And Another Bushco Lackey Departs

I know the news cycle is currently dominated by a certain well-qualified Latina woman, but I should also point out this story, which tells us that Nancy Nord is stepping down from the Consumer Products Safety Commission effective June 1st.

I would say that Nord “ran” the CPSC, though if only to indicate that she did her best to “run it” into the ground. Here is the evidence…

This tells us that Nord blew off a hearing on defective toys because the hearing also would have included the testimony of child safety advocates (and Nord’s CPSC didn’t decide to test products until an incident was reported, and they negotiated every word of a recall alert with the manufacturer of a defective product).

This tells us more about how Nord’s CSPC was clearly understaffed and underfunded, where a “fox running the hen house” mentality ran rampant.

This tells us that Nord actually opposed a bill that would have strengthened her own agency.

This tells us how Nord was derelict on the issue of pool safety (particularly a big deal now).

And though I end up agreeing somewhat with the commenter here, let’s not lose sight of the fact that, had Nord actually decided to work with the authors of the CPSIA, maybe the law would have been written with language more favorable to those in this country who ply a trade crafting toys and other consumer products.

As I said before, given the failings of Nord’s tenure, it would have been better had no one at all run the CSPC since the beginning of the foul, fetid Bushco reign.