After months of sphinx-like silence, investment banker and United States senate candidate Mike McFadden is finally sharing his positions, which include adopting the military as the model of "limited but effective government," while evoking pity for PolyMet for having to suffer through environmental review.
In McFadden: We can do better, the Fairmont Sentinel's Lee Smith reports:
As for his view of fellow Republicans, McFadden says they have long expressed a message of limited but effective government, but have fallen short in helping deliver on the "effective" part of the agenda. He says the U.S. military is a standard of effectiveness, and it is this model that should be adopted elsewhere in the federal government.
We're left scratching our heads at that one, having heard some rather shocking stories from friends serving in the military about the cost and waste of the military procurement system, as well as in general operations.
Since McFadden plans to continue Senator Tom Coburn's Wastebook if elected, perhaps McFadden might take a look at the defense-related wasteful spending highlghts. Moreover the statement suggests that McFadden isn't cozying up to the Ron Paul wing of the Republican Party of Minnesota, as former Congressman Paul continues to rip "interventionist" military spending since leaving office.
Moving on, McFadden stakes out a claim for the oppressed capitalists at Glencore Xstrata, where interim chair Tony Hayward--who led BP during a little environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico--are struggling to get approval for the PolyMet mining project.
Wild rice and water quality? Fiddle-dee-dee. McFadden tells Smith:
Discussing these issues and others at the local Culligan dealership, McFadden, 48, used the Polymet mining proposal in northern Minnesota as a lesson. It would involve tapping an estimated $10 billion worth of copper. McFadden says getting a yes or no answer on whether the project can move forward has taken more than seven years and cost more than $150 million, with no resolution.
"What an inefficient, ineffective process," McFadden said. "This is a case study in what is wrong with government."
He noted that in even a nation with stricter environmental laws, such as Germany, a project gets a yes or no answer so that everyone can move on. And noting American innovation, McFadden said hearing a "no" in the United States would mean people getting to work to find solutions to barriers, so that industry and the environment could co-exist.
Pay no attention to that industry's track record--or to shell company PolyMet's lack of any record. McFadden used PolyMet as a example at a media stop in Austin yesterday as well.
Senator Franken outlines his position on PolyMet in a letter embedded at Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Dunbar's post, Nolan, Franken, Klobuchar weigh in on PolyMet mine. The letter was recently criticized in Franken, Klobuchar gamble with PolyMet letters to DNR,a letter to the Duluth News Tribune by a PolyMet shareholder.
Photo: Mike McFadden, the least interesting man in the world.
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