America to Nord: You’ve Been Recalled

The performance of Nancy A. Nord as acting chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is defective. As a result, the American public is invoking its right to recall her.

You’ve been recalled, Ms. Nord, just like 30 million lead-tainted toys imported from China this year.

It was bad enough that you told worried parents not to even try testing their children’s toys for lead and that you told Congress not to pass legislation beefing up CPSC staff and sanctions, but now The Washington Post has revealed that you also betrayed the public trust.

Ms. Nord, and her predecessor, Hal Stratton, took nearly 30 trips worth almost $60,000 to places like China, Spain and San Francisco that were paid in full or part by trade associations or manufacturers of products that the CPSC regulates, the Post reported.

Ms. Nord claimed that the Office of Government Ethics told her it was fine for associations and corporations to pay for trips, right down to reimbursing her $51 for parking at Union Station while she attended the American International Toy Fair in New York, but that’s not what American parents think. As they take lead-tainted toy after lead-tainted toy away from their children, they think Ms. Nord sold them out.

And they are right. A real, independent expert on government ethics, Craig Holman of Public Citizen, told the Post, “This is a blatant violation of the ethics code.