MSHA head is a coal industry flack and a recess appointment

Yet another industry crony installed in our government to pretend to regulate the industry he came from (Huffington Post):

President George W. Bush resorted to a recess appointment in October 2006 to anoint Richard Stickler as the nation's mine safety czar after it became clear he could not receive enough support even in a GOP-controlled Senate. [...]

The wife and daughter of a miner killed at Sago wrote a letter to lawmakers that same month urging them to reject Stickler's nomination.

"Mr. Stickler is a longtime coal executive and because of his connections with the coal industry, we are concerned that his primary objectives may be solely on compliance and production, not on miners' health and safety," Debbie Hamner and Sara Bailey wrote in a letter quoted by the Gazette. [...]

In August and September of the same year, the Senate twice voted to send the Stickler nomination back to the White House.

In October 2006, Bush used a recess appointment to install Stickler — a decision that was quickly denounced by senators from both sides of the aisle.