Kathleen Clarke
Director, Bureau of Land Management

Then: Clarke is yet another western land manager with close ties to Republican lawmakers. For three years before being tapped to run the BLM, Clarke served as director of Utah's Department of Natural Resources, where she quickly became a favorite of the state's mining and drilling industry. Clarke was appointed to that office by Gov. Mike Leavitt, in whose office she had served as an aide. Clarke had also served for six years on the staff of Rep. Jim Hansen (R-Utah).

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Now: When she was named to head the BLM, Clarke promised to recuse herself from "any official matters [that] involve BLM and the state of Utah." But, according to the Interior Department's own Office of the Inspector General, Clarke may have violated this promise by participating in a controversial proposal in which the BLM undervalued 135,000 acres of public land it was trying to swap with the state of Utah by $116 million. Critics contend that the swap -- promoted by both Leavitt and Hansen -- was designed to benefit business interests.

In a speech to the Society for Range Management in February 2003, Clarke mused, "Some of you may remember fondly the days when BLM was called the, or referred to, as the Bureau of Livestock and Mining, and based on what's happened in the last decade, some people thinks it's much closer to the Bureau of Landscapes and Monuments. But I'm here today to tell you we're still interested in multiple use and my motivation for coming to this Agency was to secure that mission."

© 2003 The Foundation for National Progress

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