CPSC chairs do tough undercover duty in Hilton Head

See if you can believe he actually said this. As noted by Walldon earlier today (below), Hal Stratton, former chairman of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, is under fire (along with current acting chairman Nancy Nord) for possible conflicts of interest in accepting trips paid for by the industries the CPSC regulates. Here is how one of those meetings was described:

Makers of that equipment are represented by the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association, for which Stratton, Nord's predecessor, was a guest speaker at two annual meetings. In 2003 Stratton spoke at the group's meeting on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. In 2005, he spoke at its annual meeting in Orlando. The meetings drew more than 300 manufacturers' representatives and spouses for seminars, a dinner dance and golf.

Don’t lose it laughing before you finish both sentences, but here is what Stratton said:

"My view was we needed to engage industries and not only tell them what we expected but also to learn what they were thinking. . . . You can't do that sitting in the ivory tower at the CPSC."

I’m sure he got tons of insight from those spouses or significant others by the pool in Orlando. Golfing in Hilton Head, of course, is the ultimate in getting down-and-dirty with the issues facing the industry as seen from the factory floor or even from the management suite. Of course, the airfare for the industry leaders is much cheaper to Hilton Head and Orlando than to Washington – cheaper, even, than the cab fare from K Street for those highly paid, high powered lobbyists who know everything about the industries they represent.