MMS head "Heck of a job" Lizzie gets the Axe

[NAO]

Well I guess the head of the oil industry friendly MMS, Liz Birnbaum, is going to get the axe soon.

Possibly Obama would have done better if he'd appointed an Arabian Horse Breeder to the position.

[HughMoran]

1. Lizzy gets the ax - hahaha

:D

[Arkana]

11. Lizzie Birnbaum GOT the axe, it would seem.

[frazzled]

2. I don't think she was the bad guy

She has credible political and environmental bona fides, and no real relationship to the oil industry that I can see. That is to say, as an attorney, she never worked for the oil industry, but rather conservation groups like American Rivers, American Waters Resources Association, etc. And that goes back a long way: in law school she was editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review.

http://www.mms.gov/ooc/newweb/directorspage/director.htm

Brownie was a horse trainer. If you want to make the analogy, however (and a bad and factually misplaced one at that), you are welcome to it. Knock yourself out.

[FarCenter]

3. Pretty much zero knowledge of the industry she was supposed to regulate!

Harvard JD, Washington bureaucrat, environmental lobbyist, congressional lawyer, and appointed to a job she wasn't at all qualified for.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. Uhh, dumb question

How does one obtain said experience without then bearing the taint of being an oil industry insider?

[FarCenter]

7. Maybe someone who worked for a supplier or someone who has regulatory management experience

There are a number of companies who are suppliers of equipment and material to the oil industry. One approach would be to hire an ex chief operating or technical officer of one of these companies. They would have the technical and industry knowledge, and if a stint as head of a regulatory agency would cap their career, I'd bet they would be very concientious in their work. I don't think that "taint" would apply.

Another approach would be to hire someone who has a track record of managing a large regulatory agency. Someone who has been responsible for running an organizatoin with multiple inspection duties, geographically dispersed field offices, and complex standards and requirements to apply. And especially someone who actually goes into the field operations and reviews what is being done.

Hiring a lobbyist/lawyer from Washington seems like the worst option.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. Of course the taint would still apply.

They're working for companies that have a direct, vested interest in the success of the oil industry. Whether or not they're profiting directly from the oil is irrelevant.

As for approach 2, there are literally a handful of people in the country that have such experience, and most of them worked under the Bush administration and/or (wait for it) had ties to the oil industry, which is what got them those jobs in the first place.

This is much, much more difficult than the Treasury situation, which has the same problems but at least has some scholars that one MIGHT choose from (but even they're less than ideal).

[FarCenter]

9. OK, taint or incompetence -- take your pick

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

10. I take taint, but then again, I always have.

Most people do not. See: DU reaction to Geithner and Summers. Same ball of wax.

[dgibby]

4. Well, alrighty, then.

Let's review: appoint someone with no experience, then fire her with less than a year on the job because she didn't clean up the mess she inherited from the last administration. Meanwhile, Ken Salazar stays on the job.

And the same people who urged everyone here to give Obama more time are now cheering this move?

Interesting!

[Blue-Jay]

5. Shit rolls uphill in government.