Steven Chu for Energy Secretary, Financial Scandal in New Mexico and Shaun Donovan for HUD
Dr. Steven Chu, nominated to be the next Secretary of Energy, prepares for confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate.
The financial scandal that started with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s office expands to national scope.
President-Elect Obama nominates New York City housing commissioner Shaun Donovan to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
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1. CONGRESS
Dr. Steven Chu, nominated to be the next Secretary of Energy, prepares for confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy & Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on the questions senators should be asking:
“President-elect Obama recently set a goal to double the use of alternative energy within three years. Dr. Chu was nominated because he became personally interested in the global warming debate and became a proponent of renewable energy technologies. The questions Dr. Chu should be asked are whether he thinks this is a realistic goal and how much he thinks it will cost. His answers should provide a good indication of what kind of Secretary of Energy he will be.”
2. LEGAL
The financial scandal that started with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s office expands to national scope.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Policy Analyst Cord Blomquist on why we shouldn’t be surprised by the corruption:
“…there is still more that needs to known before we can say for certain who’s broken the law, but the source of this sort of problem is well known. Whenever governments start handing out vast sums of money, bribery, vote buying, and the selling of political favors will spring up. Government money is like Miracle Grow for corruption. If this kind of corruption can happen as a result of the $400 billion per year bond market, just imagine the kind of runaway scandals we’ll be seeing as Barack Obama and the 111th Congress gear up for handing out $750 billion to ‘stimulate’ the economy. 2009 is going to be quite the year.”
3. POLITICS
President-Elect Obama nominates New York City housing commissioner Shaun Donovan to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on one important lesson for Mr. Donovan:
“Shaun Donovan is a distinguished public servant and, under New York Mayor Bloomberg, has made a difficult government-run housing agency work better…But he does need to know that what works in New York isn’t going to work in the rest of the country. A half century after the massive urban renewal projects brought us modern public housing, New York has emerged as the only place where public housing has always worked more-or-less as intended: as a ‘hand up’ that provides very basic accommodations for striving families who can’t afford to live anywhere else. If he wants to be a great HUD secretary, however, Mr. Donovan has to realize that what worked in New York – government-built, government-run high rises – doesn’t work anywhere else.”
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