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An
Open Letter to my Congressman
November
7, 2001
by Richard J. Roman
Dear Mr. Congressman,
I am writing this letter to thank you for many things. But
first and foremost, I would like to thank you for the outstanding
job you did in passing the Republican version of the Airport
Security Bill.
Thank you for not bowing to public pressure. I am sure you
are fully aware that 82% of the American public supported
the idea of nationalizing airport security. You obviously
understand that you know a lot more about what will make the
public feel safe about flying than an overwhelming majority
of your constituents.
Thank you for not expanding the Federal bureaucracy. The
Senate plan was just too expensive. It would have put 28,000
card-carrying union members on the Federal payroll. Rather
than tackle the challenge of managing this massive expansion
of the Federal government's role in assuring public safety,
you chose to do what is easier (and cheaper): absolutely nothing.
The same underpaid, under-trained, minimum wage workers will
be poorly performing the same job they were doing on September
11th, now and forever. The only difference is that now they
will have Federal supervisors, which will miraculously occur
without increasing the size of the Federal bureaucracy. These
Federal supervisors will ensure that the private security
firms will comply with all the Federal standards that they
have failed to comply with for decades, in spite of tens of
millions of dollars in fines levied by the FAA. I feel a whole
lot safer now.
Thank you for bailing out the airlines. These fiercely competitive
companies have over-leveraged themselves to expand capacity
and seize market share. They consistently engage in predatory
practices, often operating at or below cost on critical routes
to drive smaller carriers out of business. This strategy works
very well during times of economic expansion, but can be disastrous
when the economy heads south. In a recession, these unsavory
characters would normally go out of business, reaping what
they sow, but your gift of $5 billion (and an addition $10
billion in loan guarantees) will ensure that these major contributors
to your campaign funds will continue to operate business as
usual.
Thank you for holding just about everyone harmless for the
events of September 11th. A rash of frivolous lawsuits would
most certainly have been harmful to an already weakening economy.
After all, why should anyone be allowed to sue the airlines
for providing a defective product that led to the deaths of
over 5,000 people? Their security practices were within Federal
guidelines and, after all, airlines provide a vital service
to our economy. If we let the airlines go out of business,
Wall Street might never recover. If we actually hold them
responsible for the safety of their passengers, who would
ever want to own or operate an airline again? This situation
is in no way similar to the Firestone/Ford cases that threaten
to bankrupt both companies. Ford is only one of two domestically
owned automakers. It wouldn't harm the economy at all to let
them go out of business, but airlines—airlines are vital.
They must continue to fly even if people continue to die.
The fact that they managed to stonewall the recommendations
of two presidential commissions on airport security over the
past decade and prevent any of them from ever being implemented,
because they were "too expensive," should never
be considered. No, the airlines should not be held responsible
at all for September 11th.
Thank you for not engaging in partisan politics. After the
Senate, in a rare display of bipartisan cooperation passed
a bill 100-0, the House refused to consider it until the Republican
leadership was certain it had the votes to defeat it. They
scheduled the vote during a critical game of the World Series
to be certain that most Americans would not be paying attention,
and then added some good old-fashioned pork to sweeten the
deal for Republicans who were undecided at the time. Republicans
who said only a week ago that an Airport Security bill wasn't
even necessary because the president could achieve everything
he needed by executive order—when they didn't think they
could get their bill though—are certainly entitled to
admonish the Democrats for engaging in partisan politics if
they don't support this bill.
Thank you for nothing at all. You have proven time and again
that the interests of big business far outweigh any good you
can provide to the common people of the United States. The
lobby groups of private security companies and the airlines
contribute far more to your campaign fund than I ever could.
You can sleep well at night knowing that when you get on a
plane at National Airport there will be a Federal Marshall
onboard, while the rest of us at all the other airports in
the country have to take our chances with the completely inadequate
passenger screening process that you have left almost perfectly
intact.
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