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February 4, 2010

Opinion: Frank's NOAA clash spotlights disconnect on bogus job push

Congressman Barney Frank is a Democrat's Democrat, fiercely loyal to his party and to his president.

So when Frank starts complaining — publicly — about a federal department led by an appointee of President Obama, it's a matter of substance — on the part of Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Frank, after a lengthy meeting with Lubchenco last fall, had sent her a letter asking for support of the fishing industry. After receiving a reply from her in early January, Frank wrote back a week ago, saying she had "squandered" an opportunity to preserve jobs in the industry.

Indeed, with a new regulatory regime due to begin in May, in which fishing will be controlled under a so-called "catch share" system instead of a limited Days at Sea, Lubchenco has acknowledged that it will lead to the consolidation of the industry and fewer jobs. But she said the benefit would be that those fewer remaining jobs would be "better."

"Fewer but better jobs" was not exactly the message President Obama was delivering in his State of the Union address last week, nor at a rally Tuesday in Nashua, N.H. He was preaching "more jobs" — and said that job growth was going to be the top priority of his administration in 2010.

But while Lubchenco wrote to Frank that she shared his desire to, "minimize and mitigate the economic and social impacts of the actions that we are taking," there is little evidence to support that. She apparently can't be bothered to evaluate whether the dire limit on pollock is too extreme until June, with the fishing season well under way. And it took Frank, Gov. Deval Patrick and New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang to pressure the New England Fishery Management Council to reverse a ridiculous vote for a scallop limit that would have cost the industry $40 million this year.

While the president is touring the country, selling himself as a job creator, NOAA's agenda — one within his own administration — is an absolute job killer.

Frank knows that; the president had better recognize it, too.

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Opinion: Frank's NOAA clash spotlights disconnect on bogus job push
by Anonymous , , Thu Feb 04, 2010, 05:55 AM EST
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