Inside Out

You know how I'm always criticizing OSHA for promoting compliance assistance as the potion that will magically bring about safer workplaces in a far more effective and superior way than that old-fashioned, heavy handed, confrontational enforcement, citations and fines?

So I'm at a party tonight, talking with an attorney from one of the Building Trades unions. He's telling me about how he's seen a recent upswing in DOL audits of union finances -- looking for double-dippers and their ilk. The other thing he's noticed is that, while Clinton's Department of Labor spent a lot of time teaching local unions how to handle their finances responsibly, the current administration seem to focus exclusively on enforcement.

I guess what's good for the goose isn't necessarily good for the gander.

Update: Check out Nathan Newman who has a similar observation about Bush's IRS moving the focus of its tax audits from the wealthy to the working poor.