New Double hull tanker studies? Playing horesgames with KP? Hiring a sub guy to be his right hand man?
From the Washington Post
David Matsuda
Administrator, DOT’s Maritime Administration
As the maritime administrator and acting administrator for the Transportation Department (DOT), Matsuda manages a staff of over 800. He oversees maritime policies regarding safety, security and the shipbuilding and operating industry.
Matsuda has over two decades of experience in transportation and maritime policy. While working as the acting assistant secretary for transportation policy, Matsuda was nominated by President Obama to the position of deputy maritime administrator and served as acting maritime administrator before being confirmed to his current post in summer 2010.
At a Glance
Career History: Acting Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy (2009); Senior Counsel and Primary Transportation Adviser to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (2004-2009); Staff member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (2002-2004); Chief Counsel at the Federal Railroad Administration (1998-2002)
Path to Power
Born in Apple Valley, Calif., Matsuda attended Harvey Mudd College and received a B.S. in engineering. He then earned a law degree at the University of San Diego.
Matsuda began his career in law at the Federal Railroad Administration. From 1998 to 2002, Matsuda practiced with the safety-law division before becoming a staff member in the U.S. Senate.
The Issues
According to Sen. Lautenberg, Matsuda’s former boss, there isn’t anybody who understands the issues that the maritime industry faces better than Matsuda.
“We need someone who understands the role of the maritime sector in our economy and our national security and how all our nation’s transportation modes fit together,” said Lautenberg.
The Network
Matsuda works closely with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Matsuda also has close ties with Senator Frank Lautenberg and Michael Sacco, who is president of the Maritime Trades Department.
So basically Matsuda is a political hack who had Frank Lautenbergpull strings to get the douchebag his current job. He has had absolutely zero maritime specific experience which just goes to show that nobody in Washington gives a flying fuck anymore who the head of MarAd is…in fact, no one in Washington gives a flying fuck about MarAd itself. I don’t know what to make of the connection with Sacco? Maybe he’s on Sacco’s payroll?
The man is a nobody!..a nothing!..he’s not even rate being called a pimple in Washington or in the maritime industry. He is a figurehead puppet without knoweldge, experience or demonstrated abilities. A TOADIE!
This surprises u?
Question is what is his salary?
[QUOTE=rshrew;78702]Question is what is his salary?[/QUOTE]
way too much
good replies but I still want to know… Who the fuck put matsuda in charge of MARAD?
It’s really a simple question 
Matsuda was nominated by President Obama to the position of deputy maritime administrator and served as acting maritime administrator before being confirmed to his current post in summer 2010.
It’s simple…the Prez nominated him and the Senate confirmed the nomination.
if you go back and research why we have double hulled tankers you will find there wasn’t any research it was some greenies protesting and one of the biggest knee jerk reactions ever
[QUOTE=seadog!;83847]Matsuda was nominated by President Obama to the position of deputy maritime administrator and served as acting maritime administrator before being confirmed to his current post in summer 2010.
It’s simple…the Prez nominated him and the Senate confirmed the nomination.[/QUOTE]
Yes the president nominated him but we can’t blame Obama for all our problems and I doubt Obama even knows who this guy is. Someone had to pick him, the question is who? Was it LaHood or someone behind curtains?
And I’m not looking to start a political argument here I think Obama, Bush and all the Presidents back to, at least, Buchanan are all useless but thats not my point. I want to know who’s running the machine. Who’s pulling the levers of power at MARAD? That’s the guy I want exposed for incompetence!
Buchanan!?!?? Surely you jest!!
[QUOTE=celesticomper;83853]we can’t blame Obama for all our problems[/QUOTE]
Sure we can. Even if he didn’t do it himself, it happened during his administration and is thus the guy to point a finger at in the end. When something goes awry on your boat the CG and/or the Company will look to the Captain first even if he had nothing to do with it.
We need to blame…just look at some his appointments!!! It’s time for a “CHANGE”…and don’t get me started.
[QUOTE=celesticomper;83853]Yes the president nominated him but we can’t blame Obama for all our problems and I doubt Obama even knows who this guy is. Someone had to pick him, the question is who? Was it LaHood or someone behind curtains?
And I’m not looking to start a political argument here I think Obama, Bush and all the Presidents back to, at least, Buchanan are all useless but thats not my point. I want to know who’s running the machine. Who’s pulling the levers of power at MARAD? That’s the guy I want exposed for incompetence![/QUOTE]
Not wanting to blame obama is tantamount to not blaming the Captain when the ship goes aground on the mate’s watch. Commander in Chief is responsible for everything that happens on the ship of state at all times during his tenure.
[QUOTE=Wolfesown47th;83858]When something goes awry on your boat the CG and/or the Company will look to the Captain first even if he had nothing to do with it.[/QUOTE]
YES! But the USCG won’t look at my CEO, even if it is my CEO’s fault for cutting my operating budget and approving stupid procedures! And (like Obama to Matsuda) the CEO didn’t hire me, doesn’t care about me and doesn’t even know my name.
I’m not interested in the CEO (Obama), I already know he’s an idiot, I’m interested in the Captain of the ship, i.e. the guy who is calling the shots at MARAD.
[QUOTE=seadog6608;83883]Not wanting to blame obama is tantamount to not blaming the Captain when the ship goes aground on the mate’s watch. Commander in Chief is responsible for everything that happens on the ship of state at all times during his tenure.[/QUOTE]
This matter may not be that high on the list of priorities. It’s more like someone forgot to make fresh coffee then running the ship aground.
It’s like the story a C/E told me. He’s sailing 1 A/E and he’s in the control room having coffee with the engine crew when the C/E comes in and gives the 1 A/E a task to do. The first tells the chief, “Sure chief, I’ll put it on my list” When the Chief leaves the First turns to the engine crew and says “Yeah, the list of things I don’t give a shit about”.
K.C.
Everybody knows I am dead set against letting this forum become a political battleground of which party is more responsible for the great decline of the US maritime industry over 30 years. I don’t want this to become just another forum like so many others on the internet filled with nasty invective, name calling and downright ugly behavior. I have been in this industry since Jimmy Carter was president and can say unequivocally that both parties have terribly neglected formulating and implementing a solid and progressive maritime policy. The faults lie both in the Administrations and the Congress in allowing this to occur. It has been a very steady road down over those 30 odd years and sadly I’d say that the worst happened when Reagan and the Democratic Congress at the time dismantled the ODS and CDS programs which were truly beneficial to having a foreign going liner trade merchant marine.
Regarding who the MarAd Administrator is or has been, I will wholeheartedly agree that Matsuda is the worst one yet in a string of many who have been ineffective but remember they are captive to their bosses, the Secretary of Transportation and in the case of Matsuda, remember that Ray LaHood is a Republican who was a high school teacher before becoming a Congressman so Matsuda being at least a Congressional staffer with responsibilities for transportation matters is really a very qualified MarAd director by comparison. I think LaHood is an asshole personified, Matsuda is just a toadie and Obama and his staff just don’t care but neither did Bush or Clinton or Bush or Reagan or Carter for that matter either. All are guilty of selling the US Merchant Marine and maritime industry down the river.
Everybody should note that to this day the US Merchant Marine Act of 1936 remains the law of the land as far as the “official” maritime policy of the United States and the preamble to the Act is as follows:
TITLE 46, APPENDIX App. > CHAPTER 27 > SUBCHAPTER I > § 1101
§ 1101. Fostering development and maintenance of merchant marine
It is necessary for the national defense and development of its foreign and domestic commerce that the United States shall have a merchant marine
(a) sufficient to carry its domestic water-borne commerce and a substantial portion of the water-borne export and import foreign commerce of the United States and to provide shipping service essential for maintaining the flow of such domestic and foreign waterborne commerce at all times,
(b) capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency,
(c) owned and operated under the United States flag by citizens of the United States, insofar as may be practicable,
(d) composed of the best-equipped, safest, and most suitable types of vessels, constructed in the United States and manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel, and
(e) supplemented by efficient facilities for shipbuilding and ship repair.
It is declared to be the policy of the United States to foster the development and encourage the maintenance of such a merchant marine.
If anything, a suit should be filed in Federal Court charging willful neglect of this policy and turn this into a major battle in courts but no stakeholder party is doing this so then it can be said that the fault lies in the industry and the US people to not hold the US Federal Government responsible for not honoring the laws it is sworn to uphold.
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