Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right
And all were in the wrong.
From “The Blind Men and the Elephant” by John Godfrey Saxe
Leave it to the combined efforts of Congress and the federal bureaucracy to come up with a perfect vehicle for getting nothing done: the advisory committee system.
For a mere $250,000 per year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration brings together many of the groups which usually have the agency pinned in a federal court crossfire and lets them face off with each other directly.
The real bargain for FMCSA is that the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee is designed to be impeccably fair: Membership, selected by FMCSA, currently is “balanced among the sectors at seven members from industry, five from enforcement, five from safety (one of whom is the current chairman), and three from labor,” according to MCSAC’s latest “Membership Balance Plan.”
And since all are experts in their respective fields (according to the dictate of the charter: “specially qualified … based on their specialized experience, education, or training in commercial motor vehicle safety issues”), then all opinions are created equal.
Facts are generally optional – since, of course, if you’re on the committee, by definition you must know what you’re talking about.
