Not Rocket Science: NASA can get political -- for Tom DeLay (thanks to Art Lynch for reminding me of this shining moment)
NASA usually tries to pass itself off as apolitical- more interested in science and space exploration than the grimy, unpredictable world of politics. Engineers can deal with the hard realities of science. It's the political realities that they seem to struggle with.
Of course, even for highly educated and capable engineers, this episode was handled rather ham-handedly.
The August 18 internal memo to all NASA personnel at Johnson Space Center seemed innocuous enough.
"With the party political conventions in full swing," wrote JSC chief counsel Bernard Roan, it was time to restate NASA's policy on employee campaign activities. Included was a warning against any political activity while on duty, and "on duty" could be defined as any time when an employee was wearing a NASA pin.
Then someone at NASA apparently realized that: 1) U.S. Representative Tom DeLay was being honored at an August 24 reception at nearby UH-Clear Lake; 2) Redistricting has put JSC in DeLay's district; and 3) NASA needs to do some serious kissing of the DeLay ass to keep getting funded.
So on August 19 a new memo went out. "It is my determination that it is in the Agency's interest for NASA [employees] and their guests to attend this event," deputy chief counsel Daniel Remington wrote.
The second memo alarmed some NASA workers. "I couldn't believe they'd do something like that," says one veteran employee. He said a co-worker had e-mailed to say he'd never seen anything like it in 30 years at JSC. "It just didn't pass the smell test," he said.
An anonymous complaint has been filed with NASA's inspector general, but somehow a ruling didn't come down before the DeLay event.
I'm shocked...SHOCKED that political considerations would come into play here. Actually, I'm more surprised that the memo didn't order NASA employees who were planning on attending to bring kneepads with them. After all, the point was to show subservience to their Lord and Master, no?
What really warmed my heart was the reception that DeLay received at UHCL, which is pretty much just across the street from my office. There were almost as many protesters as their were attendees, not exactly the fawning, adoring crowd that DeLay is used to seeing in front of him. If only I'd known....
I wonder if any of those yelling at DeLay were NASA employees? Hmm...I wonder if THAT might bring an investigation in record time?
