1 Boring Old Man

GA-Sen: Betraying the Public Trust

… In February, there was a serious dust explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia. The explosion killed 14 people and injured over 40, making it one of the very worst industrial disasters in Georgia history. Much of the machinery used in the refinery was badly outdated, and safety regulations went widely ignored. The Occupational Safety And Health Administration, in its investigation after the disaster, concluded that the accident was not only preventable, but that refinery management had been alerted to the unsafe work environment and had failed to act, and proposed penalties of over $8.7 million.

This leads us to Senator Saxby Chambliss. In July, the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety held hearings on the Imperial Sugar explosion. Chambliss, though not a member of the subcommittee, showed up for the hearings along with fellow Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson. Chambliss took a particular interest in the testimony of Graham H. Graham, an Imperial Sugar whistleblower who testified that he had issued repeated warnings to upper management about safety conditions at the plant:

Philip Hilder, a lawyer for Graham, accused U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga, of using Imperial material to try to discredit his client.

Chambliss browbeat Graham near the end of the hearing in Washington, but denied he was using Imperial-supplied questions.

"I ask my own questions," said Chambliss, who received $1,000 from Imperial’s political action committee in 2007.

The Savannah Morning News elaborates on Chambliss’ "browbeating" of a whistleblower testifying against one of Chambliss’ donors:

Tuesday apparently was payback time. The Georgia Republican badgered Graham, twice telling him he questioned the executive’s sincerity. Then the lawmaker had the nerve to ask – perhaps after prompting by sugar daddies – this question: "Why are you still working for this company?"

Chambliss, apparently, went the extra mile to try and discredit Graham, whose testimony even Senator Isakson found "credible", per the Morning News article. He continued to do so outside the hearings:

"My question is if it was that bad, and you thought somebody was fixing to get killed, why in the world weren’t you more forceful?" he said. "Why didn’t he really do something? Because … as a result of his failure to do something a serious accident did happen, in my opinion."

"This guy Graham knows he’s on the hook," Chambliss added.

Chambliss, who works closely with the sugar industry as the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, insists he is not trying to defend Imperial, which is among the largest U.S. sugar producers.

But his comments are the latest in which he has focused on Graham as a culprit instead of the company, despite a recent government investigation that accused Imperial of willfully and egregiously violating dozens of safety standards.

I’ve avoided talking about this race for two reasons. First, it’s very local. Our Senator Saxby Chambliss is not a mover or shaker in the Senate. He shows up and votes for whatever the Bush Administration tells him to vote for. If you’re not from Georgia, you’ve probably never heard of him. My second reason is that Jim Martin, his opponent, is a long-time friend and neighbor. My bias is obvious. Jim is one of the finest people I know and I’ve always wondered why a nice, honest guy like him would go into politics. He’d be a great Senator – truly what we need right now.

But when I ran across this story, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to comment. Saxby Chambliss is a hit man. He’s the guy who got himself elected by smearing the patriotism of Max Cleland, a triple amputee from the Viet Nam War and, like Jim, a fine person. Saxby has been the guy who carries the Bush Talking Points into any Committee Meeting he attends in Washington. And in cases like this, he bullies his way around Washington for his Georgia friends. He’s outspent Jim Martin five to one, and he’s still in trouble. Georgia is a Red State, but the huge African American turnout for Obama may change that this time.