Kerry draws on family and Clinton admin folks for environmental advice
Check out MSNBC for a handy roster of John Kerry’s top advisers on the environment. At the center of his advisory circle is family, namely wife Teresa and stepson Andre Heinz. Teresa — who first met Kerry at an Earth Day rally — serves on the boards of several enviro organizations and has used her inherited ketchup fortune to fund numerous environmental initiatives. Andre, as Grist readers will already know, has worked on environmental issues his whole adult life. Filling out the list are numerous Clinton policy hands, including Bruce Babbitt (former interior secretary), Carol Browner (former EPA chief), and David Hayes (former deputy interior secretary). Aside from Deb Callahan, head of the League of Conservation Voters, few leaders of national enviro groups give counsel directly to the candidate, perhaps because the Kerry campaign doesn’t want to appear “too green.” Interestingly, Al Gore had more enviro figures on the inside of his campaign, yet he spoke less frequently about environmental issues than Kerry — and he was still tarred as “extremist” on the environment.
