Lawmakers scold executives but ignore their own role

May 13, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

It’s become a reality-showlike ritual, Congress summoning once- imperious executives to be berated and shamed about the damage they’ve done to the country.

This time it’s the chiefs of BP PLC and two other companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico spill. Appearing over two days before packed hearings in the House and Senate, they did not fare well. And as usual, there was little inclination for lawmakers to examine their own role in the latest calamity.

Instead, the Senators pounced on the three executives for trying to shift responsibility for the environmental crisis to one of their seatmates. “I hear one message — don’t blame me,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. “Shifting the blame game doesn’t get us very far.”

Yet Congress itself is responsible both for writing the laws and overseeing the rules that are supposed to make offshore drilling safe and accident-free.

And many lawmakers have never been timid about taking oil-industry money. BP employees and lobbyists have given more than $1 million in political contributions since the beginning of 2009, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Lawmakers walk into hearing rooms with a distinct home-field advantage. Every committee member gets a shot at the witnesses, who often are given no time to answer questions or are cut off midway through their replies. Members sitting up on their dais are free to hurl charges and insults, but witnesses are supposed to be deferential.

Members of Congress have long been “unsurpassed at public displays of moral indignation,” said Ross Baker, a congressional scholar at Rutgers University. He added that with anti-incumbent sentiments rising, these hearings have become even more pugnacious. “Getting on the side of beating up the big guys” can’t hurt, he said.

The oil spill hearings came just two weeks after Goldman Sachs executives spent nine hours trying to defend themselves to senators accusing them of bilking investors and helping drive the nation into recession. The economic near-collapse has provided lots of chances to grill executives.

Even executives who come ready to atone for mistakes don’t escape tongue-lashings. Toyota President Akio Toyoda repeatedly apologized for defects in his vehicles over three hours of testimony in the House. That wasn’t enough for Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio. “I do not think it reflects significant remorse for those who have died,” she said.