Romney: Engineer?

July 17th. 2006
Sent to but not published in the Boston Globe

Mitt Romney really should stick to what he knows and not mouth off on things about which he is uninformed.

He was quoted today, speaking of the Ted Williams Tunnel, as saying "The panels are much narrower .. They are not 4-inch thik slabs of concrete. There are many more fasteners holding them up, the beefiness of the fasteners is much more substantial, and there is no indication of movement."
Romney has no credibility saying that.

The person saying that, if it is to be convincing, is a trained structural engineer -- or did Romney play at being a structural engineer when he did "a job for a day" during his election campaign four years ago.

Another version:

July 18th. 2006
Sent to but not published in the New York Times

This gets sillier and sillier.

When Mitt Romney was running for Governor he held a weekly 'work day' when he played at being a fisherman and being a hamburger cook at a Red Sox Game.

In the past year, he hasn't had many 'work days' at the Governor's job, as he's been out on the stump quite a lot.

Now with his takeover of the Big Dig, Mitt Romney is playing at being an engineer. Your picture (Big Dig Ceiling Must be Modified, Governor Says, New York Times, July 17th. page:A17) shows him with his sketches of the tunnel ceiling supports.

I wish he would step back and let the experts get on with their job. His ill informed interventions could be dangerous. But, as when he ran for governor, he needs the photo-ops.

Model for Israeli Restraint

July 16th. 2006
Sent to but not published in the New York Times

A number of world leaders have called for Israel to engage in restraint and a proportionate response to recent terrorist attacks.

What would such a proportionate response look like?  It should be based on two major principles. First the Rabin principle that Israel should negotiate as if there was no terrorism and deal with terrorism as if there were no negotiations going on; that is terrorist attacks should not be allowed to derail negotiations. The second principle, flowing from that, is that Israel should make a scrupulous distinction between terrorists and the governments of the countries that harbor them. In the long run, negotiations will have to take place between governments so demonizing those governments will only make negotiations more difficult.

From these principles, we can derive a three step process of dealing with terrorist attacks like those from Gaza three weeks ago and those from Lebanon this week.

I will apply these to the specific example of the Hezbollah attacks. First Israel should go to the Lebanese Government and demand that it fulfill its responsibilities under UN Resolution Number 1559 to disarm the Hezbollah militias and have the regular Lebanese army take control over the Lebanon-Israel border. Israel should have given one week for Lebanon to do this.

In the likely failure of this first step, Israel should go to the Security Council and the Arab League and request that both bodies authorize the dispatch of a Peace Keeping Force to Lebanon to control the border betwee4n Israel and Lebanon.and disarm the Hezbollah. Israel should have given a three day timetable for the passage of one or other of these resolutions and some evidence that deployment was commencing.

Only if these two steps failed, would Israel have the right to take matters into its own hands and try to deal with Hezbollah unilaterally.

The problem is that such a long drawn out process would require almost unbearable restraint from Israel. Restraint in international affairs is a commodity is short supply these days.

The adoption of similar steps in future attacks of this kind would reduce the likelihood of a catastrophic outcome occurring.

Big Dig Investigation

July 14th. 2006
Sent to but not published in the Boston Globe

The Big Dig Investigation

Those politicians calling for an independent review of the Big Dig catastrophe are absolutely correct. It is a mistake to allow those responsible for creating the situation to have a major role in investigating the problems.

One of the more pervasive phenomena in human decision-making is “escalating commitment to a losing course of action.’ This occurs when early investments in terms of money, resources, energy, and time have been committed to a project. At a later stage, the expected pay-offs from the investment have not materialized and the person or organization has to decide whether or not to “cut their losses’ or to make an additional investment. Almost inevitably the person or organization “throws good money after bad.’

This occurs for a couple of reasons. People are very good at identifying external causes for the initial failure and do not expect those causes to recur so they can justify an additional investment in the project. Secondly, success in the project becomes inextricably tied up with their desire to prove themselves competent so the desired outcome has shifted from a successful project to that of a successful project PLUS a successful organization or individual. Te initial objective is swamped by the personal objective.

I said earlier that it is “almost’ inevitable for good money to be thrown after bad. The exception occurs when a different person makes the second decision whether or not to make an additional investment. Successful Banks demonstrate this when they turn non-performing loans to a “work-out’ unit rather than have the original loan officer attempt to resurrect the deal with the client – that way you get escalation!

If the engineers and officials of the Turnpike Authority are to be responsible for the inspection process, we run the danger that – despite their undoubted professionalism – they will be concerned about justifying their prior decisions and work at developing rationalizations rather than reasons for the problems with the tunnel.

It is essential for new eyes, with no emotional commitment to the past decisions,  to investigate the problems.

Withdraw the Hayes Nomination

July 12th. 2006
Sent to but not published in the New York Times

The President should withdraw the nomination of William Haynes for a judicial appointment.

If appointed he will prove to be the Judge Jeffries of American jurisprudence.

He is really too stupid to serve on the bench. Unlike his military lawyer colleagues, he did not grasp that for the US to adhere to the Geneva conventions in all dealings with prisoners and detainees is not simply to protect those prisoners. American adherence to the rules also protects, or should, Americans who fall into enemy hands.

To the extent that we fail to live up to the tenets of international law, our opponents are encouraged to do likewise.

This pattern of activity by the administration, beginning in the early months of its accession to power clearly shows a contempt for international law, a contempt for the Geneva Convention (encouraged by Mr Haynes) and an arrogance that is stupefying in its stupidity. All of these decisions will come back to haunt the United States as other groups and other nations start to play by the US rules. We will come to regret the day we turned our back on the world.

The administration has taken one step in the right direction by declaring itself bound by the Geneva Conventions, let it take another by withdrawing the nomination of Mr Haynes.

Romney, the Big Dig, and Matt Amorello

July 12th. 2006
Sent to but not published in the Boston Globe

What a pathetic, petty person our Governor is proving to be.

At a time when the Turnpike Authority and its leaders should be putting every ounce of their energy in to finding out what led to the tragedy of Tuesday evening, and how the situation can be rectified, and what other hidden problems are waiting to happen, they are being distracted by the Governor's attempt to unseat the Chairman of the Turnpike Authority, Matt Amorello.

Instead of rolling up his sleeves and promising all the State help he could provide to deal with the Engineering and Construction issues, Mitt Romney is putting his energy into reviving his feud with Matt Amorello. What a leader!

The day may come when Matt Amorello should step down but now is not that time. The best chance for an independent inquiry to find out the truth is if it has knowledgeable insiders to deal with. If Amorello steps down before the inquiry is over, his replacement will not have the information the inquiry members need to do their job.

Hospital Deaths

July 5th. 2006
Sent to but not published in the New York Times

Today's editorial on Hospital Caused Death (NYT, July 5, 2006, p: A18 omitted another important step that Hospitals could take to improve patient health: washing hands between patients.

Hospital born/borne infections may not cause death but they do greatly prolong hospital stays. It is unbelievable that almost two hundred years after Semelweiss discovered how germs were transmitted in hospitals, many doctors and nurses do not wash their hands between patients. As a result it has been estimated that about 1.8 million patients contact hospital induced infections each year (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

In the fast based hospital of today with the emphasis on throughput, there must be time given for doctors and nurses to wash their hands, even if gloved, between patients.

Healey, Drugs, and Needles

July 1st. 2006
Sent to but not published in the Boston Globe

Shame on Kerry Healey!

Her support of the Governor's veto of over-the-counter needle sales legislation is, by her own admission, not based on facts (Boston Globe, July 1, 2006, p. B4).

If ever there was a field in which evidence based decisions are needed it is in the fight against substance abuse. For Kerry Healey not to have considered the evidence from studies showing no increase in drug use after the passage of needle sale legislation in other jurisdictions is appalling.
She is an educated woman with a social science Ph.D. so she is trained in the ability to "review the 'methodology'" of the studies. For her to have neglected to do so is an abdication of her responsibility to serve the Commonwealth by making the best possible decisions based on factual evidence.

She must be held to account for this failure.

Martin Evans is Professor Emeritus at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto where he taught research methodology for many years. He also volunteers for the Deval Patrick Campaign.