I nearly fell out of my chair when I read that the Clinton

administration paid 28 witnesses $10,000 each to supply “friendly” testimony on

controversial federal ergonomics rules.

In a letter to Charles Jeffress of the federal Occupational Safety

and Health Administration (OSHA), Pat Cleary of the National Association

of Manufacturers expressed his frustration this way:

“I spent 10 years in federal government, four

of those at the Labor Department, and I must say this

is unprecedented. In the interest of fairness, I’m

enclosing an invoice for $10,000 for my testimony in

opposition to this rule.”

Cleary is still waiting for a reply from OSHA.

While Cleary’s $10,000 invoice was sent “tongue-in-cheek,”

what OSHA did is no laughing matter. In fact, it is a perfect example of why

the American people are so cynical about government.

Apparently, it is not uncommon to pay experts to testify on

proposed rules. But in this case, OSHA paid only those “experts” who

support the department’s proposed

ergonomics rule.

Why would bureaucrats resort to paying for supportive testimony if

the rule made sense and was based on sound science? The answer is,

they wouldn’t!

The inherent problem with any ergonomics regulation, including

the version proposed by the Washington State Department of Labor and

Industries, is there is simply no sound medical or scientific evidence to

support it. Whether it’s the state, federal or local ergonomics rule, it makes

no sense at this time. Employers will be forced to pay for a costly

unscientific experiment with no assurance that it will prevent a single injury.

Congress was so incensed by OSHA’s latest attempt to impose

ergonomics rules, not to mention the Clinton administration’s cavalier

disregard for the integrity of the federal rule-making process, that it

voted along party lines to cut off funds to OSHA for implementing its

ergonomics rules.

Hopefully, this is one battle Congress will win. Every

hard-working American knows that it is wrong to spend $280,000 of their tax money

to skew public testimony on proposed legislation.

Don Brunell is president of the Association of Washington

Business, Washington State’s Chamber of Commerce. Visit AWB on the Web

at www.awb.org.