When Will Elaine Start Answering Questions?
In the wake of last week’s Inspector General report faulting Elaine’s MSHA for its negligence in preventing the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster that killed 9 people, the Salt Lake Tribune is now questioning Elaine’s deafening silence:
Seven months since the Crandall Canyon mine disaster and two damning investigative reports later, the head of the federal department overseeing the Mine Safety and Health Administration isn’t talking.
Labor Department Secretary Elaine Chao hasn’t commented publicly about the Utah disaster, or criticisms of MSHA’s actions before and during the disaster, since she set up an independent panel in August to investigate the agency.
Why is Elaine so silent? Perhaps because she knows she’s somewhat responsible for the highly-publicized mine tragedies that have occurred under her watch. Elaine’s PR mouthpiece, however, has a different take:
Election-year partisan attacks go with the territory, but this zeal for exploiting tragedy, politically interfering with enforcement investigations, and making baseless smears ignores the truth.
Nice try, but we think two investigations that have placed the blame on MSHA are more credible than the spin gyrating out of Elaine’s public affairs office. As Utah’s leading newspaper asks:
Has Chao read the reports? Held meetings or talked with MSHA boss Richard Stickler? Is she concerned with the flaws ticked off in those reports? Does she plan to change any of the leadership of the agency, or leave those under fire as is?
The families who lost loved ones, and the American people who have watched the tragedies unfold in shock and awe, are waiting for an answer.
