Bush Axes Another Conservative With a Brain
Gandalf Grey
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March 7, 2002
Firing of Army Corps Chief Disputed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:19 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House lawmakers said Thursday their former colleague,
Mike Parker, was fired as civilian head of the Army Corps of Engineers
because of his honesty in predicting Congress would not allow the
administration's proposed cuts in water project spending.
Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor, a fellow Mississippian, said Parker simply told
the truth: that the administration ``purposely low-balled the budget''
knowing that Congress, a staunch supporter of Army Corps projects, would
restore the money.
Parker, an assistant secretary of the Army, was fired Wednesday, a week
after he told the Senate Budget Committee that proposed cuts could hurt
Corps efforts and that he expected that the final budget approved by
Congress would be higher.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer on Thursday defended Parker's
dismissal, saying that ``the president welcomes a diversity of views'' while
the budget is being put together, but that once that work is done ``the
president does think it's appropriate for staff to support the
administration's policy.''
President Bush's plan for the 2003 budget year cuts the Corps' budget by 10
percent to $4.175 billion, excluding federal retirees' pensions and
benefits. The Corps had requested more than $6 billion.
The plan includes a 16 percent reduction in the construction budget. A House
Transportation Committee analysis said that would cause the termination of
at least 64 contracts that employ 8,600 people. It would cost $190 to
eliminate these projects, the committee said.
``If the Corps is limited in what it does for the American people, there
will be a negative impact,'' Parker told the Senate. He added that the
budget process had only started and that in the end Congress, strongly
supportive of Corps projects because of the money they bring to home states,
would have its say.
Rep. William Pascrell, D-N.J., at a Transportation subcommittee hearing
Wednesday on the effects of cuts to the Corps budget, said it was ``most
incredible'' that Parker was fired and ``it will only make us more resolved
in our efforts.''
Democrats were the most critical, but Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., chairman of
the water resources and environment subcommittee, said he was disappointed
that Parker's ``honestly expressed concerns made it necessary for him to
resign.''
Parker, 52, the Corps' civilian administrator for civil projects, is the
first visible high-level political appointee in the Bush administration to
be dismissed. A five-term congressman, he switched from the Democratic to
Republican Party in 1995 and lost a tight race for governor of Mississippi
in 1999.
Critics of the Army Corps say it has been riddled with pork barrel projects
and that it is a natural target for savings as Bush seeks to channel money
into national security and the war on terrorism. In 2000, an Army inspector
general alleged that top Corps officials had altered a cost-benefit analysis
to justify a $1 billion construction project on the Mississippi and Illinois
rivers.
Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense told the House hearing that the
administration was right in cutting the construction budget because the
Corps has a $52 billion backlog and ``over the years the Corps has solicited
and received projects that far exceed the scope of its primary missions.''
On the other hand, Martin Pagliughi, mayor of Avalon, N.J., and
representative of the American Coastal Coalition, said the budget proposal
was ``well beyond the kind of cuts appropriate to reflect the post-Sept. 11
needs'' and ``would greatly affect numerous states, hundreds of communities,
wildlife habitat as well as much-needed revenue for all levels of
government.''
Parker's departure followed the resignation last week of Eric Schaeffer,
director of civil enforcement for the Environment Protection Agency, who
accused the administration of stifling efforts to reduce air pollution from
old refineries, coal-burning power plants and industrial boilers.
^------
On the Net:
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works:
http://www.hqda.army.mil/asacw
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press
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"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000.
"This is not a monarchy.... We've got a dictatorial President and a Justice
Department that does not want Congress involved.... Your guy's acting like
he's king."
--Congressman Dan Burton, referring to George W. Bush
"It's more difficult to seem bipartisan after the Daschle memo."
---Frank Luntz: GOP pollster and propaganda producer
hal
Wait a minute ! Another Conservative WITH A BRAIN?
What do you mean?
Hal
Gandalf Grey
<hal> wrote in message news:3c87d20a....@news.blackfoot.net...
> On Thu, 7 Mar 2002 12:18:10 -0800, wrote:
>
> Wait a minute ! Another Conservative WITH A BRAIN?
>
> What do you mean?
Sorry. I meant "the other" conservative with a brain. Arianna Huffington
bolted long ago.
>
> Hal
Keynes
wrote:
What? Brain envy on top of penis envy? What's next for the Feuhrer?
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try and blame Bill Clinton."