Oh, man. She's going down.

A corrupt official in the Bush administration? Jesus, that's about as rare as an ass-fucking, closeted, gay, homophobic Republican senator/representative/lawyer/lobbyist!

The travel records come at a time when she told Congress that their plans for the CPSC were wrong.

I'm not suprised that their was this kind of backlash against her. How dare she tell Congress that experts in Consumer Product Saftey know more than they do. She should be fired, or we should try to find some way to imply that what she was doing was wrong.

I felt she had a valid point that not every problem under the sun would be solved by legislation and lawyers. I also think that if groups want to have the head of the CPSC come talk to them (and can affort it) they should pay, so she can save money in her travel budget so she can talk with other consumer groups that otherwise wouldn't get to talk to her.

I get why this is unethical and against policies but how required were these trips for the job? Are they all extra vacation type trips or were the industry groups supplementing the travel budget?

@pkrieger: Wow, I cant believe you said all that with a straight face. Why, the international toy inspection coalition is sure not to be bribing her if they flew her to say Hawaii for a conference instead of going themselves to meet her in Washington.

Over and over again when chickens start dying we are shocked to find that we have put the weasel in charge of the hen house.

The CPSC should be unable to take bribes....errr I mean funding from any group over which it has regulatory power and this includes travel, premiums, even a free tube of chapstick.

@loquaciousmusic: A corrupt official in ANY administration?
There, fixed.

@Cassifras: Point taken, absolutely. My question, though, is this: when will the Paultards jump in and tell us that there will never be a corrupt official in a Ron Paul administration? And that Ron Paul will spell it "admynistration"?

I apologize for the profanity above, by the way. I thought I was posting on Wonkette! (Darn you, Gawker sites, and your cross-pollination!)

there were some fairly uncomfortable silences in her testimony, where she couldn't actually come out and ASK for the money being OFFERED to her by the committee. she actually said, "if you give it to us, we'll spend it" but the WH made clear to her not to actually ask for the money. pathetic.

Corruption is inevitable but the best thing we can do is to support the meaning of the constitution. The only politician interested in that is Ron Paul.

@Red_Eye: when you meet a public offical at their office, they are so overscheduled that you only get at most one or two hours with them. There is little opportunity to explain a complex situation, or comment coherently on regulations. However, when you bring them to a meeting, where they can talk to manufactureres, listen (and give) presentations, they gather more information on an issue, and have time to think about it because they don't have to run off to another meeting to talk about something else. It gives them the time they need.

Besides, the coaltion doesn't hold the meetings in Hawaii or Las Vegas to bribe government officals, they do it so their members will show up.

No wonder she says her agency doesn't need more money, she's bought and paid for already.
Stay tuned for: (a) Dumbya says in public he "has confidence in Nancy Nord's ability to do her job." Then, (b) Nancy Nord resigns a few days later to "persue opportunities in the private sector" or "to spend more time with her family." Which means she'll take a job as a PR flak for Mattel. Or some crap like that.

You're doing a great job Brownie.

You have to understand that Bush and his puppet masters hate government. They want it to fail. So they install turkeys like Brownie or industry hacks like Nancy. They are also spending govt into oblivion.

All you folks who still have the Bush Cheney 04 stickers on your car, how's that working out for you? At least the gays can't marry. You got what you wanted.

@pkrieger: Umm she is not going on these trips to "advise." Have you ever taken a paid government trip? It makes all expense paid honeymoons look like a trip to the holiday inn.

@pkrieger: Government officials don't need to understand the issues. Why would they when they have lobbyists to write legislation and regulations for them?

@loquaciousmusic: probably as soon as this post gets Dugg. and I forgive your profanity.

@Falconfire: I don't work for the government. I wish I did so I had mandatory raises, job security, and got federal holidays off.

I do know that a trip paid for by the government is not a lavish experience. You fly coach, and stay in the cheapest hotel reasonably close to where you need to go.
A trip paid for by a company would most likely have the offical fly coach or business, and would stay in whatever hotel everyone else is staying at.

Only Congressmen get to fly first class/ private jets and stay in the penthouse when they go fundraising.

They ask her to attend these things because they want to talk to her about the decions that are going to affect them. They are entitled to do that, just like you are entitled to have your Representative attend your local Chamber of Commerece meeting.

As I've stated in other posts, these government agencies are not in the business of protecting us they are in the business of protecting the interests of businesses. This story is just "in your face" proof of it.

By the way, The Consumerist should take a stand and not call these so called "gifts" gifts, you should call them what they are, bribes! No one who works for the Government in any way should be allowed to accept "bribes". There is no way they can accept that AND also avoid causing any scandal or remain impartial.

It's like your local Police dept. accepting gifts from the town drug dealer and how it is just a total coincidence that said drug dealer never gets busted.

@SkyeBlue: A more apt allegory would be your local Police department accepting gifts from the town grocery store owner and how it's just total coincidence that said store owner never gets busted for selling cigarettes to 12 year olds.

I'm guessing this is another resignation: call it a hunch. The Bush administration these days has a higher turnover rate than Guns N' Roses.

I find it most interesting that some of you just love to haul out the "Blame Bush" rhetoric when something like this happens. Sure, you'll just blame Bush and quietly ignore all of Congress who are the real ones who are supposed to be watching for this kind of nonsense; Especially if they have a (D) next to their names.

@Front_Towards_Enemy: Well, seeing as Bush is the one who appoints these nitwits, I think "blame Bush" is a rational reaction - and while I do wish for better Democrats in congress, I also appreciate that they've sorta got their hands full trying to clean up the mess that that started to snowball in 1995, when the Republicans took over congress and intiated the clownshow that passed for legislature until recently.

@Front_Towards_Enemy: Um, FTE - who do you think is running this investigation? Not to mention this bi-partisan effort-> [www.reuters.com]

No government employee is allowed to take swag or receive free travel. She will be investigated and charged by the FBI.

@Myron:
I haven't seen a Bush/Cheney sticker in a long time!
Their former supporters are embarrassed by their disastrous mistake.
I still see Kerry stickers, obviously they want to show they were right.
That's true, but frankly, having that idiot's name on my car would be just depressing!

@Benstein:
I think you are confusing your ethics rules. I believe you are thinking of the rules applied to Congressional staff (not including Congresspersons.) They are not allowed to accept gifts valued over $10. Regulatory bodies each have their own ethics rules which vary.

@Benstein: Where do you get this from??? It happens ALL THE TIME.

There is never a valid reason for industry to pay for an officials travel expenses. The ONLY place representatives should be going is to their represented areas. The only place she should have gone was to her office. Let the execs com to her if they want to talk about issues!

My state's own Boss Hogg, fatso crook, James Sennesenbrenner(R) is notorious for this in the name of the RIAA and the MPAA. There is ZERO reason he should be traveling to Vietnam to talk about copyright laws. He is elected to represent his district, not the entertainment industry. Let the execs of said industry lobby foreign governments themselves!

I saw a bush sticker on a car the other day, I laughed & pointed, the guy most likely went home & took it off.

@loquaciousmusic: Oh, no worries. Next time you could just say "Mon ami" to the intended party (in this case, Nancy Nord) and qualify it as the Wil Wheaton definition. (Google search for those 2 phrases for the full effect :)

Whoops. I meant "bon voyage, mon ami".

It is going to take some time for the Government to do a "proper investigation" (shred documents, intimidate witnesses into amnesia, etc.) so I am sure it will take a while for her to eventually resign and take a high paying job as a Lobbyist for China or on the Board of Directors for toy manufacturing or meat processing companies.

While there has likely always been corruption amongst regulatory agencies (revolving door kinds of things), the Bush administration has gutted the regulatory system. It's all voluntary, and people who work for these agencies who have ethics have come forward about how the processes have been broken systematically to favor the bottom lines of the businesses being regulated. Anyone thinking this is a typical "blame Bush" reaction need only look at how many recalls we've had in recent years for everything from food to pet food to toys. The regulators aren't regulating, and you're willfully oblivious to think that's a coincidence.

Meanwhile, businesses that want to work with the government should come on to Washington and make an appointment. The people who manufacture products have a vote for who picks the regulators, and have bought as many of those people as possible by the time they get into office. It's a line item on their budgets. It's foolish to say "Oh, they have a right to fly someone to Cancun for a few days in order to discuss how they're being regulated." They don't have a right to bribery--and too bad for them if they didn't pony up enough before the agencies' heads were chosen to sufficiently guard their interests against concerns of health and safety.