Bruce Babbitt

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Bruce Babbitt


order=47th
title=United States Secretary of the Interior
term_start=January 22, 1993
term_end=January 2, 2001
predecessor=Manuel Lujan Jr.
successor=Gale Norton
president=Bill Clinton
order2=20th
title2=Governor of Arizona
term_start2=March 4, 1978
term_end2=January 6, 1987
predecessor2=Wesley Bolin
successor2=Evan Mecham
birth_date=birth date and age|1938|6|27
birth_place=Los Angeles, California
death_date=
death_place=
party=Democratic
religion=Roman Catholic

Bruce Edward Babbitt (born June 27, 1938), a Democrat, served as United States Secretary of the Interior and as Governor of Arizona.

Biography

Born in Los Angeles, California, Babbitt graduated from the University of Notre Dame, and attended Newcastle University in England on a Marshall Scholarship, and then received his law degree at Harvard Law School.

He married attorney Harriet Coons (known as Hattie) in 1968. Mr. and Mrs. Babbitt have two sons, Christopher and T.J.

Babbitt's brother, Paul Babbitt, was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 2004.

Political career

Arizona

Babbitt was elected Attorney General of Arizona, but succeeded Wesley Bolin as governor when Bolin died in office on March 4, 1978. Babbitt was elected for a full 4 year term later that year, and again in 1982. In all, Babbitt served as governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1987.

National work

In 1979, Babbitt was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve as a Commissioner on the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island, a six month investigation of the March, 1979 accident at a commercial nuclear power plant at Middletown, Pennsylvania. Babbitt spoke at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, which nominated incumbent Jimmy Carter as the Democratic candidate for President.

A founding member of the Democratic Leadership Council and the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association in 1985, Babbitt sought the Democratic Party's 1988 nomination for President of the United States. Among his proposals was a national sales tax to remedy the then-record budget deficits piled up during the several past administrations. He enjoyed positive press attention (called a "boomlet" in USA Today), but after finishing out of the top tier of candidates in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire Primary, he dropped out of the race. In an intentional reference to Richard Nixon (who said after losing the California governorship that the press "won't have [me] to kick around anymore"), Babbitt joked in his last campaign press conference that the media "won't have Bruce Babbitt to puff up anymore."Fact|date=June 2007

Clinton Administration

After leading the League of Conservation Voters, Babbitt served for eight years, 1993-2001, as the United States Secretary of the Interior during Bill Clinton's administration.

As Secretary of the Interior, Babbitt actively worked to protect scenic and historic areas of America's federal public lands. In 2000, Babbitt created the National Landscape Conservation System, a collection of 15 national monuments and 14 national conservation areas to be managed by the Bureau of Land Management in such a way as to keep them "healthy, open, and wild." [http://www.wilderness.org/OurIssues/Monuments/nlcs_key.cfm]

In 1993, Babbitt was very seriously considered by President Clinton to replace retiring United States Supreme Court Justice Byron White. However, due to his lead in environmental issues, Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead. Clinton again considered Babbitt for the high court in 1994 when Harry Blackmun announced his retirement. Babbitt was passed over again, this time in favor of Stephen Breyer, due to Breyer's immense support in the U.S. Senate, primarily because he was close to Sen. Ted Kennedy.Fact|date=September 2007

In 1998 he was the subject of a federal grand jury investigation into whether he had lied to Congress about having denied an Indian casino license in Wisconsin in return for political donations. The controversy has been called Wampumgate. The following year, Babbitt was cleared of wrongdoing in the special prosecutor's final report on the investigation. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/babbitt101499.htm]

Post-political life

After leaving the Department of Interior, Babbitt took a job as chief counsel of the environmental litigation department of Latham & Watkins, a large international law firm.

Babbitt wrote a book in 2005 entitled "Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America", where he proposes, among other things, to amend the Endangered Species Act so that it is used to identify, conserve and protect landscapes, watersheds and ecosystems whether or not an endangered species happens to be there. Making a parallel with preventive medicine, he thinks it should promote the protection of open space and ecosystems before the downward spiral to extinction begins.

Babbitt has attracted the ire of some environmentalists and Native American groups for, among other things, his representation of Arizona Snowbowl ski resort and its effort to expand the resort and use wastewater to make artificial snow [http://www.savethepeaks.org/babbitt.html] .

He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the World Wildlife Fund in the U.S.

References

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june01/babbitt_01-05.html Exit Interview]