« Plan B at Walmart | Main | Seattle's Growing Up »

March 20, 2006

Cascadian Cabinet Member

Idaho President Bush recently tapped Idaho's governor, Dirk Kempthorne, to head the US Department of the Interior, making Kempthorne the highest ranking US official of Cascadian extraction. (Kempthorne was raised in Washington, but he's made his 20 year political career in Idaho.) As secretary of the interior he'll oversee some of the most critical aspects of Cascadia's future: everything from energy security to wildlife management to funding for national parks and forests.

No comments from me (for now), but I though it worth pointing to a handful of the better newspaper articles on Kempthorne's appointment...

More Charm Than Substance, LA Times.

A Collaborative Conservative, Christian Science Monitor.

Bad, Eugene-Register Guard.

Not Bad, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Posted by Eric de Place | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834573a7069e200d8347c8e9353ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Cascadian Cabinet Member:

Comments

Hey...do we get any input into whether Idaho belongs here?

First, it's east of the Columbia. Second, we grow better potatoes in B.C.

Who needs Idaho.

Posted by: Darcy McGee | Mar 20, 2006 8:37:15 PM

Hey Eric, the LA Times link is broken. And the Stranger's Cienna Madrid (an Idaho transplant) has been impolitely roasting Kempthorne on the Slog the last few days.

Posted by: Michael | Mar 21, 2006 5:04:52 PM

Thanks, Michael. I fixed the link. Cienna's a terrific read. Find her at http://www.thestranger.com/blog.

Darcy,
Idaho's a wonderful place, even if it's politics aren't always amenable to sustainability. But--like so many things--what's happening in Idaho is usually more complex than a first glance may reveal. In any case Idaho is home to the Snake and Salmon and Clearwater Rivers--so it belongs firmly in Cascadia. We define Cascadia, by the way, as the watersheds of the rivers that rise through the temperate rainforests of our coast.

Posted by: Eric de Place | Mar 22, 2006 1:38:58 PM

I am actually doing a state report on Idhao and I found a whole bunch of interesting and fascinating facts about Idaho and other than California, Hawaii, and New York, Idaho is one of my other favorite states.

Posted by: Cassie | Mar 30, 2006 7:25:25 PM

Does anyone know how much money Idaho makes selling livestock like poultry, fish and all that other stuff? I'm just asking. But no one has to answer if they don't want to. but thanks anyway.

Posted by: Cassie | Mar 30, 2006 7:27:26 PM