Mine Safety Chief Bails Out

I didn't know until I read in the New York Times today that at yesterday's Senate hearing on coal mining accidents in West Virginia, the acting head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, David Dye, actually walked out after testifying for an hour. He said he had pressing business to attend to. An obviously irritated Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who chaired the hearing and tried to get Dye to stay for another hour, ominously said, "We'll find a way to take appropriate note of" the early exit.

In what universe does a political official agree to come to a hearing knowing that he's going to ditch legislators after only an hour? It's not like they grilled him all day. If there was something so pressing that it really was impossible for him to stay, couldn't that have been conveyed to staff to avoid a public discussion that embarasses the official in question, the agency, and the Bush administration? Unless Dye was deliberately trying to send the message that the administration simply wasn't interested in cooperating with the committee's efforts, this just doesn't make sense. Update: Washington Post's Ruth Marcus argues today that deliberately sending a message of contempt was exactly what the administration had in mind.