College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs at Andrus Center’s Cecil Andrus and John Freemuth Comment on Obama Western Land Policy
The Idaho Statesman ran an article about probable land-use policies under the Obama Administration. Political Science and Public Administration Professor John Freemuth said he hoped for the absence of another “sagebrush rebellion:”
The people placed not only at the secretary level but at jobs like U.S. Forest Service chief and BLM director will signal how well western Democrats are heard by Obama, said John Freemuth, a Boise State University political scientist who specializes on public land issues. Ultimately, Westerners themselves will decide.
“We’ll see that the Obama Administration has gone in a different direction if we don’t see another Sagebrush Rebellion,” Freemuth said.
Former Governor and Andrus Center Chairman Cecil Andrus predicted a thoughtful approach from President-Elect Obama:
But there is a tension between environmentalists who want him to reverse decisions made by the Bush Administration and Western Democrats who hope Obama’s pledge to govern in a “post-partisan” manner means he will bring a collaborative approach to public land issues.
“He’s not going to make some of the mistakes of the past,” said Cecil Andrus, former Idaho governor and Jimmy Carter’s Interior Secretary. “He knows his history.”
View the entire Statesman article here.
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