My Sierra Club lobbying colleague in Idaho sent the following Idaho news
accounts of the Kempthorne nomination for Secretary of the Interior...
FYI.
Lyle
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Forwarded by Paula Carrell/Sierraclub on 03/17/2006 09:15 AM -----
"Roger Singer" <[log in to unmask]>
03/17/2006 07:01 AM
Here's what they're saying back home in print about Dirk, at least by the
Idaho Statesman's political columnist and enviro reporter's stories:
Dan Popkey:
Governor won't wait to launch initiatives
Anyone who thinks Gov. Dirk Kempthorne will simply settle for 2 1/2 years as
a caretaker Interior secretary for a beleaguered lame-duck president is
mistaken.
Kempthorne has rich experience on natural resource issues and said Thursday
he has the president's license to leave his mark.
"Is there expectation that a new secretary can launch new initiatives and
bring them to conclusion?" Kempthorne said. "The answer is yes. A lot can be
done in 21/2 years."
Look for Kempthorne to revive an effort he started in the U.S. Senate but
never completed, reforming the Endangered Species Act. For Idaho, he may
choose to join Sen. Mike Crapo's effort to win wilderness designation in the
Owyhee Canyonlands.
"Part of my makeup is to tackle issues that perhaps have not been solved but
to find a solution," he told reporters, citing the lengthy negotiations to
settle the Nez Perce water deal.
Standing with President Bush, the governor spoke of results. "One of the
hallmarks of my public service has been my ability to bring people to the
table and to work together to build consensus. I pledge to you, and to the
American people, that I will continue in that role of reaching out and
finding solutions."
I've covered Kempthorne since he became Boise mayor in 1986 at age 34. He
still has a choir boy's upbeat attitude. One of his favorite stories
recounts walking around Boise's near-dead Downtown in 1986, sitting on a
fallen telephone pole and praying for the city's revival.
It happened, starting with a kick-start from Kempthorne, who forced members
of the City Council, redevelopment agency board, Ada County Commission, Ada
County Highway District and Greater Boise Auditorium District to make a deal
on building the Boise Centre on The Grove.
Assembling them in a room and shooing away reporters, Kempthorne said, "I'm
going to remind you that the press is right outside the door and anyone who
is willing to go out and declare you are a failure may do so. I am not going
to."
Bush's fallen popularity and electoral politics will make tough issues like
endangered species reform tougher yet. But that won't stop Kempthorne from
trying. His relationships with senators, who genuinely like him, will help.
But before he tackles Washington, he has unfinished business with the
Legislature. My view is his nomination significantly boosts his clout on two
lingering issues he cares deeply about, new roads and parks.
Yes, Kempthorne will be distracted by the confirmation process, but now it
would be bad form for House Speaker Bruce Newcomb and other opponents to
fight Kempthorne for the sake of winning a final battle. Look for compromise
to carry the day.
Though it will be hard for Kempthorne to focus on state issues, Newcomb
acknowledged, "I don't expect him to punt."
Kempthorne won't resign until the completion of a confirmation process that
he expects to last about a month. "I intend to continue to work with
leadership so that we do right by the people of Idaho," he said.
Kempthorne is no longer a governor playing out the string. He's about to
become a member of the Cabinet with national influence. The long-shot
prospect of a Kempthorne run for president - first raised in 2000 by Coeur
d'Alene Resort President Jerry Jaeger - is suddenly a possibility.
Jaeger minted "Kempthorne for President 2008" buttons, and in recent weeks
Kempthorne wowed a crowd at a Washington conference on health care,
prompting shouts of "Kempthorne for president!"
"Politics is about doors that open and close," said Newcomb, "and if you
don't walk through them they may never open again. Who knows where this may
lead."
Asked by reporters Thursday about presidential ambitions, Kempthorne gave an
open-door answer:
"Oh, I tell you, so many things have been happening today. I've just found
throughout my political career if you remain focused on the responsibilities
at hand, tomorrow will begin to take care of itself."
Tomorrow just became very much brighter for Kempthorne. Whether he runs for
president or not, his value as a lobbyist or a corporate board member has
skyrocketed.
Five years ago, on his 50th birthday, Kempthorne told me he dreamed of
retiring to run a traveling hamburger stand. His wife called the notion a
"crazy idea."
Today, Mrs. Kempthorne was proven right.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"President Bush nominated someone who has consistently opposed protecting
public health and public lands," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive
director.
Kempthorne's a shoo-in for Interior secretary
Kempthorne has history of seeking compromises
By Rocky Barker
Dirk Kempthorne spent his career as a U.S. senator and Idaho governor
seeking to make the federal Endangered Species Act work better for people
and critters.
As President Bush's Interior secretary, Kempthorne would be the nation's top
wildlife manager. Rewriting the Endangered Species Act will be one of the
challenges where he can apply his collaborative style and instinct to let
states solve their own problems.
"I think Dirk will look for continued opportunities to bring the federal
mandate down to the state level," said Rick Johnson, executive director of
the Idaho Conservation League, a statewide environmental group.
As Interior secretary, Kempthorne would be federal landlord of more than 507
million acres of national parks, rangeland and wildlife refuges. He would
manage more than 600 dams that bring water to 31 million Westerners and
irrigate 60 percent of all the vegetables grown in the United States.
He would be in charge of the fate of 1,265 threatened or endangered species.
He would be responsible for 68 percent of the nation's oil and gas reserves
and millions of acres of federal mining lands.
He also would sit on President Bush's Cabinet, discussing with his
colleagues from such departments as state, energy and transportation the
major issues that face the nation and the world.
"I think that's good for Idaho," said former Idaho Republican Sen. James
McClure.
Kempthorne, 54, said Bush told him to reach out beyond traditional
constituencies and to try to find bipartisan solutions.
"He wants me to find common ground and build consensus," Kempthorne told
Idaho reporters Thursday.
Congress has been attempting to rewrite the Endangered Species Act since
Kempthorne went to Washington as a U.S. senator from Idaho in 1992. As
chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's Drinking
Water, Fisheries and Wildlife subcommittee, Kempthorne introduced a bill
that would have watered down the Endangered Species Act.
But then he worked with the Clinton administration and environmental groups,
such as Environmental Defense on a compromise bill that won praise, although
it ultimately died in the Senate.
Now the House has passed a bill that environmentalists strongly oppose.
Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and others are seeking a compromise in the
Senate.
"The people who are doing it now are standing on Dirk's shoulders," said Ted
Hoffman, a Mountain Home rancher who has worked with Kempthorne on such
endangered species issues as wolves, sage grouse and slickspot peppergrass.
As governor, Kempthorne forged a salmon agreement with three other Northwest
governors - including two Democrats - in 2000. He aggressively used his
Office of Species Conservation to develop state management plans for grizzly
bears and wolves.
In January, Interior Secretary Gale Norton formally handed Idaho back
day-to-day management of wolves under a plan Kempthorne pushed that allows
ranchers and the state to kill wolves with fewer restrictions.
"I think that office has turned out to be a pretty good deal," said Bruce
Mulkey, a rancher who worked on protection for salmon on the Lemhi River
near Salmon. "It put the state between the landowners and the federal
government, and I think we've made some progress."
But Kempthorne faces a skeptical national environmental community, which
doubts that he will make any changes from the Bush policies they oppose,
like oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and opening parks
to more tourism development.
"At a time when these controversial issues need a leader who can find common
ground, the president could not have chosen a more divisive nominee," said
Philip Clapp, president of the Washington D.C.-based National Environmental
Trust.
Environmentalists point to Kempthorne's aggressive jousting with the
Environmental Protection Agency over cleaning up the Silver Valley in North
Idaho after a century of heavy metal mining contamination as a sign of his
values. In his 2002 State of the State address, Kempthorne said about the
EPA: "I am so frustrated with them that I am on the verge of inviting them
to leave the state."
"President Bush nominated someone who has consistently opposed protecting
public health and public lands," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive
director.
Hecla Mining's vice president of public affairs, Vicki Veltkamp, said the
mining industry will welcome Kempthorne.
"Dirk knows the industry real well," Veltkamp said. "It's good to have
someone knowledgeable on the issue."
Indian tribes have had a thorny relationship with the Bush administration,
primarily over what a federal judge has called decades-long mismanagement of
trust accounts.
The Coeur d'Alene Tribe in North Idaho voted unanimously Thursday to back
Kempthorne for the post. Its chairman, Chief Allan, said Kempthorne can
benefit from his relationships with all five tribes in Idaho.
"I think Gov. Kempthorne can look to us for some guidance," Allan said. "We
think we can make it work."
One of Kempthorne's biggest accomplishments as governor was striking an
agreement with the Nez Perce Tribe over its claims to the waters of the
Snake River. He brought to a close a decade of talks that resolved the
tribe's water rights, protected Idaho water rights and put in place rules
and projects to protect endangered salmon and steelhead habitat.
Rebecca Miles, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, said
she looked forward to continuing the collaborative relationship forged in
those talks in the larger tribal issues.
"We're hoping this will be an improved relationship," Miles said.
The Senate must confirm Kempthorne before he takes over the 70,000-employee
department.
Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources
Committee, said he would schedule confirmation hearings as soon as the
paperwork arrived from the White House. Democrat Minority Leader Harry Reid
of Nevada expressed concerns about Kempthorne similar to those of former
Idaho governor and Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus.
"I'm not going to support him unless I have good long conversation about
public land issues," Reid said. "We can't have an Interior secretary who's
going to march lock-step with the president who wants to sell public land to
the highest bidder."
The Idaho Conservation League's Johnson is skeptical that Kempthorne will
change Bush administration policies much. But he thinks environmentalists
back East don't have a full picture of Kempthorne.
"Dirk recognizes that the West is changing and our values are changing,"
Johnson said. "Dirk is an urban Westerner. His boots are polished."
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