November 20, 2008

Rep. John Dingell, Onetime Nemesis of University Researchers, Loses Chairmanship

Washington — Rep. John Dingell, the legendary Michigan Democrat whose efforts to expose scientific misconduct and improper charges for overhead costs at universities two decades ago earned him both respect and resentment, has been unseated as chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.

Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat of California and a senior member of the committee, ousted Mr. Dingell on a secret ballot by House Democrats, 137 to 122. As chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Mr. Waxman has accused the Bush administration of manipulating science for political purposes.

Most researchers won’t be sad to see Mr. Dingell go. In the 1980s and 1990s, he held a series of widely publicized hearings in which he accused big-name scientists of covering up research misconduct by themselves or their colleagues. In two of the most high-profile cases, the researchers — Thereza Imanishi-Kari of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Bernard Fisher of University of Pittsburgh — were ultimately cleared of wrongdoing.

Mr. Dingell also led an investigation into the improper billing of overhead costs by Stanford University. Stanford eventually agreed to pay back $1.2-million, in addition to $2.2-million it had returned earlier, and the government issued much tougher billing rules for all colleges, limiting the overhead rates that they could charge for administrative costs.

Mr. Dingell lost his chairmanship in 1994, when the Republicans swept into power. When Democrats regained control of the House, in 2006, some scientists feared that Mr. Dingell would resume his inquiries into academic research. But Mr. Dingell has stayed relatively quiet on the topic in recent years. A year ago, the committee said it was investigating possible tobacco ties among academic researchers leading a large, federally financed study of smoking, but nothing has come of that inquiry so far. —Kelly Field

Comments

1. Absent from this report was any reference to Rep. Dingell’s resistance to climate warming research and his cosseting of the automobile companies (e.g., by resisting CAFE increases) who actively worked to undermine such research.

   We might possibly have avoided the impending collapse of the domestic automobile industry had this mossbacked enabler been ousted from the committee long ago.

   — Eryx    Nov 20, 04:03 PM    #

2. Good point, Eryx. Dingell’s greatest atrocities were his resistance to CAFE improvements and delaying the inevitable transition of the American auto industry. I understand that the Chronicle would focus on issues germane to academe, but it’s somewhat like focusing on the minor transgressions of a convicted felon.

   — J    Nov 20, 04:41 PM    #

3. I agree with both posters above. I didn’t hear about Dingell’s history until this Waxman battle, and even then all I learned was about the climate change business. That is the reason he was ousted, for sure.

   — Katherine    Nov 20, 06:33 PM    #

4. As someone who lives in Dingell’s district, I must say that he has done this nation and his constituents much good, and I cheerfully voted for him and would do so again. However, I, too, am glad to see him out of this chairmanship, for the reasons described above. This is one area in which he has been driven too much by the perceived interests of his constituents, and the piper is now being paid.

   — Atokal    Nov 21, 07:26 AM    #

5. He is being ousted for not towing the Pelosi line, not for anything else. Waxman will use the position to fill the democrat campaign coffers and enact lots of feel good and costly but low positive impact regulations on business. Finally, the clumsy CAFE regulations helped do in the auto industry.

   — Frank    Nov 21, 08:50 AM    #

6. Frank, “Towing”? Is this a Freudian slip? As in, “the US auto industry, after years of engaging in a demolition derby by virtue of its unwillingnes to face the realities of the new global economic order, are hoping that the federal government will tow it to safety with the first of what promises to be an unending series of cash infusions.” Dingell’s 55 years of “service” in the House have been wonderful for his constituents but not so good for the rest of the country. It is great to see Dingell, Stevens, and Byrd going down; too bad Lieberman was spared. It is well neigh time for new leadership in this country. Waxman may not be best answer, but he is better than Dingell.

   — Brian    Nov 21, 10:07 AM    #

7. Unfortunately, most of the people populating the inner circles of Wahsington, D.C. are there only to feather their owns nests; not, as the argument goes, to serve the public good. It is good that Dingell is out of the chairmanship, but Waxman is no great improvement, unless you are of the mind that because someone will send dollars your way or toe your line, they are an improvement.

   We have reached the point that some of the Founders feared: We can vote ourselves benefits – and we stupidly do.

   — 2B    Nov 21, 10:48 AM    #

8. 2B, your are 2cynical. Closer to accurate is the clever line I once read: “He went to Washington to do good. He stayed to do well.”

   In his view—and in those of his contributors—Dingell has been representing his constituency. It’s just unfortunate that he was listening to Detroit, rather than watching Tokyo. He would have served his constituency better by taking the longer view. Like most large US corporations, the Big Three have focused on current share prices, at the expense of their own future.

   — BertW    Nov 21, 01:23 PM    #

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