Star Tribune Editorial: Ideological corruption is finally getting its due

11/21/2005

Bush has skewed neutral agencies toward conservative dogma.

Star Tribune
Last update: November 18, 2005 at 5:50 PM

A culture of ideological corruption that has infected Washington since 2001 is coming unwound, and it’s about time.

From the first days of the Bush administration, things that were supposed to be insulated from ideological influence—like science and public broadcasting—have been deliberately skewed to reflect conservatism, particularly social conservatism, thus putting at risk the efficacy and trustworthiness of government.

The Food and Drug Administration’s handling of the emergency contraceptive Plan B is a prime example of how science has been undermined. The Plan B medication can prevent pregnancy if it is taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. It is, however, much more effective if it is taken in the first hours. For that reason, the Women’s Capital Corporation applied to have Plan B cleared for over-the-counter purchase. Conservative and prolife groups opposed the move because they view Plan B, incorrectly, as an abortion pill. Two FDA advisory committees and FDA staff evaluated the medication, which is essentially a high dose of a birth control pill, and found no safety risks. They recommended that the application be approved. It was not.

Now the Government Accountability Office has issued a report finding that the FDA’s handling of Plan B departed significantly from usual FDA behavior. Most significant, senior officials at the agency decided months before the review was complete to reject the application. Moral opposition to Plan B was allowed to corrupt what should have been a neutral, science-based decision.

Also last week, an investigation by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) inspector general found that its former chairman, Bush appointee Kenneth Tomlinson, broke federal law numerous times in an effort, with White House support, to attack journalists like Bill Moyers and to insert Republican-friendly, conservative programming and conservative personnel into public broadcasting. The CPB was created by Congress specifically to insulate public broadcasting from political influence. Tomlinson, a close friend of Bush adviser Karl Rove, totally corrupted the CPB role before being ousted.

The list of similar outrages—at the Environmental Protection Agency, at the Centers for Disease Control, at the National Institutes of Health, on scientific advisory committees stacked with conservative ideologues—beggars belief. Agencies Americans need to trust for sound information and judgment have been turned into cesspools of conservative corruption. Finally the whistle is being blown on this dangerously obnoxious behavior.