March 17, 2014

NRC CHAIRMAN, COMMISSIONERS SQUARE OFF AT HOUSE HEARING

By ExchangeMonitor

In a hearing marked by numerous terse exchanges, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko defended his management style at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing yesterday as he faced unprecedented allegations of intimidation and harassment from his fellow Commissioners and calls for his resignation from lawmakers. In testimony, the four other commissioners and NRC Executive Director of Operations Bill Borchardt all said that Jaczko has at times withheld information from the Commission and has intimidated NRC staff and his fellow commissioners. Commissioner Bill Magwood said that three women on the NRC staff had told him that Jaczko had screamed at them, and used “pointed language that the women involved found very, very emotionally straining,” in some cases bringing them to tears. Jaczko, though, did not admit to any wrongdoing, saying he had been unaware of most of the concerns brought up at the hearing and making no mention of the management strife in his prepared testimony. He apologized for the distraction that the issue of his management has caused and vowed to work to resolve the issues within the Commission, offering to bring in a third party mediator.

Some commissioners were skeptical that Jaczko would resolve the discord within the Commission. “I can’t say that [a mediator] is going to be effective,” Commissioner Bill Ostendorff told RW Monitor following the hearing. “If the chairman is going to stay on, there has to be a recommendation that he is going to conduct a significant change as to how he does business, how he interacts, how he conducts himself. … I personally did not detect that commitment by the chairman.” However, Commissioner George Apostolakis said at the hearing that “I believe if the chairman lets the staff send us their true views when various issues come before the Commission, and he also controls his temper a little bit he can continue to lead the Commission.”

Following the hearing, Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told reporters that Jaczko “in the opinion of the commissioners and in the opinion of his effective chief operating officer falls under the definition of harassment. That begs the question of, if he doesn’t get it, if he doesn’t know that he has to make significant differences in how he manages this organization of 4,000 men and women, then he’s missed the transition from Hill staffer to leader of a major organization.” While Issa stopped short of calling for Jaczko’s resignation, this week’s revelations sparked calls for Jaczko to step down from Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) at the hearing and statements supporting Jaczko’s removal from Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Andy Harris (R-Md.). Jaczko said that he had no plans to resign. Issa and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told the Commission to work to resolve the conflict and vowed to hold more hearings on the NRC if the issue is not resolved.

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