Idaho Gold

Now that the dreadfully spotty Gale Norton bailed out of the Interior Department as the Abramoff investigation, uh, sorry...the needs of her family, swirled nearby, what with the various close connections many of her staffers had with the Indian tribes gambling fiasco, it is interesting that Bush finds himself searching the far corners of the country trying to locate some -- any -- Republican not connected with Jack Abramoff.

Bush had to harch all the way up to Idaho, where he just tapped Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to lead the Department. And like most good Republicans that Bush would find attractive, he has the much admired quality of coddling industry and fouling the environment at the expense of creating a frictionless business environment:

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, President Bush's top candidate to head the Environmental Protection Agency, has cut his state's environmental budget three times and sharply reduced enforcement of environmental regulations.

During Kempthorne's four-and-a-half-year tenure as governor, Idaho's pristine air has gotten dirtier, more rivers have been polluted, fewer polluters have been inspected and more toxins have contaminated the air, water and land.

And that was back in 2003 when Bush was considering Kempthorne as EPA administrator.

Kempthorne does indeed seem to be a match for the Bush administration. Now, if they can just keep that damned Abramoff investigation out of the picture....

[via ThinkProgress]