Does "culture of rejection" influence patent grant rates at USPTO?

Ocean Tomo people James Malackowski and Jonathan Barney made much of the declining grant rate at the USPTO, but made no comment on the "culture of rejection" at the USPTO.

An op-ed/blog in Genetic Engineering began with the words: Virtually all of the problems of the U.S. Patent system, including the high cost of obtaining a patent can be attributed to examiners issuing improper "bogus" rejections. (...) Currently a "culture of rejection" controls the operation of the PTO.

USPTO management can impact the patent grant rate.