about this Ken Salazar, Obama's Sec of Interior
Ken Salazar: concerns and comments
http://www.counterpunch.org/doe12182008.html
Colorado’s Open Records Act requires state records to be made available within five working days of a request. As Attorney General, Salazar was responsible for enforcing that law. He told us he couldn’t release the engineering reports because he might have to someday protect the people of Colorado against the claims of the Utes. The information in those records, he reasoned, might give an unfair advantage to them if made public. The law would have to wait.
...
Indeed, later still, in a private meeting, after we brought suit over the matter, we were told by Salazar’s office that we would never get any information from them. ... I think this incident provides a clear indication of how Salazar, left to his own devises, might live up to Obama’s promise of openness and accountability in his administration.
...
In a rational economic world, we would expect the public’s representatives to first go to those causing the problem and tell them to stop, reform their operations, and pay a significant portion of the damages and remediation costs. The public might be asked to participate, but only secondarily. But that is not the way water in the West is governed, and it is not the way Salazar sees it. He has a long history of supporting water development on a large scale at public expense.
He advertises himself as the senator for rural America even though, apparently unbeknownst to him, the state he represents is one of the most urbanized in the nation. Neither does his self-description necessarily mean that he is an advocate for rural workers who are among the poorest of the working poor.
Instead of standing for rural interests, Salazar seems to be more an advocate for preserving old land and ranching interests. Much is made of the fact he grew up in rural Colorado without electricity. Less is made of the fact his family has received over $200,000 in farm subsidies over the last 10 years, with his brother, the congressman, being the chief beneficiary. Not surprisingly, the Salazar brothers are stout defenders of these agri-business subsidies - a stance seemingly at odds with Obama’s promise to eliminate waste in government.
Are we sure that Salazar is a good pick for this job? The double-dealing, special-interest-serving, public-interest-denying Salazar seems to embody the words "conflict of interest."
More information at sourcewatch.
Sciam:
"He's been supportive of public lands energy development, but he thinks it needs to be done responsibly and protect the other uses out there," Dwayne Meadows, a field representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, told the Post. "He didn't say, 'Don't drill the Roan Plateau,' but, 'Make sure you protect hunting and fishing recreational uses as well.'"
Salazar was chief of Colorado’s natural resources department from 1990 to 1994 and served as the state’s attorney general from 1990 to 2005. Industry groups like him because, among other things, he pushed for legislation (still pending) that would limit the liability of mining companies that clean up abandoned mines.
“Nothing in his record suggests he’s an ideologue,” Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, told the Times. “Here’s a man who understands the issues, is open-minded and can see at least two sides of an issue.”
But Daniel Patterson, southwest regional director of the enviro group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, charged that he's in the pocket of industry.
“It’s no surprise oil and gas, mining, agribusiness and other polluting industries that have dominated Interior are supporting rancher Salazar," Patterson, a former official of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, told the Times. "He's their friend."
On the other hand, there's something to be said for a man who will say this:
Dobson = antichrist?:
He outraged many religious conservatives when he called James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, "the antichrist" -- though he revised the comment to "un-Christian."
What's in it for Salazar?
Salazar is voluntarily taking himself out of elected politics - probably for good. In so doing, he will create a Senate vacancy that Republicans will be well positioned to swoop in and claim in 2010. So much for that bright future.
Salazar is poised to become Barack Obama’s interior secretary, an appointment that will be formally announced on Wednesday. But why he’s interested in the job, and why Obama was so willing to hand it out to him, is something of a puzzler.
This, of course, is not to disparage the work of the Department of the Interior, which manages more than 500 million acres of federal lands and deals with some highly sensitive issues in Western states like Salazar’s. But the Interior secretary has almost no national profile and the position is hardly one that an ambitious politician would aspire to. It’s the perfect job for a politician who wants to live comfortably - and wouldn’t mind being forgotten by the general public.
...
But Salazar is different. His moderate streak and agreeable nature have made him a player in the Senate, even if he lacks seniority, meaning that he could have played a major role in shaping Obama’s ambitious agenda. Plus, he’s only 53 and the Senate offers a far brighter spotlight than the Interior Department. To stay put would be to maintain, if not enhance, his chances of securing national office someday. But as Interior secretary, Salazar is essentially putting an end to his days as a national political force. Perhaps he could return to Colorado years from now and run for governor, but that’s about as far as he’ll get.
Not to mention a Republican governor who will probably appoint a Republican to the Senate seat. So why appoint Salazar?
http://www.counterpunch.org/doe12182008.html
Colorado’s Open Records Act requires state records to be made available within five working days of a request. As Attorney General, Salazar was responsible for enforcing that law. He told us he couldn’t release the engineering reports because he might have to someday protect the people of Colorado against the claims of the Utes. The information in those records, he reasoned, might give an unfair advantage to them if made public. The law would have to wait.
...
Indeed, later still, in a private meeting, after we brought suit over the matter, we were told by Salazar’s office that we would never get any information from them. ... I think this incident provides a clear indication of how Salazar, left to his own devises, might live up to Obama’s promise of openness and accountability in his administration.
...
In a rational economic world, we would expect the public’s representatives to first go to those causing the problem and tell them to stop, reform their operations, and pay a significant portion of the damages and remediation costs. The public might be asked to participate, but only secondarily. But that is not the way water in the West is governed, and it is not the way Salazar sees it. He has a long history of supporting water development on a large scale at public expense.
He advertises himself as the senator for rural America even though, apparently unbeknownst to him, the state he represents is one of the most urbanized in the nation. Neither does his self-description necessarily mean that he is an advocate for rural workers who are among the poorest of the working poor.
Instead of standing for rural interests, Salazar seems to be more an advocate for preserving old land and ranching interests. Much is made of the fact he grew up in rural Colorado without electricity. Less is made of the fact his family has received over $200,000 in farm subsidies over the last 10 years, with his brother, the congressman, being the chief beneficiary. Not surprisingly, the Salazar brothers are stout defenders of these agri-business subsidies - a stance seemingly at odds with Obama’s promise to eliminate waste in government.
Are we sure that Salazar is a good pick for this job? The double-dealing, special-interest-serving, public-interest-denying Salazar seems to embody the words "conflict of interest."
More information at sourcewatch.
Sciam:
"He's been supportive of public lands energy development, but he thinks it needs to be done responsibly and protect the other uses out there," Dwayne Meadows, a field representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, told the Post. "He didn't say, 'Don't drill the Roan Plateau,' but, 'Make sure you protect hunting and fishing recreational uses as well.'"
Salazar was chief of Colorado’s natural resources department from 1990 to 1994 and served as the state’s attorney general from 1990 to 2005. Industry groups like him because, among other things, he pushed for legislation (still pending) that would limit the liability of mining companies that clean up abandoned mines.
“Nothing in his record suggests he’s an ideologue,” Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, told the Times. “Here’s a man who understands the issues, is open-minded and can see at least two sides of an issue.”
But Daniel Patterson, southwest regional director of the enviro group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, charged that he's in the pocket of industry.
“It’s no surprise oil and gas, mining, agribusiness and other polluting industries that have dominated Interior are supporting rancher Salazar," Patterson, a former official of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, told the Times. "He's their friend."
On the other hand, there's something to be said for a man who will say this:
Dobson = antichrist?:
He outraged many religious conservatives when he called James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, "the antichrist" -- though he revised the comment to "un-Christian."
What's in it for Salazar?
Salazar is voluntarily taking himself out of elected politics - probably for good. In so doing, he will create a Senate vacancy that Republicans will be well positioned to swoop in and claim in 2010. So much for that bright future.
Salazar is poised to become Barack Obama’s interior secretary, an appointment that will be formally announced on Wednesday. But why he’s interested in the job, and why Obama was so willing to hand it out to him, is something of a puzzler.
This, of course, is not to disparage the work of the Department of the Interior, which manages more than 500 million acres of federal lands and deals with some highly sensitive issues in Western states like Salazar’s. But the Interior secretary has almost no national profile and the position is hardly one that an ambitious politician would aspire to. It’s the perfect job for a politician who wants to live comfortably - and wouldn’t mind being forgotten by the general public.
...
But Salazar is different. His moderate streak and agreeable nature have made him a player in the Senate, even if he lacks seniority, meaning that he could have played a major role in shaping Obama’s ambitious agenda. Plus, he’s only 53 and the Senate offers a far brighter spotlight than the Interior Department. To stay put would be to maintain, if not enhance, his chances of securing national office someday. But as Interior secretary, Salazar is essentially putting an end to his days as a national political force. Perhaps he could return to Colorado years from now and run for governor, but that’s about as far as he’ll get.
Not to mention a Republican governor who will probably appoint a Republican to the Senate seat. So why appoint Salazar?