Patricia Lynn Scarlett
Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget, Department of the Interior

Then: In 1979, Scarlett began working for the libertarian Reason Foundation, becoming its president and CEO in 2001. The Reason Foundation is funded by industry groups such as the American Forest and Paper Association, the American Petroleum Institute, American Plastics Council, Chevron Corporation, Dow Chemical, etc. The author of "A Consumer's Guide to Environmental Myths and Realities," Scarlett cites the following as common myths about the environment: Disposables Are Bad; We Are Running Out of Resources; Americans Are Especially Wasteful; etc. Scarlett was a board member of The Thoreau Institute which "seeks ways to protect the environment without regulation, bureaucracy, or central control." Odd how she's now working in a central agency charged, in part, with regulating the environment.

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In a 1997 editorial in Reason Magazine, Scarlett wrote, "Environmentalism is a coherent ideology that rivals Marxism in its challenge to the classic liberal view of government as protector of individual rights."

Now: Since Gale Norton has been doing her best to keep a low profile, Scarlett has increasingly become the public face of the department, particularly on Capitol Hill. She's behind the proposed privitazation of National Park Service jobs, which environmentalists oppose, and has led the administration's opposition to making the Gaviota Coast of California into a National Seashore. Scarlett's explanation: she feels the Vandenberg Air Force Base officials and local agricultural interests will do a fine job of caring for the land on their own.

© 2003 The Foundation for National Progress

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