Idaho Governor Seen As Likely EPA Choice
By Guy Gugliotta and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, June 18, 2003; Page A03
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne (R), whose views on the environment have drawn fire from advocacy groups, is the leading candidate to become the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, senior Republican officials said yesterday.
Kempthorne spokesman Mark Snider confirmed that the second-term governor and former U.S. senator met with White House officials June 11 and discussed "his perspective on the EPA as a governor and former senator," among other issues.
"He did not term it to me as a job interview," Snider said. He said he "could not speculate" on Kempthorne's plans, adding: "The governor said to me, 'When your president is on the phone, you take the call, and the president has not made that call.' "
Several senior Republican officials said Kempthorne is the leading candidate, with one calling him "the likely choice." A GOP congressional aide described the choice as "essentially made," with President Bush waiting while Kempthorne weighs his decision.
Some White House officials, however, said deliberations were not complete. But a senior administration official called Kempthorne a promising candidate in part because, as a former senator, he could expect relatively swift confirmation and because he is a credible spokesman on environmental issues from a state where the environment is a major concern.
Kempthorne, 51, has been mentioned for weeks as a possible successor to Christine Todd Whitman, scheduled to leave the EPA on June 27. The environmental news service Greenwire reported Monday he was the preferred choice, although several sources suggested others remained in the running, especially Tom Skinner, the EPA Midwestern regional director.
Kempthorne received a near-zero rating from the League of Conservation Voters during his one term as a senator (1993 through 1998), but environmental advocates said his Senate background would probably help ease his confirmation process.
"Gov. Kempthorne is a very nice, personable and noncombative person, which are some of the features the Bush administration is looking for and which will help in confirmation," said Roger Singer, Idaho chapter director of the Sierra Club. "But his record on environmental issues is quite abysmal."
Kempthorne, as governor, senator and former mayor of Boise, has frequently raised the ire of advocacy groups because of his desire to reduce the role of the federal government -- and EPA -- in environmental policy, and replace it with state and local authority. This was a prevailing theme during his Senate years, when he championed changes to laws on safe drinking water and unfunded mandates, and has carried over in his opposition to the EPA's effort to expand a Superfund cleanup site at Idaho's Coeur d'Alene Lake.
Snider said Kempthorne sought an environmental policy that strikes a "balance between pollution-free air and water and having a job for your family."
Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said, "That's nothing more than spin. Governor Kempthorne has supported the chemical industry, the oil industry, the timber industry and the utility industry against virtually every environmental proposal since 1993. That's not balance."
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