Questioning Souder's statements

Sometimes you have to wonder about Rep. Mark Souder.

The northeast Indiana Republican, whose district used to include much of Jay County, has always been known as something of a contrarian. But every once in awhile, he'll have you scratching your head and wondering where he's coming from.

The most recent example came this week when Akio Toyoda, chief executive officer of Toyota Motor Corporation, appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

By all accounts, the auto executive did a pretty good job of fielding questions from Congress in the wake of the company's extraordinary problems with sudden unanticipated acceleration.

But Rep. Souder sent eyebrows up when he launched a spirited defense of Toyota while questioning Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Pressing LaHood on whether it was actually possible to build a car that is 100 percent safe, Souder offered the opinion that 14 deaths was "within the margin" of acceptability given how many cars are involved.

Now from a mathematical perspective, it may be true that 100 percent safe is an impossible goal.

But secretary LaHood reiterated that it's important to strive for that level of safety.

And it may also be true, statistically, that 14 deaths could be expected when that many cars are being produced.

But this isn't about statistics.

It's about how well the company's quality control systems operated when problems started to develop, how swiftly it acted to fix those problems, how well it communicated with its customers, and how well government safety regulatory systems worked.

Rep. Souder is firmly committed to a belief that over-regulation is the greatest impediment facing American industry. He treats it as a matter of faith.

But regulations happen for a reason - usually because someone decided to take a course of action that wasn't in the best interests of customers, the environment, or its employees - not in some vacuum.

Beating the anti-regulatory drum and defending the bad decisions that have put Toyota on the hot seat couldn't be more inappropriate at the moment. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]