Mirror, Mirror On the Wall

"Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the most sanctimonious state senator of them all?"

Minnesota Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach has tendered her resignation as a result of her unilateral decision to withhold data about mesothelioma, a lethal form of lung cancer, among Iron Range miners for a year.



Commissioner Mandernach's action brought untold and needless pain to the victims of the disease as well as disrepute to the Minnesota Department of Health and she did the right thing by resigning. DFLers are not interested in the right thing, however.



In characteristic self-righteousness, Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia) has reportedly said that "commissioners don't make decisions like this on their own" and that he has "always felt that the governor knew what was going on." Rep. Rukovina has produced no proof that Governor Tim Pawlenty conspired with Commissioner Mandernach to withhold crucial health data on mesothelioma cases, however.



In her latest feeble attempt to raise a negative profile, Senator Ann Lynch has released a statement expressing "relief " that Commissioner Mandernach has resigned her position. Like Rep. Rukovina, Sen. Lynch is quick to smear the Pawlenty administration without concrete proof of a wide conspiracy to conceal health information on mesothelioma cases.



In what has quickly become a trademark sanctimonious tone, Lynch expresses the contrived hope that "others" in the Pawlenty administration "will take a long look in the mirror to evaluate their own competency and leadership.”



I sure hope there's enough room in front of that mirror for Sen. Lynch to evaluate her own competency and leadership. It shouldn't take very long.