| Dear Katy, Donald Trump just nominated an unqualified businessman to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency that studies physical science, the atmosphere and the climate. Here's why the Senate must reject Barry Myers' nomination: - Myers is a businessman, not a scientist.
- He wants to privatize the National Weather Service.
- His previous role as CEO of AccuWeather presents a huge conflict of interest.
- He's mired in multiple sexual harassment allegations.
Myer's nomination has been quickly shuffled through committee – without even a hearing – and will soon be up for a Senate floor vote. We must speak out immediately to demand that the Senate reject this unqualified, pro-Trump businessman. Tell the Senate: Reject Barry Myers, Trump's unqualified NOAA nominee. Click here to sign the petition. While previous NOAA administrators have been trained and accomplished scientists, like geologists and astronauts, Myers is not a scientist at all, making him grossly unqualified to head the agency. As the former head of AccuWeather, a for-profit weather prediction company, Myers spent years unsuccessfully lobbying the National Weather Service, an agency under NOAA, to discontinue providing free weather information because it was cutting into his profits.1 Trump has unsuccessfully nominated Myers multiple times for this position. When his previous nomination languished in the Senate, Myers resigned from AccuWeather and sold his stock in the company to his family at a deep discount with the option to repurchase the stock later, presenting a massive ethical conflict of interest because he or his family could personally benefit from his actions as the top of the agency.2 In addition to lack of credentials and clear conflict of interest concerns, AccuWeather, under Myers' watch, has been mired in sexual harassment and assault allegations.3 Dozens of AccuWeather employees alleged "widespread sexual harassment," which prompted the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to investigate when he was first nominated in 2017. In a settlement reached with survivors, the agreement states that AccuWeather subjected women to "sexual harassment and a hostile work environment" and that the company did "not exercise reasonable care to prevent and correct" sexual harassment against employees.4 Myers is another in a long line of highly unqualified and corrupt Trump nominees, and CREDO and our members have stopped others like him before. Will you join us to demand that the Senate reject his nomination? Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/reject-myers?t=9&akid=32760%2E12967895%2EtR8CfU Thank you for speaking out. Josh Nelson, Co-Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Devin Leonard and Brian K. Sullivan, "Trump's Pick to Lead Weather Agency Spent 30 Years Fighting It," Bloomberg Businessweek, June 14, 2018.
- Kyla Mandel, "Ethics experts sound alarm over confirmation process of Trump's pick to lead NOAA," ThinkProgress, April 3, 2019.
- Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder, "Report: Widespread Harassment at Company Led by Barry Myers, Trump's NOAA Nominee," U.S. News & World Report, April 16, 2019.
- Michael Brice-Saddler, "A Trump nominee's family company paid $290,000 fine for sexual harassment and discrimination," The Washington Post, Feb. 11, 2019.
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