|
Well • • •
There’s Good News • • • And There’s Bad News
|
Christie Whitman |
The Good News Is That Christie
Whitman Is Finally Leaving As Federal Environmental Protection
Administrator
The Bad News Is That She’s Coming
Back To New Jersey
EZ
Pass Scandals, Wild Spending, Phoney Tax Reductions, Schundler
Character Assassination, $2.5 Billion Budget Deficit, Massive Debt
Increase, Huge Pension System Stock Market Losses Marked Whitman’s New
Jersey State Government Career
Dover Township:
The Associated Press described her as
“sometimes at odds with the Bush White House over environmental issues
and a lightning rod for the administration’s critics.”
The AP also said she “had a history of
clashing with the administration”, starting with the president’s
decision to withdraw from the Kyoto global warming treaty”.
“I Haven’t Had Any Clashes With The
Bush Administration”
Former New Jersey Governor Christie
Whitman denied this, saying: “I’m not leaving because of clashes with
the administration. In fact, I haven’t had any.” (Yeah - Right!)
Whitman’s demurrals came in the wake of
her resignation Wednesday as head of the federal Environmental
Protection Agency after two and a half years in that position.
Whitman Criticizes Bush
Administration's
Handling Of Environmental Issues
The ink was barely dry on the
resignation, and she had barely finished her denials of clashes with
the Bush administration, when Whitman made an appearance on NBC's
"Today" show and criticized the administration's handling of several
environmental issues.
Whitman's basic criticism was that Bush
did not provide enough explanation to the American people and the
world on issues like Kyoto and the carbon dioxide cap. "It hurt the
president," Whitman said.
Whitman Resigned As Governor In 2001
Whitman resigned the governorship here
early in 2001 to go to Washington, and handed her administration over
to Senate President Donald DiFrancesco, who became “acting” Governor,
filling out the ten month remainder of her second four year term.
DiFrancesco
was a candidate to be Whitman’s successor, but dropped out when it
became known his own fiscal policies included borrowing $325,000 from
the Hovnanian construction interests, a “loan” which he conveniently
never paid back.
All of this was too much for Brett
Schundler, the ultimate Republican candidate, to deal with; so
clueless Jim McGreevey, who acted surprised when he “discovered” a
huge Whitman-DiFrancesco budget deficit, coasted to an easy victory
and became the lucky new governor.
Whitman Record Included Huge Budget
Deficit, EZ Pass Scandals
Whitman’s record as governor included EZ
Pass scandals, character assassination of GOP gubernatorial candidate
Brett Schundler last year, an illegal $2.5 Billion State Budget
Deficit, a costly and wasteful political patronage operation that
compromised the finances of the state government, scandals at the
state DMV over the Parsons mess, aggravated over-development and
sprawl, a massive increase in the state’s debt, huge losses in stock
market investments ($22 Billion), more traffic gridlock, excessive
development, and near insolvency in the state’s pension system.
Other than that, she was a great
governor.
Whitman Says McGreevey Should Stop
Criticizing Her Record
Whitman said a few months ago that her
successor, Jim McGreevey, frustrated with having to deal with the
budget mess she left, should “stop criticizing” her record of screwing
up nearly every aspect of the state government before she abandoned
her New Jersey constituents and went to Washington DC to annoy and
pester the Bush administration.
But the Asbury Park Press and other
media say McGreevey was right.
Whitman said in a letter to President
Bush she was leaving the EPA to spend more time with her family.
|
RESIGNATION LETTER OF
CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN
Dear Mr. President:
With gratitude
for the opportunity to serve the American people in your
Administration, I hereby tender my resignation as Administrator
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, effective June 27,
2003.
It has been a singular honor to be entrusted
with the responsibility to lead the EPA in its effort to leave
America's air cleaner, its water purer, and its land better
protected than it was when this Administration took office. Our
work has been guided by the strong belief that environmental
protection and economic prosperity can and must go hand-in-hand,
that the true measure of the value of any environmental policy
is in the environmental results it produces. I am pleased that
the EPA has built an enviable record of success that will result
in significant improvements to the state of our Nation's
treasured environment.
America's air will be cleaner. Our actions to
reduce pollution from nonroad diesel engines represent, in the
words of one major environmental organization, the "biggest
public health step" in more than 20 years. Our landmark Clean
School Bus USA initiative means that every public school student
in America should be riding low emission school buses by 2010.
Our aggressive and effective efforts to enforce the Nation's
environmental laws have achieved some of the largest Clean Air
Act settlements in history. This record will only be enhanced by
the eventual passage of the Administration's proposed Clear
Skies Act of 2003, your far-reaching proposal to reduce
pollution from the Nation's power plants.
America's water will be purer. EPA's
Watershed Initiative is expanding watershed-based water
protection policy across the country. The Agency's innovative
Water Quality Trading program will help address the growing
problem of nonpoint source pollution. EPA's plan for cleanup of
the Hudson River has set a new standard for restoring waterways
that have been threatened by decades of abuse. Improvements to
the rules governing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations will
protect surface water by requiring reductions of at least 25
percent in runoff of nitrogen and phosphorous from those large
agricultural operations.
America's land will be better protected. Our
success in enacting long-overdue brownfields legislation is
already accelerating the reclamation of abandoned parcels of
land in hundreds of communities across America. The enactment of
this legislation, after nearly a decade of partisan wrangling,
is a testament to your commitment to change the way things are
done in Washington.
In addition, the Agency has played a key role
in responding to the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the
subsequent anthrax attack and in promoting the security of our
homeland. The work EPA did in the aftermath of those attacks
will long be a proud chapter in this Agency's history. As the
federal lead for protecting the Nation's water infrastructure
and the chemical industry, we also have added significantly to
efforts to reduce the vulnerability of those sectors to
terrorist attack.
I am proud of the work this Agency has done
and of the contributions it has made to the success of your
Administration. The people who serve our country as employees of
the EPA are as dedicated and as committed a group as can be
found in federal service. It has been a true honor to be able to
lead this Agency as it worked to implement the innovative,
effective environmental policies to which you are so clearly
committed.
As rewarding as the past two-and-a-half years
have been for me professionally, it is time to return to my home
and husband in New Jersey, which I love just as you do your home
state of Texas. I leave knowing that we have made a positive
difference and that we have set the Agency on a course that will
result in continued environmental improvement. Please accept my
deepest thanks for the opportunity to serve our country in your
Administration and my every good wish for continued success in
leading the Nation in these challenging times.
Sincerely yours,
Christine Todd Whitman |
|
