New hold placed by TX Senator on Obama nomination (Fox News)‏
From: netwatchers@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Netwatch (Netwatchers2008@gmail.com)
Sent: July 24, 2009 7:26:54 PM
To: Netwatchers (Netwatchers@yahoogroups.com)
NOTE: For more on the Cass Sunstein nomination, see the video link
below, in which FOX News commentator Glen Beck hosted CCF’s Director
of Research David Martosko.
http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?...listId=playlist-----------------------------------
FOX News
Obama Regulatory Czar's Confirmation Held Up by Hunting Rights Proponent
Cass Sunstein's views on litigating on behalf of animals has raised
concerns for Sen. John Cornyn, who placed a hold on the nominee until
he gets a chance to hear his views one-on-one.
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/...ghts-proponent/ WASHINGTON -- President Obama's nominee for "regulatory czar" has hit
a new snag in his Senate confirmation process -- a "hold" by Texas
Sen. John Cornyn, who's says he's not convinced that Harvard professor
Cass Sunstein won't push a radical animal rights agenda, including new
restrictions on agriculture and even hunting.
Senators are permitted "holds" to prevent a vote on a nominee from
coming to the floor. They are often secretive and for very specific
reasons.
"Sen. Cornyn finds numerous aspects of Mr. Sunstein's record
troubling, specifically the fact that he wants to establish legal
'rights' for livestock, wildlife and pets, which would enable animals
to file lawsuits in American courts," the Republican's spokesman,
Kevin McLaughlin, said in a statement to FOXNews.com.
Cornyn's hold on Sunstein comes just as Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.,
last week lifted his own hold on the nominee, whom Obama tapped in
April to become the administrator of the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Budget and Management.
Chambliss said he was dropping his hold because Sunstein had convinced
him that he "would not take any steps to promote litigation on behalf
of animals," and that he believes the "Second Amendment creates an
individual right to possess guns for purposes of both hunting and self
defense."
Both statements were included in a letter Sunstein sent to Chambliss on July 14.
Chambliss added in a Senate floor speech last Wednesday that
"Professor Sunstein comes highly recommended by a number of folks from
the conservative side of the philosophical divide in this country."
One of Sunstein's top jobs would be to review and provide guidance for
draft federal regulations at different federal agencies. It is a
wide-ranging and largely unrestrained position in the executive
branch.
That's a large part of the reason Sunstein's positions on animal
rights have become worrisome to his critics. Despite his assurances to
the contrary, Sunstein has spoken stridently in favor of allowing
people the right to bring suit on behalf of animals in animal cruelty
cases and to restrict what he calls the more horrific practices
associated with industrial breeding and processing of animals for
food.
In a 2007 speech at Harvard, Sunstein also advocated restricting
animal testing for cosmetics, banning hunting and encouraging the
general public to eat less meat.
The Center for Consumer Freedom's David Martosko, a Sunstein critic,
said those positions make the agricultural industry -- major
stakeholders in the states represented by both Chambliss and Cornyn --
nervous.
Martosko said there are plenty of ways to pursue a "stealth campaign"
on any one of these fronts -- guns or animal rights -- by putting
pressure on the regulatory heads of the different agencies.
"He is the gatekeeper between the president and the secretaries," he
said, noting that "as a regulatory czar, he won't be a judge or a
legislator, so he cannot make laws. ... What he can do is nudge the
departments in the direction of his philosophy," which is very much in
line with "hard core animal rights zealots."
But Sunstein, who is married to National Security Council Director of
Multilateral Affairs Samantha Power, has earned widely varied reviews
among the political left and right, and from some of the unlikeliest
of quarters.
"We still don't know much about how Barack Obama plans to overhaul our
financial regulatory system, but his reported appointment of Cass
Sunstein to an important post is a promising sign," Wall Street
Journal editors wrote in January, when Sunstein's possible nomination
was being floated.
The paper's editors said they were cheered by Sunstein's long-held
beliefs in using cost-benefit analysis in regulation -- a concept that
worries proponents of greater and tighter regulations.
"We have concerns about some of his academic writings regarding his
approach to regulatory policy and regulatory review," Bill Samuel,
AFL-CIO legislative director, told The Chicago Tribune. "We want to
hear more from him about how he intends to approach regulatory
policy."
Environmentalists also say Sunstein's nomination is a potential blow
to their efforts to roll back what they call Bush-era deregulation.
Frank O'Donnell, director of Clean Water Watch, wrote that
"progressives would've screamed" if President Bush had nominated
someone with similar views for the OIRA post." In fact, Bush did,
O'Donnell noted, much to the chagrin of progressives.
Adding to animal rights and cost-benefit analysis is concern over
Sunstein's positions on freedom of speech.
News of Sunstein's latest book, "On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why
We Believe Them, What Can Be Done," lit up the blogosphere last week
when The New York Post ran a column by a reviewer who received an
advance copy.
Writer Kyle Smith suggested Sunstein threatens to tweak libel laws for
the Internet and make online writers, particularly bloggers, legally
responsible for falsehoods and rumors that get generated in
cyberspace.
"Sunstein calls for a 'notice and take down' law that would require
bloggers and service providers to 'take down falsehoods upon notice,'
even those made by commenters -- but without apparent penalty," Smith
wrote. "How long would it take for a court to sort out the truth?
(Presidential daughters) Sasha and Malia will be running for president
by then. Nobody will care anymore. But it will give politicians the
ability to tie up their online critics in court."
Sunstein, a prolific writer who has penned 35 books since 1990, has
plowed the issue of rumors and how they are spread, and leaves much of
the policy debate in the air.
For instance, in a paper titled, "'She Said What?' 'He Did That?'
Believing False Rumors," for Harvard Law School in November 2008,
Sunstein wrote: "In discussions of possible restrictions on free
speech, it is standard to speak of, and to deplore, the 'chilling
effect' that is created by the prospect of civil or criminal
sanctions."
"Libel law, for example, might chill speech about public figures and
public issues, in a way that could damage democratic debate. And if
there is a 'marketplace of ideas,' we should be especially concerned
about the risk of chilling effect because it will undermine processes
that will ultimately produce the truth," he wrote.
Sunstein, who once taught alongside Obama at the University of Chicago
Law School, did not return an interview request from FOXNews.com.
But being taken for both a liberal activist and a free market
cheerleader makes the nominee a true "wild card," observers say.
John Lott, conservative author of "The Bias Against Guns and
Freedomnomics: Why the Free Market Works," called Sunstein "open
minded" and a "true academic," but also warned that in its opposition,
the left might be looking a gift horse in the mouth.
"My guess is that these progressives are unlikely to find anyone who
could champion many of their views as well as Cass can."
Tom Firey, managing editor of the Cato Institute's Regulation
magazine, said, "Sunstein really doesn't fit readily, politically or
ideologically, in any box.
"I think this is going to be a very interesting nomination to watch on
Capitol Hill. He's going to be getting some shots from the right and
from the left. You are never going to make anyone who is a stakeholder
in these debates happy," he said.
Cornyn's spokesman said the senator will be happy when he gets direct
assurances from Sunstein that he will not pursue an agenda akin to
some of his past writings, particularly on the animal rights issue.
"Sen. Cornyn hasn't had a chance to speak with him yet, that's the
reason for the hold," said McLaughlin. "He wants to have a chance to
before moving forward."