Wake Forest Magazine December 2002 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

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★ ★ ★ ★ FederalCase Regulatory czar John Graham (’78) leads the charge in the war against bureaucratic waste and inefficiency. By Tom Nugent One afternoon back in late January 2001, a former Wake Forest debating champion named John D. Graham (‘78) received a telephone call that would change his life dramatically. As it later turned out, the call would also have a huge impact on the way the U.S. government goes about the business of regulating everything from the air pressure in truck tires to the chemical preservatives contained in a frozen pepperoni pizza.
The phone call was from the budget director for newly inaugurated President George W. Bush, who had settled down in the White House only a few days before. After the two men exchanged pleasantries, Mitch Daniels got down to the task at hand–making the 45-year-old founder and director of the prestigious Harvard University-based Center for Risk Analysis an offer he couldn’t refuse. “The President wants to nominate you to be the next director of ‘Oh-EYE-rah,’” said the President’s chief budget man, who also ranks as one of Bush’s closest advisers and friends. “You’ll probably come up against some opposition in the Senate during confirmation proceedings, but there’s no doubt you’ll eventually be confirmed. The job is yours, if you want it.” Listening hard on his end of the line, John Graham felt his pulse kick up a notch. As most “inside-the-beltway” Washingtonians will quickly tell you, running “Oh-EYE-Rah” (also known as the federal Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or OIRA) is one of the most exciting and creatively challenging jobs in the entire executive branch of government. Under enabling legislation that was first passed during the Jimmy Carter administration, OIRA is charged with reviewing, evaluating–and in some cases reject- ing–more than 600 major new regulations each year. First activated by Ronald Reagan (his critics said he used the office to “quash” federal regulations he didn’t like), OIRA was established to provide the executive branch with an effective method for scientifically and objectively reviewing proposed agency rules and regulations. Although the OIRA director must maintain a low profile in Washington and hardly ever winds up on the “CBS Evening News with Dan Rather,” the job actually carries enormous political clout. That’s because the “regulatory czar” (as the person is informally known on Capitol Hill) has the power to shoot down new agency regulations that can ultimately affect millions of citizens and cost corporations, uviversities and state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars. As one might expect, however, there’s a high price to be paid for this kind of out-sized “I’m certainly not an enemy of federal regulation.” bureaucratic power in the fiercely competitive political arena that is Washington, D.C. What does history have to teach us about “czars”—and about how they usually end up? As a book-devouring and endlessly energetic liberal arts undergrad during the late 1970s, Graham learned his Russian history well. But that didn’t stop him from putting his head in the noose on that January day almost two years ago. After 11 years of running one of the country’s most highly regarded hightech cost-and-benefit analysis think tanks under the auspices of Harvard University (where he also taught in the School of Public Health), Graham understood that fate had tapped him on the shoulder and was summoning him to join the great battle against waste, inefficiency and “fuzzy thinking” in the capital city of the greatest nation on earth. Within a few days of the White House announcement that Bush would nominate Graham for the post of OIRA director, liberal Democrats and avid environmentalists across the nation were teaming up to decry the nomination as a shameless, pro-business attempt to “gut” federal regulations that protect water and air quality, among other causes held sacred by the anti-corporate types who supported Ralph Nader in 2000. Responding to criticism from such groups as Nader’s Public Citizen think tank, Graham insisted that OIRA’s role under his leadership would simply be to provide better analysis and assessment of proposed regulations. Graham said at the height of the debate last summer: “There is no grandiose plot to roll back safeguards. This administration is simply pursuing an agenda of smarter regulation.” Graham also pointed to his 11-year track record at the Center for Risk Analysis, during which he had frequently come out against American corporations with recommendations that would require some American industries (such as coal-fired power plants) to spend a great deal of money protecting the public with expensive pollution-control systems. Because he had become known as a fierce critic of “bad regulations,” however, Graham was regarded in liberal circles as a reactionary who had committed December 2002 23
Page 1 and 2: 2001-2002 Honor Roll of Donors Wake
Page 3 and 4: 2 3 40 D e p a r t m e n t s Letter
Page 5 and 6: Ettin, Harriger honored Waddill awa
Page 7 and 8: C a m p u s C h r o n i c l e ACC C
Page 9 and 10: Curious Connections Scholar Evie Sh
Page 11 and 12: On the right course Gordon McCray
Page 13: Law, the law faculty ranked third i
Page 16 and 17: Andy Lobashevsky birmingham, ala. f
Page 18 and 19: Reggie Mathis wilmington, n.c. favo
Page 20 and 21: Tyler Barefoot dunn, n.c. favorite
Page 22 and 23: Will Brown radnor, pa. favorite cla
Page 26 and 27: the unforgivable sin of charging fe
Page 28 and 29: CONSTANT &true 26 W ake Forest Maga
Page 30 and 31: 28 W ake Forest Magazine I n t e r
Page 32 and 33: Doubleday permits me to be their to
Page 34 and 35: 32 W ake Forest Magazine W F U H O
Page 36 and 37: 1956 Jack Crosswell’s novel, “M
Page 38 and 39: 1985 Deryl Davis has received the R
Page 40 and 41: Brian W. Powers (MBA) moved to the
Page 42 and 43: Steeles on wheels Couple finds vaga
Page 44 and 45: Hooks (’50) Hooks receives award
Page 46 and 47: Lepp (’90) 1 9 8 6 David P. Barks
Page 48 and 49: James T. Spencer Jr. is an associat
Page 50 and 51: Stockbridge, MA. The wedding party
Page 52 and 53: Four-star clubs Four Wake Forest cl
Page 55 and 56: 2001-2002 Honor Roll of Donors Tabl
Page 57 and 58: Alumni Foundations Corporations Fri
Page 59 and 60: AT&T Foundation Charles M. Allen Jr
Page 61 and 62: Steven S. Reinemund Kate B. Reynold
Page 63 and 64: Paralyzed Veterans of America Spina
Page 65 and 66: Ewing M. Kauffman Foundation James
Page 67 and 68: James Relerford Helvey III ’81 an
Page 69 and 70: J John Patrick Jessup MBA ’74 and
Page 71 and 72: M Willis Crocker Maddrey ’60 Anto
Page 73 and 74: Richard Allen Beavers ’67 and Sha
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David L. Cotterill and Joan R. Cott
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H Lawrence M. Habgood Jr. and Carol
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L Steven Daniel LaDew ’95 Gary L.
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Walter Evans Noell ’64 and Nancy
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William Shendow ’63 and Katherine
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Martha Sue Shaw Whitley ’87 and C
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Daniel John Hoppe Jr. JD ’99 and
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I Stanton B. Ingram Jr. ’76 Josep
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Arnie’s Army Hubert Eldridge Alle
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1 9 5 2 Class Participation-43% Tot
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Albert Frech Grisard Jr. Rebecca Ha
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Arnie’s Army Mary Templeton Aholt
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James Patrick Mundy James Harold Re
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Samuel Wait Society Sarah Heuerman
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Additional Gifts Deborah Yvonne Mar
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Louis Kenneth Beasley III Donald Le
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Arnie’s Army Peter McCray Candler
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Charles Andrew Murphy Dawn Shoultz
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Judith Hartsfield Iannuzzi ’73, M
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1 9 5 8 Pro Humanitate Society Fran
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1 9 7 5 Founders’ Circle Henry Av
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1 9 8 5 Pro Humanitate Society Dona
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1 9 9 5 President’s Club Robert J
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Babcock Fund Isabel Frick Brantley
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1 9 9 3 Pro Humanitate Society Mark
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THE following list recognizes M.D.
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1 9 7 2 Dr. John D. Bloom Dr. Dougl
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1 9 9 1 Col. Robert S. Adams, M.D.
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Dean’s Associates ($250 - $499) K
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THIS section includes all churches
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Theodore R. Meredith ’64 Joel B.
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Mr. and Mrs. Gary Kenneth Bettin Mr
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Mr. and Mrs. Harold Lee Pollock Ms.
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Mr. and Mrs. Jerry W. Greene Sr. Mr
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Pro Humanitate Society Janice W. Ca
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S Earl V. Sala Jr. Thomas E. Sandef
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G Thomas N. Gale and Judy A. Gale A
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Loyd M. Collett and Verna Collett L
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Fred S. Miyazaki William Lynn Moenc
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F a c u l t y , S t a f f a n d E m
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Thomas E. Roberts Eva M. Rodtwitt K
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WAKE Forest is grateful to the busi
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Renfro Corporation Republic Service
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P P.H. Glatfelter Company PNC Bank
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Two classic Wake Forest books… On
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