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WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2003

The Democrat Party's strategy to make the environment an issue for voters includes criticism of Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, The New York Times reports.

Griles, the second-in-command at the Department of Interior, has been the target of an internal ethics inquiry. Democrats and environmentalists say he violated a recusal agreement not to meet with former clients from the energy and mining industry.

Of being made a symbol of the Bush administration's close ties to the industry, Griles told The New York Times: "Those who make such predictable statements ignore the facts and what we at Interior have been saying publicly: energy and development and protecting the environment are not mutually exclusive."

Griles is getting paid more than $1 million over the next four years from his old lobbying firm.

Get the Story:
Democratic Field Tries to Add Punch to Environment Issue (The New York Times 7/2)
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Relevant Links:
Interior Department Watchdog, Friends of the Earth - http://www.foe.org/camps/eco/interior/index.html

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