Disgruntled former Bush administration official? Please take a number
Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona appeared Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, charging that top Bush administration officials silenced him in his public health reports. According to Carmona, during his four-year term (2002-2006) he was not allowed to speak or issue reports regarding stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental, and global health issues.
Regarding the politicization of his office, Carmona added that some other former Surgeon Generals told him, “We have never seen it as partisan, as malicious, as vindictive, as mean-spirited as it is today, and you clearly have worse than anyone’s had.”
The official response is as follows: “It has always been this administration’s position that public health policy should be rooted in sound science,” said Bill Hall, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
No administration response yet on Dr. Carmona’s additional charge that he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches.
Some bloggers have questioned why Carmona stuck it out for four years and pretty much did as he was told. An “oath to the president” perhaps? OK, I confess… I just wanted an excuse to post the Leahy v. Taylor clip one more time:
