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Is Cheney a plus for the West? CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Western leaders were split on whether the GOP vice presidential choice of Wyoming’s Dick Cheney would help or hurt the region, particularly on long-disputed land and environmental issues.
Added Rick Robitaille, another GOP delegate and director of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming: “I guess it would be nice to have somebody at that level in the White House.” That’s exactly what worries Larry Mehlhaff, Wyoming regional director the Sierra Club. He said Cheney has always had very close ties to the oil industry, most recently as chairman of a Texas-based oil engineering and construction firm. Mehlhaff said Cheney’s record as a Wyoming congressman includes votes against requiring oil companies to report on toxic emissions and against the Clean Water Act. “His record is very pro-industry to the extent it would be a harm to the environment,” he said. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said George W. Bush’s selection of the conservative Cheney was nothing more than a political concession to the far right. “It’s a typical Bush choice,” Reid said. “He doesn’t want to rock the boat. He wants to make sure he doesn’t offend anybody in the right, right wing of the Republican Party.” “That’s why he doesn’t go with Tom Ridge or somebody most people think would add some dynamism to the ticket,” he said in a telephone interview from Washington. Reid said he doesn’t believe Bush was ever seriously considering the Pennsylvania Gov. Ridge or others from the party’s moderate wing. “It shows they know they have a bunch of crazies in their party, and they can’t do anything to lose any support within the party. If they do that, it’s history for them,” he said. But Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said rural Westerners would benefit from the pick. “Dick Cheney is a conservative. There is no question about that,” said Craig, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on forests. “For the West, it is an extremely important choice.” Cheney was deputy assistant to President Ford in 1974-75, White House chief of staff 1975-76 and served in Congress for Wyoming from 1979 until 1989 when he accepted the secretary of defense post under President Bush. “He’s got solid credentials,” said Gibbons, an Air Force pilot who served in the Persian Gulf War while Cheney was defense secretary. “He brings a much needed support level in foreign policy to the Bush administration. ... And he comes from Wyoming out West so he understands our issues.” Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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