Stickler back in the game

I guess he didn't get the message the first time. Although the U.S. Senate rejected his choice last month, President Bush has renominated Richard Stickler, a former Pennsylvania mining official, to head up MSHA. Senator Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, originally put a hold on Stickler's nomination for three months, saying the White House's candidate held the industry's interests above miners' safety. When Congress adjourned for its August recess, the nomination was automatically rejected. Byrd said in a statement he hopes the Senate will turn down the nomination again. Stickler was the director of Pennsylvania's Bureau of Deep Mine Safety for six years and also worked for Massey Energy and Bethlehem Steel Company. He currently has a six-month contract to work as an advisor to the Department of Labor, which oversees the MSHA. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee does not plan on holding any more hearings on the nomination, and a committee spokesman did not know when it would vote on Stickler. Your comment?