Sutley appears at confirmation hearing

(Washington) Lisa Jackson, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, pledged Wednesday that decisions at the agency will be based on science and the law and not politics.

Jackson’s opening statement at her Senate confirmation hearing was the clearest signal yet that the Obama administration plans to take …

Sutley appears at confirmation hearing

(Washington) Two top members of President-elect Barack Obama’s environmental team face questions from a Senate committee about the new administration’s plans to deal with global warming, water and air pollution and coal ash.

Lisa Jackson, picked to head the Environmental Protection Agency, and Nancy Sutley, tapped to chair the White House …

Obama Appoints First High-Level Gay Official For Environmental Council

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has selected a deputy mayor of Los Angeles to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, transition officials said Wednesday.

Nancy Sutley is the first prominent member of the gay and lesbian community to earn a senior role in the Democrat’s new administration.

With many of his top White House and Cabinet posts filled, Obama now is focusing on fleshing out his natural resources and environment team, and could formally introduce his choices for interior secretary, energy secretary and environmental protection agency chief within weeks if not days.

Two transition officials disclosed Sutley’s selection on the condition of anonymity because Obama had not yet made the announcement.

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Arnie becomes target of conservatives

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposed Proposition 8, has openly hoped that courts will now overturn it and has encouraged opponents to “never give up.”

In the process, he’s ignited a battle within his own party.

Christian conservatives are using him as a foil, to claim that they, not the Republican governor, represent the party base.

That Schwarzenegger is “condoning street protests and supporting judicial activist scams to overturn a popularly approved state constitutional amendment approaches advocacy of anarchy,” said an action alert from the Family Research Council, which urges conservatives to contact Schwarzenegger’s office.

With Republicans out of power in both houses of Congress and the White House, party faithful are focusing on the future of the GOP. It’s a position that’s pitting some Republican moderates – including Schwarzenegger – against social conservatives.

Some GOP leaders believe the social conservatives are holding the party back. Christie Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bush, co-wrote a Washington Post opinion piece that said the party has been held hostage to social conservatives. She described Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s selection as Arizona Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential candidate as a “cynical sop to social fundamentalists, reinforcing the impression that they control the party, with the party’s consent.”

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Rep. Peter King of New York – all moderate Republicans – each won re-election in a tough year. Each has said the party needed to broaden its base. All three are under attack for saying so.

“What doesn’t work is drawing a harsh ideological line in the sand,” said Collins.

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