Sally Jewell of REI named to lead Interior Dept

Saw this in the NYTimes.

Sally Jewell, current CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc. has been named by President Obama to lead the Interior Department.

www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/us/politics/o...nterior-dept.html?hp

Interesting choice.

[size=10pt]The Interior Department post has traditionally gone to a politician from the Western United States, like Mr. Salazar and Mr. Babbitt, a former governor of Arizona. Under President George W. Bush Gale A. Norton, a former attorney general of Colorado, and Dirk Kempthorne, a former governor and senator from Idaho, served in the position. Ms. Jewell, if confirmed, would represent a different model, a corporate executive with experience in two of the major missions of the department, resource development and conservation. [/size]

the CEO of a company that treats its customers like shit when they are injured using REI-branded defective products.... great choice.

I had the honor of working with Ms. Jewell in the 1990s in the Banking Industry and found her to be a great leader. Certainly one can hope for balanced leadership with respect to use, resources, commercial vs. conservation and so on.

Well, it sure beats a mining executive...

Well, it sure beats a mining executive...

LOL; she worked for an oil company (years ago); then a bank; LOL; then REI.


BTW: I have no preconceived notions about how well she will do a Secretary of Interior.  At least she has had a real appreciation of outdoor recreation and national parks including Mt. Rainier NP.  On the other hand, Obama is a corporatist who has planned to cut the budget of National Parks , [Bush campaigned on increasing the budgets for maintenance in NPs but then, of course, never did] most of our elected reps are corporatists; Jewell is a corporate leader; Chalmers Johnson documents the degree to which we have privatized the defense and intelligence establishments; Clinton's Recreation Roundtable worked hard to privatize the management of outdoor recreation on public lands (I remember paying $7 to fill up a 5 gallon water container at a Utah NF from a public pump in a FS campround--we could have had it for free if we stayed to eat our own lunch for $25), and look how even the US Postal Service is being dismantled.  But I remember when Nixon appointed Walter Hickel as Sec'y Interior and we all groaned and moaned about a corporatist but he proved to be a reasonably progressive sec'y [of course, Nixon was and environmentalist compared to our last 5 presidents].  Let's hope Jewell will exert the best angles of her nature!!!

Caveat emptor young 'uns!  Your future is being stolen right before your very eyes!

Why don't we all write a letter to Jewell if she gets approved and express our hopes and dreams about how she will reform and professionalize the Interior agencies (BLM, F&WS, USGS, NPS, etc. etc.),  fight for funding to serve the best interests of us, the American people, by maintaining, in the words of Charles Kuralt every new year, documenting those gifts (refuges and parks, etc) that we have given ourselves.  We can all aggree on those things, can't we  : :'(

I will hope for the best, but expect the worst