Hits and Misses
MISS: When he was governor of Kentucky, Republican Matt Bevin ruffled a lot of feathers, thanks to behavior that was abrasive and a good bit less than humble. True to form, he continued to antagonize people in the Bluegrass State even as he was exiting the job. In the days before Bevin turned the office over to Democrat Andy Beshear, who narrowly defeated him in November, he issued more than 650 pardons and sentence commutations. This included the pardon of a man serving a sentence for robbery and reckless homicide whose brother just happened to hold a fundraiser for Bevin that netted $21,500. Another pardon went to a 41-year-old man convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl. The FBI is apparently now asking questions about Bevin’s pardons, according to the The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky. They should. And voters in Kentucky should keep this in mind should Bevin ever seek office there again.
MISS: If any reminder is necessary that domestic terrorism remains a high-profile threat, consider the case of Matt Shea, a legislator in Washington state. A report prepared for lawmakers there found that the 45-year-old was part of fringe groups that hoped to establish a 51st state called Liberty, and he allegedly believed that all men should be killed if they did not agree to live in a Christian theocracy. Predictably, Shea has called the investigation “a coup.” Republicans in Washington state have called on Shea to resign. That’s good, but it’s disturbing that Shea was able to achieve a position of prominence in the first place.
MISS: When President Trump visited the Pennsylvania Shell ethylene cracker plant in Monaca in August, he proclaimed that steel companies were “thriving again” in the wake of the 25% tariffs he placed on steel and 10% tariffs he placed on aluminum. He spoke prematurely. It was announced last week that 1,545 employees of two steel Detroit-area steel plants will be losing their jobs in the new year. A glut of steel on the market and competition from minimills that use fewer workers and manufacture steel out of scrap are among the reasons. Chris Olin, a steel analyst, told the Detroit Free Press, “Ultimately, the steel tariffs did not do what they were designed to do.” It’s time for the administration to admit this policy has failed and reverse course.
HIT: Someone losing a job is hardly a cause for celebration, but the ouster of Boeing CEO Dennis Dennis Muilenburg this week was an overdue step if the aircraft manufacturer wants to regain public trust. Muilenberg has been at the helm of Boeing since 2015, a period in which 346 people have died after crashes of two 737 Max aircraft. It’s believed that faulty software led to the crashes, and Boeing has come under heavy criticism for not telling pilots about the new flight-control system on the plane and its overall response to the crashes. U.S. Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat who leads the House Transportation Committee, explained that during Muilenburg’s tenure, “A long-admired company made a number of devastating decisions that profit took priority over safety.” DeFazio hopes that Muilenburg’s departure “means that Boeing is also ready to mark a new chapter in its commitment to safety and accountability.”