THIS IS IMPORTANT AND URGENT

Appended is a brief message received from a trusted associate. It deals with the appointment of John Berry to the position of Interior Secretary. It further confirms what other sources have been suggesting, that being:

John Berry appears to be incoming President's top pick for the Interior Secretary position

The Obama Transition Team could give Berry the nod as soon as Monday...

.... and what a disaster that would be!!!

John Berry has, my sources say blown past the environmental community's favored candidate, Raul Grijalva.

John Berry is almost certainly the candidate favored by the ANTI-environmental American Recreation Coalition -- the lobby group that worked with Interior's Paul Hoffman in an effort  to weaken National Park policies and to open the parks to increased motorized recreation.

John Berry was recently appointed to the ARC's Outdoor Resources Review Group. Having Berry appointed Interior Secretary would be a phenomenal coup for the ARC.

John Berry was the Department of Interior's Recreation Fee Demonstration point-person. In that capacity Berry worked closely with the ARC's President, Derrick Crandall. Crandall was a chief proponent of this immensely unpopular and contentions program.  Click to read Congressional testimony by both Berry and Crandall.

John Berry is the ONLY candidate now in the running who would be receptive to the pressures exerted by the American Recreation Coalition -- and those pressures promote the privatization, commercialization and motorization of recreational opportunities in the National Parks and other public lands.

ARC, I might add, was a highly visible and staunch supporter of the nominations of Interior Secretaries  James Watt, Donald Hodel and Gale Norton. No one who loves the great outdoors should accept as Interior Secretary any nominee favored by the ARC.

Barack Obama was elected because he promised to bring change.  John Berry's appointment would ensure continuity of the ARC's dominance over recreation policies. Is this the "change" Mr. Obama promised us?  I hope not!!!

Pasted immediately below is the most current information I have in my possession.  Below that you is contact information for the Obama Transition team, should you wish to weight in. Time is of the essence so please do not delay.

Scott

--- my sources say ---

    This is bad news indeed - I would still encourage you to think about getting feedback directly into the Obama team about your concerns with Berry - they don't want controversial people - or get those concerns to some of the congressional delegates who have championed against fee demo and ask them to spread the word about these concerns.

    Word I heard at my meeting was that Grijalva and Thompson were fading and that Berry was rising.   I don't have any sense of where the big nationals stand, but I would encourage you to try to get this out beyond the usual crowd and make the transition team uncomfortable with the idea. I don't think you have much time - he'll have to be announcing Interior and Ag soon.

--- contact information for the Obama Transition Team ---

John Podesta, Obama Transition Team Head
e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Fax 202-682-1867

Greg Nelson - liaison to Mr. Podesta
e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Fax 202-443-4724

Webforms:
http://change.gov/page/content/contact/
http://change.gov/page/s/energyenviro

Voice:  202-540-3000, then dial 2

Comments (1) >>

Linda Navroth said:

Here's where to go to voice your opposition/outrage: http://change.gov/page/content/contact/ I just did! Berry is hardly a step up from the disastrous tenure of "Dirty" Dick Kempthorne. Write Obama NOW!!! What are you waiting for?

December 15, 2008

Write comment

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment