I rarely agree with Josh Hawley, but he told the honest truth about Boeing’s CEO | Opinion

Questioned by a Senate subcommittee June 18, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun stated, “I’m proud of our safety record” and “I am proud of every action we have taken.”

The remark was stunning given recent history.

According to USA Today, “Boeing has been under scrutiny for years, and the pressure seems only to be increasing, after a series of high-profile safety incidents beginning with two crashes of 737 Max jets that left 346 people dead. Those wrecks were ultimately attributed to poorly designed, undisclosed flight control software.”

After sitting through Calhoun’s dubious testimony, Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley did something bold: He told the truth. Hawley asked the Boeing CEO, “Why haven’t you resigned?”

At this point, I need to state that I am a registered Democrat who disagrees with Hawley’s positions more often than not.

But I am also a student of history. When air traffic controllers struck in 1981, doing so in a manner that adversely affected many Americans, President Ronald Reagan fired them. The air traffic controllers had a right to complain about their long hours and other working conditions, but they took things too far and had to live with the consequences.

Tough love and rational thought used to define the Republican Party. While stereotypical Democrats were sensitive artists, stereotypical Republicans were sensible businesspeople.

GOP Sen. Mitt Romey famously said during his presidential campaign in 2012: “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. … You know, if someone doesn’t give me a good service that I need, I want to say, ‘I’m going to go get someone else to provide that service to me.’”

Romney was criticized by Democrats for being tone-deaf, but few people ever said he was wrong.

So here’s the big question: If air traffic controllers and service providers can be fired for messing up, why can’t CEOs?

With greater power comes greater responsibility, the old saying goes. Let’s add greater accountability too.

Nor is the Boeing CEO’s pay level incumbent upon his company being free of legal judgments. An Associated Press article by David Koenig and Alanna Durkin Richer published Monday stated: “Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people, the Justice Department said late Sunday, after the government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years.”

Boeing’s failures raise a key question for America’s business and political leaders: What, exactly, would it take for a powerful man to be fired?

Jordan Barkin is a columnist published by USA Today, Hearst and Gannett. He is a former associate editor at Hearst Magazines. He lives in Naples, Florida