Republican efforts to undermine health and safety agencies and repeal regulations developed to protect the American people.^1,2 For me, it was déjà vu!

When I came to Washington as a Goldwater Republican in 1966 to work on air pollution control, little did I know or think that Republicans would be enemies of the people. By 1971, I had been fired from EPA under Nixon as a Whistleblower for regulatory changes that would allow excess automotive emissions of toxic pollutants. ³

I did not know then about the Lewis Powell memo that described the strategy that wealthy business interests would launch against the public interest. ⁴

I did not foresee then that the Nixon Administration changes to emissions standards would contribute to nearly 50 years of excess emissions of “legal” climate change. ⁵

Then in 1981, President Reagan appointed a coal industry lobbyist, Raymond A. Peck, Jr., to head the NHTSA. Under Peck, the air bag regulations were rescinded delaying life saving protection to Americans for more than a decade. And NHTSA staff levels were reduced by 33% – 300 safety workers gone by the end of 1982. Other workers were downgraded. ⁶

I recall that at NHTSA there was a meeting when the Deputy Administrator Diane Steed, addressed the Rulemaking staff. I raised my hand and asked, “Why was the agency downgrading these safety workers any one of whom had more auto safety expertise than the deputy Administrator, the Administrator, and the Secretary of Transportation Drew Lewis combined?” Diane left the room but the needless dying continued for decades.

Most of the engineers in that room were Republicans. I was surprised afterwards that these engineers gave me a lot of specific information that I then gave to Clarence Ditlow to document the “Brain Drain” happening at NHTSA. As the consumer groups and media covered the subject, political pressure led to the replacement of Peck with Diane Steed and Drew Lewis with Elizabeth Dole.

For political fairness and accuracy, it must be noted that during the eight years of Clinton and the eight years of Obama, the staff levels at NHTSA neither increased nor improved with public interest servants. Nader and Ditlow’s NY Times Op Ed “Weak Oversight, Deadly Cars” described the NHTSA decades of decay and delay of auto safety. ⁷

Elections have long lasting consequences in predictable deaths, injuries, and economic losses. As I calculated in 2015, since President Reagan took office more than one million Americans died due to vehicle violence on our roads and another four million suffered “serious injuries such as brain, spinal cord, burns and amputations”. ⁸ The effects on families include bankruptcy and children orphaned to this day. ⁹

As for air pollution, an MIT study estimated 200,000 early deaths each year in the U.S. ¹⁰ My experience working on controlling air pollution is described in a Legal Reader article on the science and the law since Nixon. ¹¹

More recently, I have created Trump Death Clocks that estimate deaths and injuries since January 20, 2017 due to vehicle violence from crashes, and from the violence of emissions of air pollutants in the U.S. ¹²

An article about Donald Trump by Lisa Belkin in Yahoo! is titled “Be a killer, be a king: The education of Donald Trump” ¹³

Republican policies have a long history of being “killers.” One often hears Republicans claim that regulations are job killers. In reality, regulations save many lives that result in major human, social, and economic contributions. The lives of people saved produce jobs. NHTSA published a detailed study of the number of lives saved by vehicle safety regulations and found that 613,501 lives were saved by vehicle safety regulations over the period 1960-2012. ¹⁴

Republican Party “Most Dangerous Organization in World History”

Prof. Noam Chomsky concludes the Republican Party is the most dangerous organization in world history. He describes the evidence in an interview with Amy Goodman. I have been privileged to be a witness to what the Republican Party has done. In the Court of Public Opinion, Americans will decide whether Prof. Chomsky is right. It is for Americans to decide their future health, safety, and happiness by their actions and inactions. ¹⁵

RICO

A question for Legal Readers is whether the RICO laws can be used to save us. ¹⁶ Editor’s note: as of now, government agencies are not subject to prosecution under RICO. However, under certain circumstances, individual government agents may be held accountable through a RICO suit, though it is very difficult to make happen.

Good & Evil

The January 2018 issue of National Geographic has an article on what scientists are learning about Good and Evil. The article examines what makes people especially giving or cruel. Researchers are finding the way our brains are wired can affect how much empathy we feel for others. Perhaps we should ask for brain scans as well as tax returns from politicians. ¹⁷

Sources:

1. Trump partner with mob ties interviewed out of range of Democrats
2. Pruitt drives out EPA staff, hires unqualified former banker pal
3. Interview: Louis Lombardo on Whistleblowing and Vehicle Emissions
4. The Powell Memo (also known as the Powell Manifesto)
5. 50 Years of “Legal” Climate Change
6. Predictable Deaths, Injuries, Lo$$es, Moral Bankruptcy and Election Consequences
7. Weak Oversight, Deadly Cars
8. Predictable Deaths, Injuries, Lo$$es, Moral Bankruptcy and Election Consequences
9. Cops: Brentwood woman dies, daughter critical after car hits them
10. Study: Air pollution causes 200,000 early deaths each year in the U.S.
11. Right v. Wrong: True Story on Air Pollution, Science & the Law
12. Trump Death Clock
13. Be a killer, be a king: The education of Donald Trump
14. Lives Saved by Vehicle Safety Technologies and Associated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, 1960 to 2012
15. Noam Chomsky: The Republican Party is MOST DANGEROUS Organization in World History
16. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
17. The Science of Good & Evil, National Geographic, January, 2018, p 116