President Obama's choice of an energy industry leader and founder of an environmental group active on fishing issues as his next U.S. Commerce Secretary was made without any consultation with fishing industry advocates, Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank say.
And the two congressmen — who represent the core Massachusetts fishing ports of Gloucester and New Bedford, respectively — have urged Sens. John Kerry, Scott Brown and others not to confirm Bryson's appointment "without … getting commitments that the fishing industry has a right to expect that they will be treated fairly if he is the secretary."
In a statement released jointly last week, after Obama named John Bryson to succeed Gary Locke as head of Commerce Department, Democrats Tierney and Frank said they found the process disappointing. And they said citing Bryson's background as a founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council as a qualification is "troubling."
Tierney and Frank have been leaders in the industry's resistance to administration fisheries policies, drawing a Cabinet level apology and limited reparations from Locke last month for excessive and unwarranted overregulation that has proven financially debilitating for the fishing industry and its related businesses.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.