US Congress: Representative Ellen O. Tauscher

Randy Black comments on the international brouhaha caused by `printing Sudan instead of Sedan: Was it Sedan or Sudan: I sort of figured that it would have been a Democrat from California talking about something she knew absolutely nothing about. In fact, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher was 11 years old when the nuclear test took place in Nevada in 1962. It’s likely that her she and her PR staff ran across the 40-year-old report with the typo and, none of them being old enough or wise enough to check out the old report for accuracy, thought this was a way to get Rep. Tauscher’s name in the paper on an otherwise slow news day in a hearing that no one cared about at the expense of our nation’s reputation. Let’s embarrass the United States and gain a few votes. Obviously she is a graduate of the Dan Rather School of Journalistic Research.

Here is her official apology eight days later: “When speaking at a March 2 briefing in the House Armed Services Committee, I referred to nuclear testing that occurred on July 6, 1962, at the Nevada Test Site codenamed ‘Sedan.’  I was not referring to the African country Sudan.” Rep. Tauscher is also known for her op-ed pieces in local newspapers where she predicted (in advance) that the recent elections in Iraq would fail due to the US’s lack of preparation and security.
 
In 2001, Rep. Tauscher tried to have things both ways at the expense of her own constituents. After criticizing the President for being soft on the side of energy producers at the expense of the environment, she then attacked the President when he refused to grant California petroleum refineries exemptions from the Clean Air Act. She demanded that California be granted an exemption from the law that required refineries to reformulate their production thus benefiting the already over-polluted air in that state. She said that by refusing the exemption, President Bush personally caused Californians to pay 5 cents more per gallon of gasoline. Rep. Tauscher should have been reminded that the Democrats controlled Congress when it voted in the Clean Air Act, and that the President was simply allowing the law to run its course as designed.
 
Sources: http://www.house.gov/tauscher/Press2005/03-10-05.htm
http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2001/06/18/editorial2.html
http://www.sudaneseonline.com/earticle2005/mar13-70866.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25346-2005Mar10.html?sub=AR
http://www.house.gov/tauscher/media/Oped-01-16-05-sfc.html
 
 RH: Ellen O. Tauscher represents Walnut Creek in the Bay Area.  Randy's account of her is unkind. Not explained is why the nuclear explosion was called Sedan, the name of a French town.  Did it protest?