Turning a Deaf Ear to Reason
Despite our earlier efforts to illuminate Senator Dayton on the insignificant affect that 5 decibels have on the ear drums, he only seems to be growing angrier, more radical, and on the verge of a full blown temper tantrum.
He’s now gone beyond threatening to change the Constitution in order to assure that federal subsidies continue to flow to people who bought houses around the airport. (Nearly all of whom were fully aware that airplanes frequent the area, because, you know, it’s next to an AIRPORT.)
Senator Dayton is now threatening to bring the entire government to a grinding halt until these wealth transfer payments are restored. The quotes, from tomorrow’s Star Tribune:
Sen. Mark Dayton vowed Friday to block every President Bush nominee and object to every piece of legislation in September unless a controversial restriction on airport noise-abatement funds was removed.
Calling it “contemptible language,'' Dayton, D-Minn., said he ``will not yield on those matters until this language is removed from the conference report. You have my word. We have over a month until we return. That's one month for those who are party to this detestable act to work it out and get it out of that conference report.''
The gauntlet has been laid down and Dayton is staking his entire reputation as a power broker on this issue. Thankfully for the people of the United States, Mark Dayton’s seniority level remains bogged down in the high to mid-90s, so I’m not sure how much he’ll actually be able to muck up the system.
Granted, he is on the prestigious Joint Committee on Printing. Whose mission, according to its Web site, is to ensure compliance with the Government Printing and Binding Regulations. So perhaps he could halt the nomination of the Assistant Undersecretary of Font Selection. But even that’s not a given since Senator Dayton appears to rank 8th in seniority on this committee. That would be out of 8 members. (Check out this picture which shows he may not yet even merit getting to sit down during their meetings).
Thankfully, Minnesota does have another Senator in Washington who seems to have a more reasonable and rational view of this situation. Again, quoted in the Star Tribune:
While criticizing Northwest Airlines' back-door maneuver to block a costly noise-abatement program, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said Thursday the struggling carrier is being asked to help pay the costs of the nation's most ambitious noise-insulation effort.
"I can tell you that they firmly believe that by [toughening] those standards, it places a huge economic burden on them without any scientific basis," the freshman Republican said after speaking with a Northwest official.
Norm gets it. He criticizes the politcal process, while understanding that Northwest Airlines has entirely legimate reasons for taking action. Let’s hope calmer, more moderate voices such as his are listened to before extremists like Senator Dayton are allowed to shut down the government. Or at least before he causes the printing office to start using non sans serif fonts.
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