and No.
Always remember and never forget the famous May 2009 email Santucci sent to a colleague about his progress in the negotiations with the agency to close a defect petition into UA Lexus events: “I have discussed our rebuttal with them, and they are welcoming of such a letter, They are struggling with sending an IR letter, because they shouldn’t ask us about floormat issues because the petitioner contends that NHTSA did not investigate throttle issues other than floor mat-related. Strickland allowed that he did have “general involvement regarding FMVSS 114, including the issuance of two NPRMs that partially involved FMVSS 114. . Sadly, not David Strickland.Employees who want to testify about “information acquired in the course of an employee performing official duties or because of the employee’s official status must seek a waiver from the agency in advance,” Goodman wrote.
But, Ray’s currently carrying water for the clients of DLA Piper, a vampire-squid of a law firm with 3,500 lawyers across the globe, which mostly contributes to Democrats. As Part 9 says: the rules intend to “minimize the possibility of involving the Department in controversial issues not related to its mission; maintain the impartiality of the Department among private litigants; avoid spending the time and money of the United States for private purposes; and to protect confidential, sensitive information and the deliberative processes of the Department.The Kaplan memo was written in the wake of a lawsuit brought by former Administrator Joan Claybrook and public interest lawyers Ben Kelley, who worked for NHTSA in its earliest days, and David Biss, a former NHTSA scientist who managed research programs to support rulemaking. The suit challenged a new beefed up version of Part 9, which brought former NHTSA employees under its authority and essentially precluded any testimony about NHTSA by its former employees. (Even, presumably, Ms. Steed, who made a living post-NHTSA supporting industry.) But they are concerned that if they ask for these other reports, they will have many reports that just cannot be explained, and since they do not think that they can explain them, they don’t really want them. Immediately prior to returning to service in the Senate, David was a partner at the national law firm Venable LLP and Counsel to the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets. David Strickland is the Democratic Staff Director for the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation of the U.S. Senate.