SENATE MUST REJECT MYERS FOR NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION HEAD
ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS AND TELL THEM TO SAY “NO” TO BARRY MYERS FOR HEAD OF NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
I am aghast that Trump and McConnell are trying to push through Barry Myers’ nomination as administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He spent years lobbying to privatize NOAA, has massive conflicts of interest because his family owns a commercial competitor, and investigators found a pervasive culture of sexual harassment at the company he ran—which he failed to disclose in his candidate questionnaire. To protect the integrity and public availability of the weather forecasts your constituents rely on, you must do all you can to defeat his nomination. At a minimum, it must go back to the Commerce Committee for thorough investigation. Thank you.
CALL SENATOR MERKLEY
CALL SENATOR WYDEN
ACTION TWO: FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS
Pass along this action alert, especially to friends in Red states. Tell them to KEEP CALLING!
BACKGROUND:
As if Trump hasn’t done his best to destroy federal agencies that assist American people, he and McConnell are now trying to push through Senate Myers’ nomination to head National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
What is NOAA and what does it do?
- plays central role in almost all aspects of our lives/livelihoods
- provides free, world-class weather information—daily weather forecasts & severe storm warnings, climate monitoring, fisheries management, coastal restoration, marine commerce support
Myers, like most Trump nominees
- knows nothing about agency’s business (science)
- wants to destroy agency from within, since previous attempts to privatize NOAA for economic benefit of AccuWeather, a family-owned commercial competitor, failed
- despite blatant conflicts of interest, has refused to recuse from dealing with NOAA’s weather-related activities
- government investigation found pervasive culture of sexual harassment at AccuWeather that he didn’t disclose in candidate questionnaire
Despite these serious issues, Commerce Committee voted to advance Myers nomination on party-line vote without considering Myers’ fresh ethics concerns and AccuWeather’s sexual harassment settlement.
Myers is unfit to lead nation’s premier weather and ocean science agency. To protect the integrity and public availability of weather forecasts their constituents rely on, Senate must reject his nomination.
