May 20, 1970
16423
REPRESENTATIVE HECHLER HITS UNJUSTIFIED CRITICISM OF DEDICATED LEGISLATOR
HON. WILLIAM D. HATHAWAY OF MAINE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Wednesday, May 20, 1970
Mr. HATHAWAY. Mr. Speaker, the perceptive and hard-working gentleman from West Virginia, Mr. HECHLER, recently expressed the shock that many of us in the Congress and a great many people throughout the country experienced when the Ralph Nader-supported task force on air pollution questioned the devotion of Maine's junior Senator, EDMUND S. MUSKIE, to the cause of preserving and protecting our environment.
The gentleman's incisive remarks were reproduced in a number of the Nation's newspapers and I request that they be inserted in the RECORD:
REPRESENTATIVE HECHLER HITS "UNJUSTIFIED CRITICISM OF DEDICATED LEGISLATOR"
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Ken Hechler (D-W.Va.), one of Ralph Nader's most ardent supporters in Congress, has labelled the Nader-sponsored criticism of Senator Edmund Muskie as "unwarranted, unjustified and unfair."
The West Virginia Congressman took particular exception to the 548-page Nader Task Force Report written by John C. Esposito, which he said contains some excellent analysis and good recommendations, but suffers from a holier-than-thou, dog-in-the-manger attitude. To blast Senator Muskie for what was done three years ago naturally raises the question: where was Mr. Esposito during the hearings on the Air Quality Act of 1967? Why hasn’t all this useful information been presented during this year's House and Senate hearings on revision of the Act?
"Although I gave Mr. Esposito and he included in his report, information on air pollution problems in my Congressional District he refused to return eighteen telephone calls pleading with him to present valuable information to Senator Muskie's Air and Water Pollution Subcommittee or the House Committee considering new air pollution legislation. Mr. Esposito prefers to criticize rather than to be constructive. Furthermore, when I discovered a gross inaccuracy in his Task Force Report and repeatedly telephoned him to inform him of that fact, he has made himself more inaccessible than President Nixon is to Secretary Hickel.
"I resent unjustified criticism of a dedicated, conscientious and public-spirited legislator like Senator Muskie. He has carried forward the banner of clean air and clean water, has exerted effective national leadership in these fields, and I place my confidence in his future efforts. The Nader Report has served a very useful purpose in again focusing public attention on what needs to be done to clean up the air, but name-calling is just another form of air pollution the nation can do without."
Like the gentleman from West Virginia, Mr. Speaker, I too consider myself to be one of Mr. Nader's staunchest supporters in the Congress and one of the greatest admirers of his always impressive, usually objective work. He has, for a number of years now, been a pioneer in areas affecting the health, safety, and welfare of the American people and his efforts have resulted in real and lasting progress in these areas.
I was especially surprised, therefore, that the report of a task force under his direction should cast unfair and unjustified aspersions upon another of the Nation's true pioneers, the junior Senator from Maine, who, for a time, fought the lonesome battle against pollution almost single- handedly, and who more than any man in the United States is responsible for the progress we have made in saving our environment. I would only suggest, as my distinguished colleague has, that the task force now turn away from misdirected criticism to a constructive, cooperative effort against the common enemy so well defined and to a great degree already subdued by the Senator from Maine.