As I predicated in my Friday Column – “Trouble brewing for Labor’s Solis” – Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis won’t testify Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on her department’s controversial mandate that journalists covering new unemployment “lockups” data use only government computers and software.
An announcement this evening from the committee said Solis “declined to testify.” Those who will be testifying will include:
- Mr. John Galvin, Acting Commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Mr. Carl Fillichio, Senior Advisor for Communications and Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor
- Ms. Jane Oates, Assistant Secretary of Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
- Mr. Keith Hall, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center
- Ms. Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- Ms. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute
- Mr. Rob Doherty, General Manager – United States, Reuters News
- Mr. Daniel Moss, Executive Editor, Bloomberg News
Furchtgott-Roth is an Examiner columnist and was formerly the chief economist for the Department of Labor under President George W. Bush and Elaine Chao, his labor secretary.
For more information on the hearing from the committee, go here.
Filichio is Solis’ top communications advisor. Normally, those duties are performed by an Assistant Secretary of Labor for Public Affairs, but that position requires a Senate confirmation process which Filiichio apparently opted to avoid. He is instead a politically appointed member of the Senior Executive Service (SES).
For additional information on the “Lockups” issue, see:
DOL forcing media to use government computers
DOL won’t explain why media must use its computers
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing release
Obama is pulling down the shades on union financial disclosure
