Good Riddance

In another Friday news dump, we discover that Cass Sunstein will be leaving his position as head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

The man has been a train wreck if you are interested at all in the idea of regulation being a way to protect the public welfare:

“Cass Sunstein is the most well-connected and smartest guy who’s ever held the job,” said Rena Steinzor, president of the Center for Progressive Reform and a professor at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. “But he’s also done untold damage.”

…

Few proposed rules escaped his gaze or his editor’s pen. Of the hundreds of regulations issued by the administration as of late last year, three-quarters were changed at OIRA, often at the urging of corporate interests, according to an analysis from the Center for Progressive Reform, a liberal-leaning group that monitors federal regulation. For rules from the Environmental Protection Agency, the figure was closer to 80 percent, the group found. In virtually every case, the rule was weakened, the group claimed.

Professor Steinzor cited Mr. Sunstein’s role in the killing of the E.P.A.’s proposed tightening of the standard for ozone pollution, the indefinite delay of rules governing coal ash disposal and the withdrawal earlier this year of a proposed update of child agricultural labor standards.

And here is the money quote:

Mr. Sunstein’s recommendations carry extraordinary weight, White House officials said, but the ultimate decisions in those cases were made by the president, his senior political advisers or cabinet officers.

We also have these comments:

“It’s a glorious day,” said Frank O’Donnell, of the group Clean Air Watch. “Sunstein has been a blot on the landscape.”

And from an Obama adversary:

“The Chamber has enjoyed a good working relationship with Cass Sunstein and we wish him well in his return to Harvard Law,” said a spokeswoman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Despite its happiness with Sunstein, the agency has spent millions of dollars attacking the president's policies.

I think that the fact that the US Chamber of Commerce liked him is the best evidence about how harmful he was to the basic idea of regulations that protect the public.

The US Chamber of Commerce is to the idea of good governance and reasonable regulation as Colonel Sanders was to the life span of chickens.

And important thing to remember though is that the Cossacks work for the Czar.

As to the greater meaning to his departure, my guess is that Obama is looking to appeal to the base for the election.