Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Is RFK Jr. Just "Too Controversial"?
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_11_02-2008_11_08.shtml#1226181796
Politico [1]reports that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may be "too
controversial" a pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Some energy and environmental lobbyists are worried that Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.�s controversial past would thwart his Senate
confirmation if President-elect Barack Obama tapped him to be
administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
A well-respected climate lawyer, Kennedy has also been in the
spotlight for his controversial environmental statements.
As reported by Politico, the issue with RFK Jr. is simply that he
shoots his mouth off occasionally, such as by calling global warming
skeptics "traitors" or suggesting factory farms are a bigger threat to
the American way of life than Islamist terrorists. It also notes he
occasionally lets his personal preferences get in the way of sound
environmental policy, as when he opposed the Cape Wind offshore wind
power project.
Yet the problems with RFK Jr. as the head of a powerful regulatory
agency go much deeper. As [2]Walter Olson notes, appointing RFK Jr.
would make a mockery of President-elect Obama's campaign pledges to
reduce the politicization of science. Among other things, RFK Jr. has
endorsed scientifically discredited claims alleging a vaccine-autism
link and labels those who dare to disagree with him crooks and
traitors. So it should be no surprise that a wide range of science
bloggers, from [3]ORAC to [4]P.Z. Myers to [5]Mark Hoofnagle, among
[6]others, oppose an RFK nomination. It should say something when
folks who generally share Kennedy's political views still find him an
unacceptable choice to head the nation's primary environmental
regulatory agency.
There are plenty of well-qualified, left-leaning, pro-regulatory
environmental leaders capable of heading EPA. RFK Jr. is just not one
of them.
References
1. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15403.html
2.
http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/11/07/kennedy-obama-epa-oped-cx_wo_1107olson.html
3.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/11/contact_the_obama_transition_team_to_tel.php
4. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/11/say_no_to_rfk.php
5.
http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2008/11/stop_the_rfk_jr_appointment_no.php
6. http://overlawyered.com/2008/11/new-at-forbescom-rfk-jr-to-epa/
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