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Politics&Nation Supreme Court declines to hear newcampaign
Plane bombs more fatal than in Dec. 25 attempt Judge faults Justice in immigration case Vilified elsewhere, Pelosi is safe at home
Digest Newark school plan to engage families
TheWorld Sowing seeds for an organic revolution
U.S. diplomat calls for action by Syria
Marines begin to hand bases to Afghan army Cambodia to strike balance with China
Digest Ban doesn’t raiseNobel case withHu
Economy&Business Economic picture still cloudy
AIG raises $37 billion from Alico sale and IPO in effort to repayU.S. bailout
Financial overhaul likely to survive GOP victory Health-care repeat is unlikely, but GOP has other options
Digest Ambac warns of possible bankruptcy filing
CORRECTION
l An Oct. 14 Style article about HarryWhittington, theTexas law-
yer wounded in a hunting acci- dent by then-Vice President Rich- ard B. Cheney, misstated the year in which he managed the cam-
paign that first put John Tower (R-Tex.) in the U.S. Senate. It was 1961,not1960.Towerwontheseat in a special election after Lyndon B. Johnson, who defeated him in 1960, became vice president.
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LOOKING FOR DANAMILBANK? Dana Milbank now writes on
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and frequently in the news pages. He also is co-authoring a new blog, ComPost, on political oddi- ties. It can be found at voic-
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Alison and Barry Sullivan are comforted after a funeralMass in Buffalo Grove, Ill., over son Declan Sullivan, who diedWednesday when a tower from which he was filming football practice toppled.
Firm that certified oil rig’s safety to do autopsy
Interior hires same company that worked for Deepwater owner
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BY STEVEN MUFSON The Interior Department has
hired a Norwegian firm to in- spect the giant subsea device that failed to prevent theMacondo oil and gas well from exploding on April 20, although the same firm earlier gave a thumbs-up to safety procedures on board the Deep- water Horizon drilling rig, which sank in the accident. The Interior Department is
planning to pay Det Norske Veri- tas (DNV) $1.3million to conduct the autopsy of the 60-foot high, 380-ton blowout preventer, which is now sitting on a dock at the NASA Michoud assembly plant in Louisiana. But some government and in-
dustry officials say that the firm’s earlier work for Transocean, the owner and operator of the Deep- waterHorizon, poses a conflict of interest. In 2007, DNV inspected and
recertified the Deepwater Hori- zon’s safety procedures. In 2009, Transocean hired DNV to study the reliability of subsea blowout preventers. That same year, DNV named a Transocean vice presi- dent, N. Pharr Smith, to be chair- man of DNV’s rig owners’ com- mittee, which provides “input” to DNV’s rule-making process. The American Bureau of Ship-
washingtonpost.com/postpoints SF 2x4.75
ping, a nonprofit organization that classifiesmarine vessels and offshore rigs, did not submit the firm’s name to do the blowout preventer autopsy because of its earlier work on the Deepwater Horizon.The organizationsaid in a statement that “it assumed its earlierwork on the rig comprised a conflict of interest. And so ABS is surprised that DNV has re- ceived the contract to do this work.” A diagnosis of what went wrong with the blowout preven-
ter, or BOP, is key to explaining the explosion that triggered the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Future regulations, and possibly billions of dollars of legal liability, are linked to the outcome. “It’s of particular concern that
DNV has done a specific analysis of the rig back in2007,has opined separately on the reliability of BOPs and specifically taken the positionthat a secondblindshear ramwould onlymarginallymake a difference,” said Rafael Moure- Eraso, chairman of the Chemical Safety Board. “We think those positions are a conflict that should have been reviewed early.” DNV says that there is no
conflict. Blaine Collins, spokes- man for Det Norske Veritas Clas- sification (Americas), said that “we haven’t had any involvement in the inspection or certification of the blowout preventer.” He said DNV examined the
Deepwater Horizon for compli- ance with the International Safe- tyManagement code, designed to provide “for the safe manage- ment and operation of ships and for pollution prevention.” Eileen Angelico, a spokeswom-
an for the joint Interior andCoast Guard team, said, “The process for which the contract was awarded for the forensic testing and scientific evaluation of the BOP was a competitive bidding process consistent with applica- ble regulations and policies.” The Interior Department has
also been squabbling with the Chemical Safety Board over ac- cess to the BOP autopsy. Interior has said it is consult-
ing with DNV on who will get what is known as “tier 3” access. That puts experts in the same room where they can directly observe DNV’s work and partici- pate in decisions about how the failed device should be probed. Tier 2 access puts people in rooms watching the procedure on closed-circuit television. The access is important, CSB
officials said, because many tests can’t be undone or repeated.
Citing limited space and “safety concerns,” Interior said last night that it would allow only one expert fromthe CSB, which often leads investigations of complex industrial accidents, including the 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City oil refinery. The other groups that will get
Tier 3 access include BP, Trans- ocean andCameron, themaker of the blowout preventer, as well as representatives of the Justice De- partment and plaintiffs in the multidistrict lawsuit being brought against BP. TheCSBsaid itwould continue
to press for wider access for its experts. Moure-Eraso said that the investigation should “give the public confidence that this activi- ty is being conducted without influence that might produce something other than objective findings and conclusions.” The CSB, asked by the House
Energy and Commerce Commit- tee to conduct its own inquiry into the Deepwater Horizon blowout, has recruited four veter- an experts who have no conflicts of interest, CSB officials said. Interior chose one who had ex- tensive drilling experience at Exxon, excluding another with pipeline and welding expertise. The dispute about who leads
the investigation is only one of the controversies to wash over the blowout preventer since it was raised fromthe Gulf ofMexi- co sea floor and delivered Sept. 11 to the Coast Guard. Transocean believed that the
enormous device should have been taken to a private industrial facility in Houston experienced at handling such equipment. But a New Orleans judge ruled
that for security reasons, the device should be stored at the NASA facility. The joint investigation force
overseeing the blowoutpreventer autopsy has said that a structure would be built to house and shelter the massive piece of equipment. Itwas supposed to be completed by now.
mufsons@washpost.com
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2010 DeLay prosecutors assert scheme
Ex-congressman’s lawyers say it’s
no crime to raise funds BY JUAN A. LOZANO
austin — Tom DeLay took part in a scheme to illegally channel corporate money into Texas legis- lative races to strengthen his power and influence, prosecutors said Monday in opening state- mentsof the formerHouse major- ity leader’s money laundering tri- al.
DeLay’s attorneys countered
that no corporate money was given to Texas candidates and that the only thing the once pow- erful but polarizing congressman is guilty of is being a good politi- cian. Travis County prosecutor Bev-
erlyMathews said DeLay (R) and two associates — Jim Ellis and
John Colyandro — ille- gally funneled $190,000 in corporate money, which had been collected by a groupDeLay started, through theWashington- based Republican Na- tional Committee to help elect GOP state legisla- tive candidates in 2002. Under Texas law, corpo- rate money cannot be di- rectly used for political campaigns. “The evidence will show you
“How can I not feel confident?” said defendant TomDeLay.
they took the corporate money they knewcould not be given and came up with a scheme where that dirty money could be turned clean and given to candidates,” Mathews said. DeLay, who has long denied
wrongdoing, is charged with money laundering and conspira- cy to commit money laundering. If convicted, he could face a life sentence. Mathews told jurors the
$190,000 that was col- lected by DeLay’s Texas political action com- mittee was exchanged for the same amount through the RNC and given to seven Texas candidates. She said the money swap was supervised by DeLay. Mathews said the Republicans won a ma- jority in the Texas House because of De-
Lay’s scheme, meaning they could then push through a con- gressional redistricting plan en- gineered by DeLay that would send more Texas Republicans to Congress. “There is nothing wrong with Republicans trying to dominate the political world,” Mathews said. “But the means to achieve that gain must be lawful.” During his opening statement,
DeLay’s lead attorney repeatedly told jurors that no corporate
Mourning for Notre Dame student killed during high-wind storm
money was given to Texas candi- dates. Dick DeGuerin acknowledged
that DeLay’s PAC sent $190,000 in corporate money to an arm of the RNC and that the panel used money collected from individual donations to send $190,000 to seven Texas GOP candidates. “It’s not the same money. No money was laundered,” DeGuerin said. DeGuerin said thatDeLay,who
did not make decisions for his PAC, lawfully raised money and promoted GOP interests. “He did it so successfully that
there was a lot of anger. You cannot convict Tom DeLay be- cause he was a better politician than the other side was,” DeGuer- in said. DeLay was upbeat as he en-
tered the Austin courtroom. “The prosecution doesn’t have
a case. How can I not feel confi- dent?” said DeLay, accompanied by his wife, Christine. — Associated Press
Study says booze does more harm than drugs
U.K. researchers rank it above crack and heroin for impact on society
BY MARIA CHENG
london — Alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine, according to a new study. British experts evaluated sub-
stances including alcohol, co- caine, heroin, ecstasy and mari- juana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole. Researchers analyzed how ad-
dictive a drug is and how it harms the human body, in addi- tion to other criteria such as environmental damage caused by the drug, its role in breaking up families, and its economic costs, such as health care, social services and prison. Heroin, crack cocaine and
methamphetamine, or crystal meth, were the most lethal to individuals. In terms of their wider social effects, alcohol, her- oin and crack cocaine were the deadliest. But overall, alcohol outranked all other substances, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana, ecstasy and LSD scored far lower. The study was paid for by
Britain’s Center for Crime and Justice Studies and was pub- lished online Monday in the medical journal the Lancet. Experts said alcohol scored so
high because it is so widely used and has devastating consequenc- es not only for drinkers but also for those around them. “Just think about what hap-
pens [with alcohol] at every football game,” saidWimvan den Brink, a professor of psychiatry and addiction at the University ofAmsterdam.Hewas not linked to the study and co-authored a commentary in the Lancet. When consumed in excess,
alcohol damages nearly all organ systems. It is also connected to higher death rates and is in- volved in a greater percentage of crime than most other drugs, including heroin. But experts said it would be
impractical and incorrect to out- law alcohol. “We cannot return to the days
of prohibition,” said Leslie King, an adviser to the EuropeanMon- itoring Center for Drugs and one of the study’s authors. “Alcohol is too embedded in our culture, and it won’t go away.” King said countries should
target problem drinkers, not the vast majority of people who in- dulge in a drink or two. He said governments should consider more education programs and raising the price of alcohol so it isn’t as widely available. Experts said the study should
prompt countries to reconsider how they classify drugs. “What governments decide is
illegal is not always based on science,” said van den Brink. He said considerations about reve- nue and taxation, such as those garnered from the alcohol and tobacco industries, may influ- ence decisions about which sub- stances to regulate or outlaw. “Drugs that are legal cause at
least as much damage, if not more, than drugs that are illicit,” he said.
— Associated Press
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