Maybe the NY Times Figured We Wouldn’t Notice

Dennis Byrne, a columnist for the Chicago Sun Times, also has his own blog.  In a posting yesterday, he comments on how the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal reported the story of West Virginia Democratic congressman Alan Mollohand and how he’s funded numerous non-profits with taxpayer dollars.  One of the non-profits he’s funded is the Institute for Scientific Research (ISR) and, earlier today, I noted a story from another blogger stating that some of the money has been earmarked for Space Elevator development.

I think this story has legs and we’re going to be hearing more about it soon…

3 thoughts on “Maybe the NY Times Figured We Wouldn’t Notice

  1. michael laine

    Its no secret that brad and i dont get along very well these days… however, i would like to point out that his tenure there at ISR was pretty short. depending on when and how you count his arrival/departure, he was only there about 9-12 months. (considering his ability to jump from company to company (7 in 4 years) this was a long time for him…)

    That being said, i expect (hope?) that the SE part of this story will be minor. maybe people will rally around it, as an example of ‘political pork barrel projects that go no-where’ – but i hope not.

    Of the time that brad was there, he was only tech-director for part of it. there were something like 30 projects that were being developed out of ISR. The SE was just one, and an unfunded one, at that. If the press start to turn this into a SE story, they are missing the point. The point is that this was a congressman that made bad ethical choices. If this gets turned into an SE story, it will hurt all of us.

    I didnt want brad to break our company. i disagreed with that decision, and his subsequent choice to go to ISR. but, from his perspective, it seemed like a good idea. AND – if ISR had done what it said it would do, this would have been a great place for him and for the SE community. it didnt work out that way… hindsight, right? i have never known why he left so quickly (ive wondered, of course. but i know him, he was a LANL for about 13 years) and maybe this explains part of it. He would never discuss – with me – why he left ISR…

    So, cut Brad some slack. He made what, – at the time – seemed like a good decision for himself, and his pregnant wife. And keep in mind that the NASA funds were running very very low, with no other funds on the horizen…

    Let’s hope this story goes in the direction it is supposed to – back toward the congressman that manipulated his role in dc.

    take care. mjl

  2. Ted Semon Post author

    Thank you for the insight. I’m a long-time fan of the concept of a Space Elevator, but an outsider to the industry and a newcomer to participating in discussions about it. My posting was, in no way, a criticism of Mr. Edwards or anything that he’s done. The purpose of this blog is to note all things that are happening in the industry and what people are saying about it, and thus I mentioned the Dennis Byrne column and the related posting from Ms. Ridenour. I, too, hope that the story runs toward the congressman…

  3. michael laine

    ted, i have had time to go over youre website – amazing job! you have done a great job of organizing a crazed/chaotic amount of information and streamlined it. when i pointed it out to nyein, his comment was ‘he has his art section better orgainzied than i do…” 🙂

    when you get a chance, give me a call or email me, please. i am hard to reach sometimes, so be persistant. thanks. mjl

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