Santorum still wants to control the weather

September 9, 2005

Over the last week or so, the right has targeted a series of people and institutions for Katrina-related criticism, but leave it to Rick Santorum to go after the National Weather Service (via Capitol Buzz).

U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is suggesting that early mistakes in predicting the path of Hurricane Katrina may be a symptom of lost focus at the National Weather Service. […]

Asked about Katrina by WITF, Santorum described weather service warnings for Florida, where the storm first made landfall, as “not sufficient.”

First of all, the National Weather Service actually did exactly what it was supposed to do. Days before Katrina hit, the NWS accurately plotted the storm’s path. Just as importantly, the NWS predicted the devastation and warned everyone accordingly.

Second of all, long-time readers might recall that Santorum targeted the National Weather Service for privatization earlier this year. In fact, Santorum’s initiative still aims to limit competition between the NWS and private weather forecasters, which happen to be in his home state and whose owners also happen to have contributed to his campaign.

Is this guy really trying to exploit the worst storm in American history, just so he can get his bill on privatizing weather forecasts through? Apparently so.

Never let it be said that Rick Santorum ever let truth get in the way of making a buck for himself or his donors at the expense of the American people.

  • Please tell me that he’s not going to win re-election. I would move to his state to vote against him, but should it be his official state “Penn” or doesn’t he really reside in Virginia?

    Wait, I have it, the state he spends most time is “insanity”. Can’t go there – already am. But I don’t see any voting polls here.

    Sigh.

  • Predict a hurricane? Please. The NWS offers probabilities – if that is the right word – on the most likely areas it is to hit. No one offers overly precise predictions on the paths of hurricanes because they are unpredictable.

  • Regardless of how NWS plotted and forecasted the storm, the fact remains that hurricanes are notoriously fickle in terms of how they move and where they go. Anyone who has followed hurricanes over the years knows this. So, to blame the NWS for ANYTHING is ludicrous.

    In addition, the National Hurricane Center’s top guy, Max Mayfield, has confirmed that he briefed the necessary FEMA and Homeland Security officials about the storm and its expected impact (including potential breach of the levees in NO).

    When a guy like Rick Santorum is throwing jabs at the National Weather Service, you know he’s in desperate straits.

  • You would think that a religious zealot as Santorum should have received direct communications from God on the exact path of Katrina, and a detailed body count as well.

  • Got to remember now that Rich ‘man on dog” Santorum has a direct line to the Pope and we all know that the Pope has gawd’s number on his spead dialer.

  • Let’s see…Republicans have blamed the citizens of New Orleans for being too poor and/or lazy to evacuate, the mayor and governor for not requesting federal aid in a proper and/or timely manner, the media for “focusing on the negative” and now the NWS for not accurately predicting the exact path of the storm.

    Who’s next – Thomas Jefferson for buying the land from France in the first place?

    I think it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of needle than for a Republican to step up and say, “My bad.”

  • The National Weather Service Employees Union pushes back against Santorum. According the AP (link below),

    “There’s nobody else in the country saying the weather service didn’t do a stellar job,” said Dan Sobien, a meteorologist in Tampa, Fla., and vice president of the union.
    Union president Paul Greaves accused the third-ranking Senate Republican of trying to further his goal of limiting the weather service’s role in favor of private companies, such as Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather.
    “We know Sen. Santorum is looking out for the interests of his constituents in Pennsylvania,” said Greaves, a meteorologist in Albany, NY, “and one of those constituents is AccuWeather.”
    […]
    Following the union’s criticism, Santorum released a statement Friday saying that “I hope as we go forward to review the various aspects related to Hurricane Katrina that we also look at whether the forecasts and warnings provided the necessary information to preserve lives and property.”
    But a fellow Republican senator, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, praised the weather service’s performance, calling it in a statement Friday “one of the most accurate hurricane predictions we have ever seen.” Spokesman Wesley Denton said DeMint was unaware of Santorum’s comments or the union’s response.
    DeMint cited the same documents referred to by Greaves and Sobien indicating that 2 1/2 days before Katrina hit New Orleans, the agency had accurately predicted it would hit there. “These early and accurate forecasts saved countless lives along the Gulf Coast,” DeMint said.
    Anyone who has followed the career of Joel N. Myers, the founder of AccuWeather, knows that he harps on the fact that the National Weather Service is out to get him. Here is an example from the June 8th, 2005 Centre Daily Times (link below),
    Much of the creativity and innovation in weather forecasting and presentation have come from meteorologists in private companies, working from basic weather observations and computer model output provided by the government’s weather service.
    But recently the government has moved to end this fruitful collaboration.
    Apparently stung by professional criticism from private meteorologists about a series of failures involving public warnings, mismanagement and the withholding of critical data, the government’s weather service stepped up the waste of taxpayer money to duplicate products and services already freely available to the public from AccuWeather and many other private companies.
    The government’s apparent goal: to weaken and ultimately silence knowledgeable professional critics by undercutting their businesses through government-funded competition, rather than focusing on the core government mission of saving lives and property.
    There you have it, according to Myers, the new government policy, which the Santorum bill is intended to circumvent, is intended to silence this brave whistleblower.
    Based on this Centre Daily Times column, it appears that it was Myers who told Santorum about the failures of the National Weather Service with regard to Katrina. There is also evidence that Barry Myers, Joel’s brother and a non-practicing lawyer, wrote the Santorum bill. On June 30th, 2004 he wrote a letter to the Fair Weather Strategic Planning Office commenting on recommendations of National Research Council to overturn a 1991 non-compete agreement. This letter contains a suggestion for a new non-compete policy which is very similar to the Santorum bill. A copy of the letter is available at Commercial Weather Associations web site (link below).

    To recap, Santorum gets his talking points from Joel and Barry writes his legislation for him. I guess this makes Santorum a fully owned subsidiary of AccuWeather. Well at least he won’t have to worry about employment when he loses in 2006.

    The AP link:
    http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/12604840.htm
    The CDT Link:
    http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/11831557.htm
    The CWSA link:
    http://www.weatherindustry.org
    The National Weather Service Employees Union Press Release:
    http://www.dumpsantorum.com/

  • Is Santorum a wholey owned subsidiary of AccuWeather? It was reported this spring by AP that Joel N. Myers had contributed $2000 dollars to Santorum on April 12, 2005 two days before Santorum introduced the bill which would benefit Myers. It was also reported that AccuWeather employees have contributed $11,000 to Santorum and the Republican party since 2003. Barry Myers offered what has become the standarded defense of Santorum on this isssue. As reported by the AP,” Barry Myers said it was ridiculous to think there was a correlation between the ‘modest’ donations and the filing of the bill.”

    Certainly, Myers didn’t pay retail for Santorum, but I believe they paid for him none the less. As they say, I know a guy that can get it wholesale. Who is that guy in this case. How about Doyle Corman? Corman was a Pennsylvania state senator with a district, the 34th, which covers all of Centre County which is home of AccuWeather. His son Jake currently holds the seat. As reported this summer in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Santorum, while still a student at Penn State, got his start in politics working for Corman. My guess is that Santorum is doing Corman a favor. While Myers really can’t do much to help or hurt Santorum, he is in a position to help or hurt Corman’s son Jake.

    The AP article
    http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050526-2334-santorumsstorm.html
    The New York Times Sunday Magazine Article
    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D17FA34540C718EDDAC0894DD404482

  • This is a wonderful idea, and if Santorum is really serious about this approach, we could start with the Executive Branch, work on Congress..example the Transportation and Energy Bills..the CIA etc. To my memory, the WNS predicted this storm and its affect on New Orleans and the Gulf coast years ago.

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