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By Maurine Jensen Proctor
On August 11, President Bush nominated Utah’s affable LDS
governor to head the Environmental Protection Agency, and soon
he will be packing his bags and heading to Washington D.C.
for what could be a bruising confirmation hearing some time
in September. Democrats
hope to use the occasion as a chance to blast President Bush
on his environmental policies and stir the political pot, but
most media sources see Leavitt weathering the onslaught.
The St. Louis Dispatch reported:
When Congress returns from summer break, Leavitt will
find himself answering questions about secret land deals, contributions
from polluters and even about the spread of fish disease from
his family's hatchery more than a decade ago.
But Leavitt might prove hard to demonize. His record during a decade in office
includes successes in combating air pollution and preserving land, as well
as an industry-friendly approach to regulation.
What's more, allies and critics agree that he brings an operating style that
lends itself to the rough-and-tumble of Washington: He's likable, articulate
and tough enough to withstand bruising encounters.
Clearly evident during the confirmation, too, will be the
cultural clash between the values of the West with its sprawling
outdoors disdain for regulation and the largely urban East. Another debate—states rights against federal rules. For many Westerners,
Washington is the problem, not the solution to environmental
issues—folks from far away who think they have the answers.
A former EPA administrator during the Reagan era, Utah GOP
Chairman Joe Cannon told The Salt Lake Tribune that this heading the agency was a “tough, tough job” Cannon described the agency as a "buzz
saw," adding, "It could be called the Environmental
Political Agency, too."
Special interest
groups with green in their eyes are vocal, funded and well-organized.
What will work
well for Gov. Leavitt as he faces hearings and then negotiating
a difficult job is his record as an articulate, popular governor
who has not only won the approval of the voters of his state
for three terms, but also the broad support of both Republican
and Democratic governors.
The Associated
Press reported
Democrats and Republicans gathered at the governors' summer meeting
said Leavitt is widely respected and they expect he would be
an advocate for state interests as the nation's top environmental
officer.
"
He's a man of great intelligence, always a consensus builder," said
Washington Gov. Gary Locke, chairman of the Democratic Governor's
Association,. "I have the highest regard for Mike."…
"We would do whatever we can get him confirmed," said the Republican
governor of Nebraska, Mike Johanns.
"
Not only will I talk to our delegation but I would be happy to
talk to others if he asks me to," said Republican North
Dakota Gov. John Hoeven.
So how are the
nation’s newspapers weighing in on Governor Leavitt’s nomination?
The Deseret
Morning News sees
Gov. Leavitt’s star on the rise and emphasized how a politician
who hails from a small town in a usually politically light-weight
state caught the eye of the President.
Over the years, Leavitt has methodically
crafted a national attention-getting effort, not content to
confine politics and influence to the Beehive State.
He's been chairman of the National Governors Association, the Republican
Governors Association, the Western Governors Association and has served
on three national committees, the result of White House or congressional
appointments.
His past exposure as the nation's longest-sitting governor involved in numerous
platforms led him to a relationship with then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
The two, as representatives of their respective states, sat elbow-to-elbow
at a table at the Republican Governors Association, sharing an impatience
for long meetings and trading jokes when possible…
It was a friendship that would be cemented in 1998, when Leavitt quickly
accepted an invitation to visit Israel and the Holy Land once he found
out Bush was also going.
In a Deseret Morning News interview
conducted soon after his return to the states — Leavitt professed
to still be suffering from jet lag — the governor talked about
the emerging friendship between him, wife Jackie, and George
W. and Laura Bush.
The Deseret
Morning News also suggested that “ what likely
led Leavitt to a top Bush administration slot was that
trip to the ancient land and a quiet personal moment, perhaps
even a shared religious experience between the two of them.”
Dan Harrie of The Salt Lake Tribune thinks Gov. Leavitt’s
move is a gamble and quotes the governor: "As I talked to my friends about it, among certain of them is a look
that could be interpreted as 'What were you thinking?' " Why would anyone give up a job he says he “loves
every day” for one as inherently dangerous politically as heading
the EPA?
It is true that
the environmentalists have already started firing their salvos. MSNBC said that everybody agrees Mike Leavitt
is a “charmer” but beyond that “opinions splinter.” They report:
His staff and admirers paint Leavitt
as a moderate who has come up with King Solomon-like solutions
that have encouraged development while protecting Utah’s magnificent
vistas.
But in rural areas, some say Leavitt is not conservative enough, often placing “green” concerns
ahead of his constituents’ desires.
And environmentalists say Leavitt is a Humvee in camouflage, a ruthless politician
whose charm disguises a militantly pro-business agenda…
LaVarr Webb, who served as Leavitt’s deputy on policy issues and was a campaign
manager, dismisses such complaints. “It’s impossible for a western governor
to be elected and supported by a majority of citizens and keep the Sierra
Club happy,” he said.
Some environmentalists complain
about Leavitt because the Bureau of Land Management was making
moves to carve out 6 million acres of Utah (a parcel roughly
the size of Vermont) as wilderness and Leavitt successfully
sued to stop the BLM, reaching an April settlement to stop
such strict restrictions on the land which would have banned
roads and other development in the area. Environmentalists
are mad that Leavitt wouldn’t deed Utah to them.
They also whine about the Legacy
Highway that Leavitt was pushing through a section of the wetlands
near the Great Salt Lake, a move they say would have damaged
a fragile ecology. They say that having Leavitt as chief of the
EPA is like assigning a fox to every chicken.
Despite these detractors, however,
Leavitt is widely seen as a moderate, balanced in his approach
to the environment, and he has contributed to important accomplishments.
A Knight-Ridder reporter noted of
Leavitt’s environmental record:
It includes successes so great that everyone wants
to take credit for them and failures that have everyone pointing
fingers in blame.
One Leavitt success story is visible on the edge of Great Salt Lake: the
plant site for U.S. Magnesium. In 1992, U.S. Magnesium ranked No. 1 in
the nation in toxic air pollution, spewing 36,000 tons of chlorine into
the air. This year, the plant is on track to emit less than 2,000 tons
of chlorine, years before a federal standard goes into effect.
Leavitt has stopped nuclear
waste disposal on Indian lands in Utah, improved the water quality
of the
state, but most noteworthy with other Western governors, he
has developed a new approach to environmental issues called “enlibra.” It
is the sort of give and take on issues that President Bush
admires.
Chicago Tribune reporters
describe it:
Utah
Gov. Mike Leavitt, President Bush’s choice to lead the
Environmental Protection Agency, is a little-known figure
in much of the
country, but
he has been a central figure in promoting principles of cooperation
and flexibility in environmental regulations in recent years…
In the late 1990s, Leavitt and other Western
governors spelled out the principles - and made up the word
Enlibra to name them - calling for dialogue and consensus in
the environmental arena rather than regulation and litigation.
Despite objections of environmental groups, the National Governors Association
ultimately adopted Enlibra as part of its environmental platform in 1999,
when Leavitt was chairman of the group.
The key concept is that by giving local officials authority to address problems,
all interested parties can sit down and agree on rules that reward companies
for protecting the environment instead of punishing them for failure
to do so.
Washington Post columnist David Broder announced, “I have to confess that I
am an unabashed Leavitt fan” He
said, “If anyone
can revive the badly eroded tradition of bipartisan support
for protection of God's natural gifts to this nation, Mike
Leavitt has as good credentials as could be found.”
Broder
said, “What I can vouch for is that he consistently takes the
long view of the needs of his state and nation and is almost
invariably creative and constructive in seeking consensus.”
Earlier
this year, Frank Luntz, a GOP consultant, wrote a memo in which
he called the environment “the single issue on which Republicans
in general and President Bush in particular are most vulnerable.”
President
Bush called Leavitt a “trusted friend.” It
seems that is what he needs in this politically-delicate position.
.
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