Bush Picks Utah Gov. Leavitt to Head EPA

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) has picked Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, an advocate of shifting environmental regulation to the states, to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites), a senior administration official said Monday.

Leavitt, a three-term Republican governor, would succeed Christie Whitman, a former New Jersey governor who held the post of EPA administrator for the first 2 1/2 years of the administration before resigning in May.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=703&e=2&u=/ap/20030811/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bush_epa

So, let's get Mike "Governor For Life" Leavitt to carry Bush's flyweight environmental hod.

Yeah, that makes sense.

He's going to support the forest clear-cutting that * wants...the one voice of environmental reason in the * administration is replaced with another anti-wilderness person.

more than I do/

afterall we did win some surprising states last year like Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.

Jim Matheson might run, but we'd lose his House seat...and we need every House seat we can scrounge in 2004.

ON EDIT: Other candidates (according to AAP 2004) may be Bill Orton (2000 candidate), fmr AG Jan Graham, and ex-Rep Karen Shepherd. Possible Repukes (same source) may be Speaker Marty Stephens, U. Regents Nolan Karras and David Jordan, and ex-Rep Jim Hansen.

He barely won his last election in 2002.

but he barely won by 2013 votes despite voting conservative in many social issues. http://www3.cnn.com/ELECTION/2002/pages/states/UT/index.html

I dont see that happening.

I live in Utah.
Utah was the state where republicans won by the largest margin in 2000. Democrats winning the governorship is a pipedream.

I think that Scott Matheson, Jr. could do it. Utah had a Democratic governor for 20 years (from 1965-85) and it was just as conservative back then. Plus, conservative states like Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming all elected Democrats to the governorship in 2002. I count Utah as one of our three best pickup possibilities for governorships in 2004 (along with Vermont and Montana).

Scott Matheson, Jr., son of the popular former governor and brother to Rep. Jim Matheson. We need Jim Matheson to stay in the House and win back that seat. We need all of the seats we can get.

Is gonna run. If so he has about a 50-50 shot of winning the election. Democrats do win. And it happens to be he's the son of one of the most popular Democrats ever to be governor, Scott Matheson. That alone could be reason enough to push him into a win.

With both he and his brother on the ticket (Jim will be running for a 3rd Congress Term) it is reasonable that both do win - as in both names help each other out. It's gonna be fun to see what happens. Last Democratic Governor in Utah was Scott Matheson - two governors ago.

A gubernatorial pick-up and a House retention...:-)

No way in hell.

If we had a very strong candidate, I think it would be possible. Not likely...but then I didn't think we'd win the OK governorship either.

He essentially "Naderized" Largent. Largent's cussing out a reporter also tipped the outcome to Henry.

UT is hopelessly Republican. For a Democrat to win there has to be significant ticket splitting. And the only thing that I see preventing a GOP conviction is a murder conviction. Even then it only would matter if he killed the head of the LDS church.

I would have said the same thing about Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Kansas but we beat the odds. If a strong name Dem runs it would be uphill but doable.

Wyoming--Bebout was an ex-Democrat and so people voted for Freudenthal. That was a good upset, though, in 2002. But then again, with the exception of Jim Geringer's 8 year tenure, the Democrats have held Cheyene since 1974. For some reason it won't elect Democrats to anything else except Governor.

Oklahoma--Richardson "Naderized" Largent. Without Richardson in the race Largent would have eked out a win. Also Largent's cussing out a reporter didn't help either. The cock fighting measure also brought rural Eastern Oklahoma en masse, which helped Henry. Switzer's endorsement of Henry also was pivotal.

Kansas--Democrats have been able to win Topeka in Governors races over the last few deades. The Dockings were Governor, John Carlin, and Joan Finney were all able to win there. Democrats can win statewide offices in Kanasas, although Republicans are usually the victors. The one office they can't win is a Senate seat, although a second term Seibeulus might be a good candidate in 2004 should she win re-election.

but I think a brand name in Utah like Matheson could have an impact. Maybe not likely but time will tell.

It might have the same value that "Docking" has in Kansas. Ironically the state's most popular political family happens to be Democrats.

Here's a list of his credentials:

http://www.law.utah.edu/faculty/bios/mathesons.html

Hens too busy watching Laci Peterson and Survivor to notice the hens that go missing each night...

Yawn.

Who would have guessed the initial stages of the Fall of the American Republic would be so BORING (as boring as a Soviet "news" release, circa 1978)?

Leavitt pissed on the environment the entire "sentence" I served in Utah.

He couldn't give a SHIT about the environment, water, forests. What he would LOVE to see if fucking oil drilling along the Wasatch.

:puke:

And how do we know this? Because RALPH NADER TOLD US. And Ralph would never lie, would he?

I love your posts, Dolstein. You are one of my favorite DUers.

The Bush policies are the same no matter who is the puppet in charge at EPA.

The fact that Bush had to choose an ideologue like Leavitt instead of a PR-type choice (like Whitman was in 2001) indicates to me that Bush still feels the overwhelming need to cater to his ultra-conservative base. (I guess they're not completely in line behind him despite outward appearances.)

Genuine moderate voters should thus be that much easier to pick off next year.

--Peter