March 24, 2009

Steinzor and Wagner in Austin American-Statesman and Cleveland Plain Dealer

by Ben Somberg

CPR President Rena Steinzor and Member Scholar Wendy Wagner authored an op-ed in Monday's Austin American-Statesman and Cleveland's Plain Dealer with recommendations for President Obama's initiative for "science integrity."  On March 9, the President had instructed John Holdren, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), to develop a plan to achieve a goal of “ensuring the highest level of integrity in all aspects of the executive branch's involvement with scientific and technological processes.”

Steinzor and Wagner write that the plan should be broad enough to address more than just the dirty science of the Bush Administration:

During the Bush years, it was all too common for administration appointees to suppress or reshape scientific findings. But ending manipulation by political appointees is the low-hanging fruit of the bid to restore science to its rightful role in policymaking. It absolutely needs to be picked, but there's much more to harvest. Indeed, the problem predates Bush, and Obama's solution will need to go beyond rooting out the most egregious habits of his predecessor.

Holdren was given 120 days to formulate the plan.  He has his work cut out for him.

 


Ben Somberg, Media Manager, Center for Progressive Reform. Bio.

  • Read Comments (0)
  • + Add a Comment
Be the first to comment on this entry.

First Name:
Last Name:
Email:
We ask for your email address so that we may follow up with you, ask you to clarify your comment in some way, or perhaps alert you to someone else's response. Only the name you supply and your comment will be displayed on the site to the public. Our blog is a forum for the exchange of ideas, and we hope to foster intelligent, interesting and respectful discussion. We do not apply an ideological screen, however, we reserve the right to remove blog posts we deem inappropriate for any reason, but particularly for language that we deem to be in the nature of a personal attack or otherwise offensive. If we remove a comment you've posted, and you want to know why, ask us (info@progressivereform.org) and we will tell you. If you see a post you regard as offensive, please let us know.

Return to CPR main site
Contact CPRBlog

Search CPRBlog