Trump Pres Bak

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<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">kochs opposed, but dialed in via ryan, preibus? and pence (short)</font></div>

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<div><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/13/trump-taps-montana-congressman-ryan-zinke-as-interior-secretary/"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/13/trump-taps-montana-congressman-ryan-zinke-as-interior-secretary/</font></a></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump taps Montana congressman Ryan Zinke as interior secretary</b></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Juliet Eilperin December 13 at 6:12 PM </font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s Transition: Who is Ryan Zinke? Embed  Share Play Video1:44</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) to head the Department of the Interior. Here’s what you need to know about him. (Bastien Inzaurralde, Danielle Kunitz, Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President-elect Trump has tapped GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke, who has represented Montana’s at-large congressional seat for one term, to serve as secretary of the Department of the Interior, according to an individual with first-hand knowledge of the decision.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zinke, who studied geology as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon and served as a Navy SEAL from 1986 to 2008 before entering politics, campaigned for his House seat on a platform of achieving North American energy independence. He sits on the House Natural Resources Committee as well as the Armed Services Committee.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A lifelong hunter and fisherman, the 55-year-old Zinke has defended public access to federal lands even though he frequently votes against environmentalists on issues ranging from coal extraction to oil and gas drilling. This summer, he quit his post as a member of the GOP platform-writing committee after the group included language that would have transferred federal land ownership to the states.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Trump taps former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to head Energy Department he once vowed to abolish]</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“What I saw was a platform that was more divisive than uniting,” Zinke said at the time. “At this point, I think it’s better to show leadership.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump also opposes such land transfers, but the provision made it into the official Republican platform.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zinke recently criticized an Interior Department rule aimed at curbing inadvertent releases of methane from oil and gas operations on federal land as “duplicative and unnecessary.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Clean air and clean water are absolute top priorities when we talk about responsible energy development, however the final rule issued by the Obama administration does nothing to further protect our resources,” he said in a statement. “This rule is a stark reminder that we need to invest in infrastructure projects like the Keystone pipeline, so we don’t need to flare excess gas.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Environmentalists and scientists brace for a future clash with Trump]</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>During his time in Congress, Zinke has established a 3 percent voting score with the League of Conservation Voters.</b> But he has broken ranks with the panel’s GOP majority on occasion, opposing a measure by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) that would have allowed each state to buy up to 2 million in U.S. Forest Service land to boost timber production. He has also pushed for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a high priority for outdoors groups.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Land Tawney, president and CEO of the Montana-based Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, described Zinke on Tuesday as “a straight shooter” who has established credibility with outdoors enthusiasts in the state. During a recent meeting with him at a distillery in Whitefish, the congressman’s hometown, Zinke walked into the place in flip-flops.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You wouldn’t know he’s a congressman,” Tawney said. “He really prides himself on being a Theodore Roosevelt Republican, and he lives that a little bit more than other people.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Scientists are frantically copying U.S. climate data, fearing it might vanish under Trump]</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Outdoors activities such as mountain biking and skiing are a major economic driver in Whitefish as well as in Montana overall, where roughly 200,000 residents have big-game hunting licenses and 300,000 have fishing licenses. Zinke, who has been endorsed by the Outdoor Industry Association, has embraced that sector of the state’s economy.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Hunting and fishing isn’t something we do in Montana, it’s a way of life,” said Tawney, a fifth-generation Montanan.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership President Whit Fosburgh, whose hunters and anglers group has worked with Zinke, said in an interview that it would be “very supportive of Ryan Zinke” as a Cabinet nominee.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“He’s shown courage and commitment to public lands and conservation and [is] someone we think would be an excellent secretary of Interior,” Fosburgh said.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Trump transition team for Energy Department seeks names of employees involved in climate meetings]</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s a look at Trump’s administration so far</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">View Photos<span class="Apple-tab-span" style=" white-space: pre;"> </span>The men and women the president-elect has selected for his Cabinet and White House team.</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Still, many environmental groups are unlikely to embrace Zinke, who opposes safeguards the Obama administration has provided for temporary wetlands and intermittent streams, as well as its temporary moratorium on coal leasing on federal land. While he supported subsidizing renewable energy programs and climate change legislation before being elected to the House, during a 2014 debate he said of climate change, “It’s not a hoax, but it’s not proven science either.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Zinke embodies the worst kind of magical thinking in Congress:</b> that government welfare handouts can save dying coal companies and crumbling oil and gas giants,” Greenpeace climate campaign specialist Diana Best said Tuesday. “The fact is, coal demand is shrinking globally, and people across America want a Department of the Interior that will protect our precious public lands in perpetuity. That means keeping them off-limits to fossil fuel production and recognizing that the world is moving forward.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While some Democrats are likely to oppose Zinke’s nomination, the pick does provide the party with one bit of good news: It removes a possible challenger to Sen. Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat who likely will face a tough reelection bid in 2018.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) was a leading contender for the Interior post in recent days, Zinke hit it off with Trump’s oldest son, Don Jr., an avid hunter, and met personally with the president-elect on Monday in New York City.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a Facebook post Tuesday evening, McMorris Rodgers wrote, “It was an honor to be invited to spend time with the President-elect, and I’m energized more than ever to continue leading in Congress as we think big, reimagine this government and put people back at the center of it.”</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In recent weeks, President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a growing list of Cabinet members who have questioned the overwhelming scientific consensus around global warming. His transition team at the Department of Energy has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/09/trump-transition-team-for-energy-department-seeks-names-of-employees-involved-in-climate-meetings/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">asked agency officials for names of employees and contractors</a> who have participated in international climate talks and worked on the scientific basis for Obama administration-era regulations of carbon emissions. One Trump adviser suggested that NASA <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/11/23/trump-adviser-proposes-dismantling-nasa-climate-research/?utm_term=.f3589786c7f8" style=" box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">no longer should conduct climate research</a> and instead should focus on space exploration.</font></div>

<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2016/12/02/trump-taps-steve-schwarzman-jamie-dimon-and-mary-barra-for-advice-on-job-creation-growth/#4ab5830b2174</font></div>

<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> no links</font></div>

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<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">DEC 2, 2016 @ 11:25 AM 11,342 VIEWS The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets</font></div>

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<div><b>Trump Taps Steve Schwarzman, Jamie Dimon And Mary Barra For Advice On Job Creation, Growth</b></div>

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<div>Antoine Gara ,  FORBES STAFF </div>

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<div>President-elect Donald J. Trump will be bringing the CEOs of America's biggest corporations, banks and investment firms to the White House to regularly hear out their perspectives on how to create jobs and improve growth for the U.S. economy.</div>

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<div>Trump has created what he calls the<b> 'President's Strategic and Policy Forum,' which will consist of 16 business leaders ranging from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, to GM's Mary Barra and Disney's Bob Iger and it will be chaired by Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire co-founder of private equity giant Blackstone Group.</b></div>

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<div>The business forum is intended to give the president-elect regular perspectives from major players in the private sector as he works to set a pro-business agenda focused on lowering taxes, stimulating growth and reducing red tape. It will first meet in early February and then hold gatherings on a "frequent" basis thereafter.</div>

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<div>Read More: How Jared Kushner Won Donald Trump The White House</div>

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<div>“This forum brings together CEOs and business leaders who know what it takes to create jobs and drive economic growth,” said Trump. “My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America," he added.</div>

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<div>Recommended by Forbes</div>

<div>MOST POPULAR Photos: The Richest Person In Every State</div>

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<div><b>The concept of bringing business leaders into Washington to strategize with the president isn't exactly novel. During President Obama's first term he created an Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which was followed in 2011 by the President's Council On Jobs And Competitiveness, chaired by General Electric GE +0.97% CEO Jeffrey Immelt.</b></div>

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<div><b>Other big name members of the president-elect's forum include </b><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock</span> BLK -0.78%, Doug McMillon, the recently appointed CEO of <b>Wal-Mart </b>Stores WMT -0.65%, Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM IBM +0.29%, and Toby Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic . The forum also includes plugged-in business people like Boston Consulting Group's Rich Lesser, EY's Mark Weinberger, IHS IHS +% Markit's Daniel Yergin, Adebayo Ogunlesi, chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners and Paul Atkins of Patomak Global Partners.<b> Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric and Jim McNerney, the former CEO of Boeing BA </b>+0.68% will also be in Trump's forum, as will former Fed governor Kevin Warsh.</div>

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<div>"Members of the Forum will be charged with providing their individual views to the President – informed by their unique vantage points in the private sector – on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation, and productivity," the Trump transition team said.</div>

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<div><b>Notably absent from Trump's initial list of forum members are Silicon Valley billionaires such as Facebook's FB +0.37% Mark Zuckerberg, </b>Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Wall Street is well represented with chieftains in banking, private equity and asset management, however, there are no hedge fund managers included.</div>

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<div>The move by Trump comes at a time when the president-elect is closing out cabinet picks and seeking to kickstart his business focused agenda.</div>

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<div>Earlier this week, Trump named former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin as his Treasury Secretary and billionaire Wilbur Ross as his Commerce Secretary. The Trump transition team will reportedly meet with Gary Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs, this weekend about an administration position.</div>

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<div>Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, is reportedly being considered for Secretary of State, in addition to Bain Capital founder Mitt Romney and General David Petraeus, chairman of the KKR Global Institute.</div>

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<div>Read More: Forbes' Cover Story On Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman</div>

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<div><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" font-family: ;"> Trump is likely to nominate fast food executive Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary. Puzder is the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which includes the burger chains Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. among its brands. </span></div>

<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">desmog</font></div>

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<p style=" margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of President-elect Donald Trump's most pressing current tasks is selecting who will serve in his new administration, especially his transition team and cabinet, though there are over <a href="https://www.greatagain.gov/news/help-wanted-4000-presidential-appointees.html" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">4,000 political appointees to hire for federal jobs</a> in all.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Much of the mainstream media attention so far has <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/president-elect-trumps-choice-for-chief-of-staff-said-to-be-imminent-210448401.html" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">centered around Trump's choices</a> of Republican National Committee head Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff and former Breitbart News <span class="caps">CEO</span> Steve Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor. Congressional Democrats have <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/democrats-demand-trump-rescind-steve-bannon-231422" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">called for Bannon to be banned</a> from the White House, citing his personal bigotry and the bigotry often on display on Breitbart.com. Meanwhile, Bannon's hire was <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/305912-kkk-american-nazi-party-praise-trumps-hiring-of-bannon" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">praised by the American Nazi Party and <span class="caps">KKK</span></a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet, perhaps just as troubling is the army of climate change deniers and fossil fuel industry lobbyists helping to pick or court a spot on Trump's future climate and energy team.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Trump is a climate change denier</a> and <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-climate-change-bunk-28c5c44cee#.fv2fppqso" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">so is Priebus</a>, who recently told Fox News that climate denial will be the “<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-climate-change-denial-white-house-reince-priebus-steve-bannon-a7446236.html" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">default position</a>” of the Trump administration.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the campaign cycle, DeSmog highlighted several of these people, including <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/29/donald-trump-kathleen-hartnett-white-climate-denier-epa" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Kathleen Hartnett White</a>, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/04/koch-fracking-climate-denier-mike-catanzaro-trump-energy-team" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Mike Catanzaro</a>, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/27/climate-science-denialist-myron-ebell-named-trump-adviser" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Myron Ebell</a> and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/06/harold-hamm-donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Harold Hamm</a>, as well as post-campaign for former head of Trump's Department of Energy transition team, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/16/drain-the-swamp-trump-mike-mckenna" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Mike McKenna</a> and his replacement <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/28/koch-funded-former-lobbyist-replaces-koch-lobbyist-trump-s-energy-transition-team" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Thomas Pyle</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of those names, such as Catanzaro and McKenna, have <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/11/lobbyists-leave-trump-transition-team-ethics-rule-231641" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">dropped out of the mix</a> as a result of Trump's so-called <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/donald-trumps-plan-to-drain-the-swamp/504569/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">“Drain the Swamp” ethics reform initiative</a> to reduce lobbyists' influence in <span class="caps">D.C.</span></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For starters, the “Drain the Swamp” plan calls for lobbyists on the Trump transition team to deregister as lobbyists, something Catanzaro and McKenna — both lobbyists for <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/koch-industries-inc" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Koch Industries</a> — have chosen not to do.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet everyone else who remains on Trump's likely climate and energy list, or is helping pick those positions, has ties to corporate lobbying, corporate leadership, or corporate-funded think tanks. This is despite the fact Trump ran on an explicit campaign promise to “drain the swamp” of lobbyist influence and corporate dominance of politics in Washington, <span class="caps">D.C.</span></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, who are these people under the most serious consideration to control the fate of environment and energy agencies in the Trump administration? And who is helping select those who will now work inside of the “swamp”? What jobs could they potentially fill or are they helping to fill? What are their backgrounds?</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here's a primer on ten of them.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>1) <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/myron-ebell" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Myron Ebell</a>.</strong> Donald Trump has chosen outspoken climate change denier Myron Ebell of the Koch Industries-funded <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/competitive-enterprise-institute" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Competitive Enterprise Institute (<span class="caps">CEI</span>)</a> to oversee his <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Environmental Protection Agency (<span class="caps">EPA</span>) transition team. Ebell, who is not a scientist, chairs the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/cooler-heads-coalition" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Cooler Heads Coalition</a>, a group of organizations which “question global warming alarmism and oppose energy rationing policies.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/11/meet-the-man-trump-is-relying-on-to-unravel-obamas-environmental-legacy/?utm_term=.c4945e14b516" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">encouraged the Senate</a> to vote to pull the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> out of its international climate commitments including the Paris Agreement. Ebell has celebrated his poor track record and low credibility ratings, as seen in a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161110174047/http://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20131016/101409/HHRG-113-GO00-Bio-EbellM-20131016.pdf" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">biography submitted before his testimony</a> in Congress that noted he and three of his <span class="caps">CEI</span> colleagues were featured in “A Field Guide to Climate Criminals” distributed by Greenpeace at the <span class="caps">UN</span> climate meeting in Montreal in December 2005. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong>2) <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/jeffrey-r-holmstead/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Jeff Holmstead</a>.</strong> </span>An attorney for the film Bracewell, Holmstead has served as a key anti-regulatory advocate on behalf of coal and utility industry clients and is <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-epa-idUSKBN13A2HC" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">in the running to head the <span class="caps">EPA</span></a>. Perhaps in anticipation of landing a job in the Trump administration, Holmstead has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/29/wave-of-lobbyist-deregistrations-in-trump-orbit-after-announcement-of-new-policy/?utm_term=.720f6ecb39e3" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">deregistered as a lobbyist</a>, per the “drain the swamp” rules. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before deregistering as a lobbyist, Holmstead's clients included the likes of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ameren" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Ameren</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Arch_Coal" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Arch Coal</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DTE_Energy" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><span class="caps">DTE</span> Energy</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Duke_Energy" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Duke Energy</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy_Future_Holdings" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Energy Future Holdings</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Southern_Company" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Southern Company</a>. Holmstead began his political career as the associate counsel to former President George <span class="caps">H.W.</span> Bush. After passing through the government-industry revolving door during the Bill Clinton White House years, Holmstead served as Assistant Administrator of the <span class="caps">EPA</span>'s Office of Air and Radiation under President George W. Bush.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At that point, “he played a key role in the George W. Bush administration's efforts to roll back clean air and climate change protections,” <a href="http://polluterwatch.com/jeffrey-holmstead" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">according to PolluterWatch</a>. Read the <a href="http://polluterwatch.com/jeffrey-holmstead" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Jeffrey Holmstead PolluterWatch profile</a> for a comprehensive look at his career.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>3) <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/thomas-pyle" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Thomas Pyle</a>.</strong> Pyle, President of the Koch-funded <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/institute-energy-research" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Institute for Energy Research</a> (<span class="caps">IER</span>) and its advocacy arm, the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-energy-alliance-aea" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">American Energy Alliance</a> (<span class="caps">AEA</span>), was picked by President-elect Trump to lead the transition team for the Department of Energy upon the departure of McKenna. He is also linked to the new Koch-funded front group, Fueling <span class="caps">US</span> Forward, which DeSmog has reported on <a href="http://www.kochvsclean.com/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">KochVsClean.com</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before joining <span class="caps">IER</span> and <span class="caps">AEA</span>, Pyle founded and ran Pyle Consulting, Inc., a lobbying and public relations firm. As a lobbyist, <a href="http://www.kochvsclean.com/thomas-pyle/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Tom Pyle</a> lobbied on behalf of the <a href="http://www.kochvsclean.com/afpm/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">American Fuel <span class="amp">&</span> Petrochemical Manufacturers</a> precursor, the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, and for Koch Industries.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>4) <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/kathleen-hartnett-white" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Kathleen Hartnett White</a>.</strong> White is the director of the Armstrong Center for Energy <span class="amp">&</span> the Environment at the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/texas-public-policy-foundation" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Texas Public Policy Foundation (<span class="caps">TPPF</span>)</a>, a group <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/revealed-the-corporations-and-billionaires-that-fund-the-texas-public-policy-foundation/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">funded</a> by ExxonMobil, the Koch network, and the <span class="caps">R.J.</span> Reynolds Tobacco Company. A <a href="https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/jasperserver-pro/flow.html?flowId=viewReportFlow&standAlone=true&flowId=viewReportFlow&ParentFolderUri/public/publicData&reportUnit=/public/publicData/datasource/Lobby/ByLobbySimpleNoClients&decorate=no&FirstName=kathleen&LastEntityName=white&Year=2016&City=&Zip=&FilerID=&CompLevel=&tec-pp=u=PUBLIC2" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">registered lobbyist in Texas</a>, she directs the <span class="caps">TPPF</span>'s “Fueling Freedom” project, which seeks to “explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels” while “building a multi-state coalition to push back against the <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s unconstitutional efforts to take over the electric power sector by regulating <span class="caps">CO</span>2 via the Clean Power Plan.” The project further seeks to “end the regulation of <span class="caps">CO</span>2 as a pollutant.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White recently published a book titled <em>Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy</em> and has referred to the <span class="caps">EPA</span> as the “<a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/283931-restrain-the-imperial-epa" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">imperial <span class="caps">EPA</span></a>.” She is under consideration as either the head of the <span class="caps">EPA</span> or the White House Council on Environmental Quality (<span class="caps">CEQ</span>). Before working at <span class="caps">TPPF</span>, White worked as chairman and commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Prior to 2001, she served as then-Governor George W. Bush's appointee to the Texas Water Development Board. Texas environmentalists assert White would be a <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-environmentalist-kathleen-hartnett-white-disaster-epa-chief/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">“disaster” as <span class="caps">EPA</span> chief</a>. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>5) Harold Hamm.</strong> A <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)</a> oil baron, as well as founder and <span class="caps">CEO</span> of <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/15658" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Continental Resources</a>, Hamm is a <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060046123" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">leading candidate for <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Secretary of Energy</a>. Politico dubbed Hamm as Trump's “<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trumps-energy-whisperer-225877" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">energy whisperer</a>.” Hamm <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-hamm-romney-profile-idUSBRE88J12L20120921" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">was formerly a big pusher</a> of TransCanada's Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> pipeline, creating a lobbying coalition which sought to have a Bakken Shale oil “on-ramp” portion added to the northern leg of the controversial pipeline.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As DeSmog first reported, Continental Resources has a <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/06/harold-hamm-donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">stake in the transport of oil through the Dakota Access pipeline</a>, currently the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">target of months-long demonstrations</a> led by Native Americans in North Dakota. A <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/president-elect-trump-announces-presidentialinaugural-committee-leader" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">member of Trump's Presidential Inaugural Committee</a>, Hamm <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6NmkiXMe0I" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention</a> (<span class="caps">RNC</span>) in Cleveland, Ohio, and also served as energy adviser for Mitt Romney's 2012 Republican presidential campaign.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reuters reported Trump presidential campaign energy adviser <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-<span class="caps">ND</span>) as saying <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-energy-hamm-idUSKBN1392AU" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Hamm “has the right of first refusal” </a>for the Energy Secretary spot. It appears Hamm has bowed out of the running, though, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/01/trump-should-pick-rep-kevin-cramer-as-energy-secretary-over-me-harold-hamm-says.html" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">telling <span class="caps">CNBC</span> he already had a full-time job</a> running Continental Resources and suggesting Cramer is the right guy for the job.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong>6) Heidi Heitkamp.</strong> A Democratic <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Senator from North Dakota,</span> <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/usa-trump-heitkamp-idINL1N1DW1YN" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Heitkamp will meet</a> with Pence and Trump to discuss the Energy Secretary and Interior Secretary openings in a meeting requested by Trump. Heitkamp is an <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2012/09/north-dakota-dem-takes-palin-approach-on-energy-080747" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">outspoken supporter of fracking</a> and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP2sPuoVR8s" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> pipeline</a>, as well as a <a href="http://www.bna.com/dakota-access-pipeline-b57982077297/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">cautious supporter of the Dakota Access pipeline</a>, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01122016/donald-trump-keystone-xl-pipeline-nebraska-climate-change" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">both</a> of <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-pipeline-idUSKBN13Q609" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">which</a> Trump has come out in support of. She is also a <a href="https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/energy" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">major coal supporter</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Politico described her as someone who “<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2012/09/north-dakota-dem-takes-palin-approach-on-energy-080747" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">takes [the] Palin approach on energy</a>.” </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style=" margin-left: 0px;">“</span>I think ‘Drill, Baby Drill’ is the way we need to do it,” <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2012/09/north-dakota-dem-takes-palin-approach-on-energy-080747" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Heitkamp has said</a>. “This is an area where I have vehemently disagreed with the [Obama] administration. They’ve walked away from coal. They’re hostile to oil.” She has dismissed concerns about fracking as “<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2012/09/north-dakota-dem-takes-palin-approach-on-energy-080747" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">junk science</a>.” Throughout her Senate career, Heitkamp has received $257,379 in <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&type=I&cid=N00033782&newMem=N&recs=20" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">campaign contributions</a> from the oil and gas industry and $121,900 from the electricity utility industries.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>7) Joe Manchin. </strong>A Democratic <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Senator from West Virginia, Manchin is best known as an outspoken supporter of the coal industry and he is <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/12/trump-joe-manchin-for-energy-secretary-232068" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">under consideration</a> as a potential Energy Secretary. He “is being considered to show the coal people how serious Trump is about coal,” a <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/12/trump-joe-manchin-for-energy-secretary-232068" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">source told Politico</a>. Throughout his Senate career, Manchin has <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&type=I&cid=N00032838&newMem=N&recs=20" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">received</a> $685,698 from the coal mining industry, $444,450 from the electric utilities industry and another $284,150 from the oil and gas industry.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Having bashed President Barack Obama for <a href="https://www.manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=e352d7be-2dd9-4b73-9f10-701060bc3ac6" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">waging a purported “war on coal,”</a> Manchin<a href="https://www.manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=e352d7be-2dd9-4b73-9f10-701060bc3ac6" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"> said in a 2013 press release</a>, “It is only common sense to use all our domestic resources, and that includes our coal.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong>8) Mary Fallin.</strong> </span>The Republican governor of Oklahoma and a <a href="http://newsok.com/gov.-fallin-named-to-trump-transition-team/article/5528996" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">vice chair on Trump's transition team</a>, Fallin resides in a governor's mansion sharing a land plot with the shadow lobbying group, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/iogcc-interstate-oil-gas-lobbying-compact" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (<span class="caps">IOGCC</span>)</a>, which she <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Interstate_Oil_and_Gas_Compact_Commission" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">has twice headed up</a>. The Oklahoma State Capitol has an <a href="http://midwestwanderer.com/oklahoma-state-capitol/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">oil derrick on the front lawn</a> and its dome was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/28/oklahoma-abortion-transgender-bathroom-bill-mary-fallin" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">funded by oil companies such as ConocoPhillips</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fallin, who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/oklahoma-gov-mary-fallin-speaks-with-press-after-trump-meeting/2016/11/21/a34a8d7c-b00b-11e6-bc2d-19b3d759cfe7_video.html" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">met with Trump at Trump Tower in New York City</a> for a job interview, is <a href="http://kfor.com/2016/11/30/report-mary-fallin-is-leading-candidate-for-secretary-of-the-interior-for-trump-administration/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">considered a top prospect</a> to head the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Department of Interior. An <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060021388" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">avid supporter of fracking</a> and <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2015/06/01/gov-fallin-signs-bill-to-prevent-towns-cities-and-counties-from-banning-fracking/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">opponent of localities having any say</a> over the process, Fallin <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-oklahoma-rise-in-quakes-linked-to-man-made-causes-2/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">formerly denied a connection</a> between fracking waste injection wells and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-04/oklahoma-quake-matches-record-even-as-fracking-waste-restricted" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">earthquakes which have enveloped the Sooner State</a>. Also a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk5zsbeJaFw" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">speaker</a> at the 2016 <span class="caps">RNC</span> in Cleveland, Fallin introduced an “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oklahoma-oilfield-prayer-day_us_57fdc266e4b0d505a46b0a98" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Oilfield Prayer Day</a>” resolution in 2016 and was a major recipient of oil and gas industry campaign contributions both as Oklahoma <a href="http://followthemoney.org/show-me?c-t-eid=6583584&d-cci=33" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">gubernatorial candidate</a> and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00027781&type=I" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><span class="caps">U.S.</span> House of Representatives candidate</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>9) Forrest Lucas. </strong>The founder and <span class="caps">CEO</span> of petroleum products company <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Oil" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Lucas Oil</a> and namesake of the Indianapolis Colts' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Oil_Stadium" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Lucas Oil Stadium</a>, Lucas has also been <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/news/wont-believe-trumps-short-lister-011723166.html" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">floated as a potential Secretary of the Interior</a>. Lucas Oil has a <a href="http://lucasoil.com/facilities/369-lucas-oil-corydon" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">manufacturing facility in Corydon, Indiana</a>, in the home state of Vice President-elect (and Indiana Governor) Mike Pence.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>10)</strong> <strong>Rex Tillerson/Lee Raymond.</strong> Joe Scarborough — host of the <span class="caps">MSNBC</span> show “Morning Joe” — has <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/308363-scarborough-trump-considering-exxon-ceo-for-secretary-of-state" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">reported</a> that sources have told him the Trump transition team is mulling hiring either the <span class="caps">CEO</span> or former <span class="caps">CEO</span> of ExxonMobil to serve as <span class="caps">U.S.</span>Secretary of State. Tillerson currently serves as <span class="caps">CEO</span> of Exxon, while Raymond served as his predecessor. Exxon is the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurengensler/2016/05/26/global-2000-worlds-largest-oil-and-gas-companies/#c316f3118d9e" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">largest oil and gas company on the planet</a>, and has said it does not consider itself an American company and has no particular loyalty to the country in which it was founded and in which it is headquartered, as revealed in investigative journalist Steve Coll's 2012 book, <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Private-Empire-ExxonMobil-American-Power/dp/0143123548" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power</a></em>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exxon is currently <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExxonMobil_climate_change_controversy#State_and_federal_investigations" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">under a multi-state Attorneys General investigation</a> for potential securities fraud and defrauding the public on climate change by <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/exxonmobil-funding-climate-science-denial" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">funding a climate denial network</a>, though its in-house scientists had done <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">some of the first groundbreaking research</a> on climate change. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump has come <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-russia-vladimir-putin-swing-states-228930" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">under fire for his posture</a> toward and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/08/trump-attacks-u-s-foreign-policy-political-press-corps-in-state-owned-russian-television-network/?utm_term=.9ddff80434c9" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">remarks</a> about Russia <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37303057" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">and its president, Vladimir Putin</a>, while some Democratic <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Senators <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/30/senators-hint-russian-interference-us-presidential-election" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">have written a letter</a> saying they have “additional information concerning the Russian government and the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> election that should be declassified and released to the public.” As it turns out, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2014/03/17/exxonmobil-russia-rosneft-gas-export-weapon" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">Exxon maintains close business ties</a> with Russian state-owned company Rosneft, as reported on DeSmog at the start of the Crimea crisis in Ukraine.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If nominated to a Cabinet position, both chambers of the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Congress must vote to confirm the nominee. A <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/joe-manchin-may-be-trumps-energy-chief/article/2608660?custom_click=rss" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;">source told the Washington Examiner</a> that Trump will announce his <span class="caps">EPA</span> and <span class="caps">DOE</span> leadership picks next week. </font></p>

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<p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style=" padding: 5px 0px 5px 20px; margin-top: 20px;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/following-the-money-of-trumps-treasury-hopefuls/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Secretary of Treasury</font></a>

<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/no-secretary-of-state-prospect-donated-to-trump/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Secretary of State</font></a>

<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/pentagon-pick-could-have-deep-influence-on-trump/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Secretary of Defense</font></a>

<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/hhs-contenders-a-crop-of-politicians-with-major-funding-from-health-sector/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Secretary of Health and Human Services</font></a>

<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/red-state-conservatives-vie-for-ag-slot/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Secretary of Agriculture</font></a>

<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/donors-who-are-anti-nafta-in-the-running-for-commerce/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Secretary of Commerce</font></a>

<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/__interior/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Secretary of the Interior</font></a>

<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/12/betsy-devos-big-giving-relatives-family-qualifies-gop-royalty/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Secretary of Education</font></a></p>

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<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/__interior/</font></p>

<p style=" padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While names were announced for a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/politics/donald-trump-administration.html?r=1" target="blank" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">slew of appointments</a> to President-elect Donald Trump’s administration last week, there are still some significant posts left — like running the Interior Department, which is in charge of wildlife and natural resources.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil execs and other pro-development types seem to be the leading contenders here, meaning it’s likely that the department will be taking a drastic shift away from its focus of the last few years on conservation and renewable energy.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Robert E. Grady:</b> The former George H.W. Bush speechwriter and policy advisor who ran the Office of Management and Budget’s unit on natural resources, energy and science, Grady is best known in the environmental world for his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/15/with-pen-bush-to-seal-administration-split-on-clean-air-act/777bc409-ad08-44e2-b57f-5c9ca72c6a84/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">key role</a> in negotiating amendments to push through the Clean Air Act of 1990. Though the administration championed the law for reining in acid rain and toxic pollutants, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/25/weekinreview/the-nation-the-environmental-impact-of-president-bush.html" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">environmental groups argued</a> that some of the administration’s provisions blunted its effect.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Currently a partner at private equity fund Gryphon Investors, Grady has donated a relatively modest $218,667 to federal politicians, including $5,400 to Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00030980&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Kelly Ayotte</a> (R-N.H.), $1,500 each to House Speaker <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00004357&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Paul Ryan</a> (R-Wis.) and his leadership PAC and $1,000 to Trump this year. In 2012, he donated $7,500 to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and $35,000 his joint fundraising committee.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Grady is also a <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/02/25/christie-confidant-grady-private-equity/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">longtime aide</a> to New Jersey Gov. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pres16/candidate.php?id=N00037008" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Chris Christie</a> and a former chairman of the New Jersey Investment Council, overseeing the $81 billion public pension fund.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Grady’s name has also surfaced to run the Energy Department or the Environmental Protection Agency.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Forrest Lucas:</b> The sponsor of a number of racing events who also won naming rights to the Indianapolis Colts’ home stadium, the founder and president of Lucas Oil is a familiar face in his home state Indiana. His appointment would be widely hailed by the oil and gas industry, which has battled conservationists in the Obama administration.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Employees of <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000062227&cycle=A" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Lucas Oil Products</a> (including Lucas himself) have donated a total of $965,486 since 2002 to federal candidates and committees; this year’s biggest beneficiary was GOP Indiana Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00030891&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Marlin Stutzman</a>, who had an unfruitful senatorial campaign.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Indiana oilman has also taken on a big role <a href="http://protecttheharvest.com/who-we-are/mission-statement/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">protecting</a> farmers, ranchers and outdoor enthusiasts from threats posed by “animal rights groups” and “anti-farming extremists,” such as the Humane Society of the United States.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His 501(c)(4) nonprofit group <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/political-nonprofits/summary?id=453551569" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Protect the Harvest</a> is a driving force of the anti-animal rights effort, spending nearly $1.9 million since 2010. The social welfare group has laid out <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2016&strID=C00563825" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">$246,297</a> for federal political ads in the past two election cycles, including $53,500 supporting Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00005195&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Roy Blunt</a> (R-Mo.) this year.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Missouri Pork PAC, Missouri Cattlemen Association and Missouri Pork Producers are among the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00563825" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">top donors</a> to the nonprofit, and Lucas himself has given it $298,000.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?sort=D&name=forrest%2Blucas&state=&zip=&employ=&cand=&soft=&cycle=All" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Lucas</a> and his wife <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?sort=D&name=Charlotte%2BLucas&state=&zip=&employ=&cand=&soft=&cycle=All" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Charlotte Lucas</a>, who co-founded Lucas Oil, have donated a total of $752,272 over the years, including $197,054 this cycle. Trump’s joint fundraising committee, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00612903&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Trump Victory Fund</a>, got $25,000 of that.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two years ago, Lucas took out <a href="http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/10/09/forrest-lucas-apologizes-ad-wifes-comments-minorities/16961945/" target="_blank" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">a full-page ad</a> in the <em>Indianapolis Star </em>apologizing for a Facebook post by his wife that read, “I’m sick and tired of minorities running our country! As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think that atheists (minority), <span id="misspelledmuslims" class="misspelled">muslims</span> (minority)n or any other minority group has the right to tell the majority of the people in the United States what they can and cannot do here.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the apology, Lucas said his wife’s comments were “harsh and insensitive,” although he said she did not intend to offend anyone.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Harold G. Hamm: </b>The Continental Resources chief executive who just became the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/2/#version:realtime" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">54th richest person</a> in the world with personal net worth of $15.4 billion, Hamm was a key energy policy advisor to Romney four years ago and has played a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trumps-energy-whisperer-225877" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">similar role</a> for Team Trump this year.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He was the mastermind in shaping Trump’s campaign pledge to revive the <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-keystone-canada-energy-224204" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Keystone XL oil pipeline project</a> with TransCanada — rejected by Obama last year — with the condition that North Dakota oil get a bigger share of space in the pipeline. Hamm’s Continental Resources is a major player in the North Dakota oil scene.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also being considered for the Energy Department spot, the man Trump calls the “king of energy,” holds the view that the U.S. has abundant oil  <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-a-north-dakota-oil-billionaire-is-helping-shape-trumps-views-on-energy/2016/06/06/e6f101d0-2822-11e6-ae4a-3cdd5fe74204_story.html" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">“abundance” view</a>on the oil reserve issue, and has criticized Obama’s focus on domestic renewable energy as indirect <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trumps-energy-whisperer-225877" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">support</a> for Islamic terrorism by making the United States rely on Middle Eastern oil.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?sort=D&name=harold%2Bhamm&state=OK&zip=&employ=&cand=&soft=&cycle=All" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">fracking mogul</a> and his wife <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?sort=D&name=Sue%2BHamm&state=OK&zip=&employ=&cand=&soft=&cycle=All" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Sue Ann Hamm</a> have donated nearly $1.9 million to federal candidates and committees over the years, including $5,000 to Romney’s campaign and $985,000 to pro-Romney super PAC <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00490045&cycle=2012" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Restore our Future</a>in 2012.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This year, he donated $5,400 to <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00004357&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Ryan</a>, $2,600 to Senate Majority Leader <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00003389&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Mitch McConnell</a> (R-Ky.) and $1,000 to Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00030612&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Marco Rubio</a> (R-Fla.), as well as $5,400 to Trump.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/us/dakota-access-pipeline-protesters-police.html?_r=0" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">tensions</a> have fired up in North Dakota as demonstrators clash with the police over the contested Dakota Access Pipeline, which is <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/06/harold-hamm-donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">expected to</a> carry oil obtained from fracking by Hamm’s Continental Resources.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump himself was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/26/donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline-investment-energy-transfer-partners?CMP=share_btn_tw" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">deeply involved</a> in the pipeline, having invested between $500,000 and $1 million in Energy Transfer Partners, the key player in the project, Trump’s <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2838696-Trump-2016-Financial-Disclosure.html" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">financial disclosure report</a> from May 2015 showed. And CEO Kelcy Warren has returned the favor by donating <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?name=Kelcy+Warren&cycle=All&sort=R&state=&zip=&employ=&cand=donald+trump&submit=Submit" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">$3,000</a> to the Trump campaign this year and an additional <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201607159020646897" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">$100,000</a> to his joint fundraising committee. Trump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/23/trump-dumped-his-stock-in-dakota-access-pipeline-owner-over-the-summer/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">dropped</a> most of his investment in the company this summer, leaving only $50,000.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Sarah Palin:</strong> The former Alaska governor might be a long shot for Interior, but the presence of her name on the list is attracting mega-attention nationwide.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Putting aside <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/06/the-tragedy-of-sarah-palin/308492/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">all other controversies</a> revolving around her, we can safely assume which direction the Interior Department would head under Palin: “Drill, baby, drill.” (<a href="http://www.factcheck.org/2008/09/call-of-the-wild/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Wolves</a>, among other animals, might not be thrilled with the appointment, either.)</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="http://followthemoney.org/show-me?c-t-eid=38120320#%5B%7B1%7Cgro=d-ccg" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">energy and natural resources sector</a>, led by the oil industry, was Palin’s main financial  supporter at the beginning of her state political career in <a href="http://followthemoney.org/show-me?c-t-eid=38120320#%5B%7B1%7Cgro=d-ccg" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">2002</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the <a href="http://followthemoney.org/show-me?f-fc=2,3&c-t-eid=9587962#[{1|gro=d-ccg" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">2006</a> gubernatorial election, though government employees and individuals from the finance sector topped her donors list, the energy and natural resources sector lead by commercial fishing and oil and gas industries played a key role in her victory.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Palin pushed through oil and natural gas development plans during her time in office, including controversial drilling in the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/25394468" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Arctic National Wildlife Refuge</a>; she also signed legislation to grant a pipeline contract to TransCanada. The construction project was <a href="http://www.newsminer.com/opinion/editorials/life-after-agia-the-alaska-gasline-inducement-act-is-buried/article_fdd76850-7bf2-11e3-8328-001a4bcf6878.html" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">cancelled</a> in 2014 after research showed it was inefficient.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the unsuccessful presidential campaign with GOP candidate John McCain in 2008, Palin resigned from the office and started <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2016&strID=C00458588" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">SarahPAC</a>. The political action committee has spent a total of $14.8 million over the last four election cycles. This year, the PAC spent about $2.1 million, just <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00458588&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">$72,500</a> of which went to federal candidates, including $5,000 to Trump. Nearly $900,000 was spent by the PAC on <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00458588" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">fundraising</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Ray Washburne:</strong> <em>CNBC</em> <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/21/president-elect-donald-trump-considering-ray-washburne-for-secretary-of-interior.html" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">reported</a> last week that Washburne, a Dallas investor who is currently leading the Trump transition team on commerce, could be next in charge of the country’s federal land and natural resources.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washburn was vice chairman of the 2016 Trump Victory Fund and a former Republican National Committee chair.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Individuals from his company <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000032501&cycle=A" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Charter Holdings</a>, <a href="http://www.charterholdings.com/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">involved in</a> real estate, restaurants, private equity and energy investments, have donated a total of $517,000 to Republican candidates over last three election cycles. This includes Washburne’s $2,700 to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and another $5,400 to Texas Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=2016&cid=N00005681&type=I" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Pete Sessions</a> this cycle.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall, the Texas investor and his wife Heather Washburne contributed a total of <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?&name=Ray%20Washburne&employ=&cand=&state=&cycle=All&soft=&zip=&sort=D&page=1" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">$579,811</a> to Republican candidates and the Republican party.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Robert B. Gillam</strong>: The Alaska investor is the latest addition to the rumored interior secretary list <a href="https://www.adn.com/politics/2016/11/25/alaskan-bob-gillam-wants-to-be-u-s-interior-secretary/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">according to</a> the <em>Alaska Dispatch Publishing</em>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Having graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with Trump in 1968, Gillam said in a <a href="https://www.adn.com/politics/2016/11/25/alaskan-bob-gillam-wants-to-be-u-s-interior-secretary/" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">statement</a>, “I recognized that suddenly it was possible for me to serve in a role that has otherwise been one of career politicians.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unlike his rivals for the slot, Gillam’s <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?sort=D&name=Robert%2BGillam&state=AK&zip=&employ=&cand=&soft=&cycle=All" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">federal political contributions</a> over the years have been bipartisan. The millionaire financier made his single biggest donation in 2010, when he donated $50,000 to <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2010&strID=C00489385" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Alaskans Standing Together</a>, a super PAC that spent $1.8 million to secure Republican Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00026050&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Lisa Murkowski</a>‘s seat in Alaska. He has given $28,250 to national Republican party committees and $23,550 to GOP candidates — but has also donated $37,000 to the Democratic Party of Alaska and $14,300 to Democratic candidates.

</font> 

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the 2016 cycle, he sent $5,000 to GOP Alaska Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00035774" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Dan Sullivan</a>‘s leadership PAC, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2016&strID=C00571000" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">True North PAC</a>. Backed by the air transport and railroads industries as well as the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00571000" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Koch brothers</a>, Sullivan’s PAC gave $105,000 to Republican candidates including Ayotte, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00005195&cycle=2016" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Blunt</a> and Murkowski.</font></p>

</div>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b> <span class="rollover-people" data-behavior="rolloverpeople" style=" box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><a class="rollover-people-link" data-nid="261287" href="http://thehill.com/people/donald-trump" style=" box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; position: relative;">Donald Trump</a></span> is considering ExxonMobil chief Rex Tillerson to be secretary of State,</b> according to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scarborough tweeted that while Trump thought his meeting with potential nominee Mitt Romney was “great,” he’s also started considering Tillerson.</font>

 </p>

<p style=" margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment. An Exxon spokesman also declined to comment on Scarborough’s report.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas native Tillerson has led the United States’s largest oil company since 2006 and has worked there for more than four decades.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump reportedly is also considering Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee, as well as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, retired Gen. David Petraeus and Sen. <span class="rollover-people" data-behavior="rolloverpeople" style=" box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><a class="rollover-people-link" data-nid="188231" href="http://thehill.com/people/bob-corker" style=" box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; position: relative;">Bob Corker</a></span> (R-Tenn.) for the top diplomatic post.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Romney's inclusion on the shortlist has sparked controversy with many from Trump's inner circle. Many close to Trump, including top aide Kellyanne Conway, have publicly blasted Romney, who was a sharp critic of Trump during the presidential campaign. Trump met with Romney on Tuesday night.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tillerson's selection would put a spotlight on Exxon, a major corporation with a wide reach and operations in dozens of countries.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The company has numerous partnerships with Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned oil company, and has lost more than $1 billion due to the sanctions the United States imposed on Russia, according to <a href="https://www.rt.com/business/363131-exxon-lost-billion-russia-sanctions/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline; position: relative; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(42, 83, 193);">RT</a>, a Russian state-owned news service.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tillerson, who made $27.3 million last year, could clash with Trump on some high-profile issues.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example, Tillerson believes in man-made climate change, which Trump has dismissed as a hoax.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exxon supports the Paris climate agreement and wants the United States to impose a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, both policies that Trump strenuously opposes.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The company has also been in a high-profile fight in the last year with environmentalists and some Democratic state attorneys general over its past position on climate change.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Greens say Exxon knew decades ago that fossil fuels cause climate change but tried to sow doubt publicly about it in order to fight policies that could hurt its finances. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/308363-scarborough-trump-considering-exxon-ceo-for-secretary-of-state</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.alternet.org/right-wing/koch-brothers-donald-trump</font>

</font> 

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...his past January, <b>Texas Gov. Greg Abbott,</b> the multimillionaire protege of the Koch brother's Plutocratic Kingdom and American Legislative Exchange Council darling, revealed to a startled nation that he has penned not one but <b>NINE new amendments to the Constitution of the USA</b>. Forget the Bill of Rights, Abbott is proposing a Bill of Sale, effectively transferring the title of our national government from The People to The Plutocrats. The upshot of his "tweaks" would be outlawing government actions that restrain corporate abuse of workers and consumers, while also preventing future Congresses from meeting crucial public needs such as health care, voter rights, and restoration of our national infrastructure.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One could call Abbott and his Founding Father pretentious and ludicrous—which both are—but he's not the force behind this diabolical, ideological tampering with our Constitution and our people's ideals of fairness and justice. ALEC, at the direction of the Kochs and their corporate cohorts, wrote this Bill of Sale.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Convening an explosive convention, permitted under Article V of the Constitution, is a longtime dream of those elites seeking an American Kochistan, and ALEC is spearheading a hodgepodge of right-wing groups that—believe it or not—are alarmingly close to succeeding. An ALEC/Koch affiliate with the cumbersome acronym of <b>BBATF (Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force) came out of the Tea Party maelstrom in 2010 and is now aggressively pushing governors and state legislatures to endorse such an Article V convention.</b> At the convention, they would attempt to rewrite our nation's fundamental governing document by adding a balanced budget amendment, along with Abbott's other eight. Together these changes would enthrone the "moneyed corporations" that Jefferson and other founders abhorred as destroyers of America's democratic possibilities.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Absurd? Of course. Even the late Phyllis Schlafly, who was the head of the right-wing Eagle Forum, called this push "a prescription for political chaos," adding, "Alas, I don't see any George Washingtons, James Madisons, Ben Franklins, or Alexander Hamiltons around who could do as good a job as the Founding Fathers, and I'm worried about the men who think they can."</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Well, ALEC and the Kochs sure do think they can. But their diabolical schemes don't stop with Gov. Abbott and changing our Constitution, they want to take over our country's entire political system. Having already spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get their policy pushing puppets like Abbott into office, the Koch's want to bend the will of the people as well. They recently started a new program that they call Grassroots Leadership Academy that gives how-to lessons in everything from mounting successful protest actions to recruiting middle-of-the-road voters.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Using Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals," they are training thousands of people to become organizers and political activists. This so-called "grassroots" outfit has been set up by the gabillionaire Koch boys to train cadres of right-wing corporatists to spread their ideological laissez-fairydust across the land. The academy is run through Americans for Prosperity, Charlie's and Davie's political wing, which put up $3 million to get it going. About 10,000 people have gone through some of the training sessions in three dozen states. The brothers' grandiose scheme is to take over the Republican Party and use it as their tool to rebuild America itself into a Kochlandia, ruled by the superrich.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The academy's curriculum is loaded with such corporate nonsense as a course titled "<b>The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.</b>" Attendees are indoctrinated with two overarching lessons: (1) freewheeling corporate power—unrestrained by labor, environmental or other public protections—GOOD; (2) Social Security, unemployment benefits, and other social programs—BAAAAAAD!</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Koch Kollege for right-wing social engineers is peddling a status quo agenda of corporate elitism and trickle-down ideology, which the vast majority of Americans have openly rebelled against. It's like trying to sell chicken salad made out of chicken manure.</font></p>

<p>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trump-koch-brothers-231863</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no links</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Charles Koch once likened the contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to being asked to choose cancer or a heart attack.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Now, Koch’s allies are helping to launch Trump’s administration, giving Charles and his brother David potential inroads with a president whose campaign they refused to support.</b></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The president-elect, in filling out his transition team and administration, has drawn heavily from the vast network of donors and advocacy groups built by the billionaire industrialist brothers, who have sought to reshape American politics in their libertarian image.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">From White House Counsel Don McGahn and transition team advisers <b>Tom Pyle,</b> Darin Selnick and Alan Cobb to Presidential<b> Inaugural Committee member Diane Hendricks </b>and transition-team executive committee members Rebekah Mercer and Anthony Scaramucci, Trump has surrounded himself with people tied to the Kochs.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“In creating the Koch network, I don’t think that we ever envisioned that we would be<b> supplying staffers to this semi-free market, semi-populist president,” said Frayda Levin, a donor to the network who chairs the board of its main voter mobilization group, Americans for Prosperity</b>. “But we’re happy that he’s picking people who have that free market background, particularly because on many issues, he is a blank slate, so anybody with expertise is in an amazing position to shape his agenda.”</font>

</font> 

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Trump's baseless assertions of voter fraud called 'stunning'</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By ANDREW RESTUCCIA</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">And many more Koch-linked operatives are expected to join Trump’s nascent administration in the coming weeks, according to Trump transition-team sources. Names being considered include <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Koch Industries lobbyist Brian Henneberry and former company spokesman Matt Lloyd, as well as Daniel Garza, who runs a Koch-backed nonprofit called the LIBRE Initiative that courts Latinos, not to mention a handful of veterans of the Koch network’s advocacy groups who worked on the Trump campaign — from top Pence adviser Marc Short and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to ex-campaign aides Stuart Jolly, Eli Miller, Scott Hagerstrom, Charles Munoz and Matt Ciepielowski.</span></font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Perhaps more surprisingly, despite some predictions of imminent policy clashes, there’s already informal communication between the Trump team and the Koch network, and both camps are signaling a willingness to work together on issues of mutual interest. David Koch even attended Trump’s election night victory party.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">How long the comity lasts between Trump and the powerful Koch brothers could go far in determining whether Trump is able to take full advantage of the complete Republican control of Washington ushered in by his stunning victory over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Things weren’t so agreeable during the campaign, when the Koch operation blocked Trump from directly accessing its data or its candidate forums, while the brothers condemned the first-time candidate for his combative tone, his calls for a Muslim immigration ban and his opposition to the sorts of trade policies that facilitate the brothers’ vision of unfettered global capitalism. At one point, Charles Koch compared the choice between Trump and Clinton to choosing between “cancer or heart attack,” and the Koch network did not spend any money directly boosting Trump or attacking Clinton.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Trump in turn boasted that the Kochs could not influence him because he didn’t “want their money or anything else from them.” And he blasted his rivals for the GOP nomination as puppets of the Kochs. A possible truce after Trump clinched the nomination broke down quickly, with the two sides clashing over who rejected a proposed meeting.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Koch network, which some believed was discouraging its operatives from working with Trump’s campaign, is now seen by insiders as welcoming the chance to have allies on the inside of Trump’s administration.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">At the same time, though, the network already is signaling that it intends to oppose aspects of Trump’s agenda that run counter to the brothers’ brand of small government, low-regulation conservatism, possibly including the incoming president’s $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan and his pledge to renegotiate trade deals.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Trump’s press office didn’t respond to requests for comment.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the central group in the Koch network, said, “We’ll try to find areas to work together to advance a free and open society and reverse the counterproductive policies that have created a two-tiered society.” He added: “We wish the new administration well.”</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Setting aside the personal and policy conflicts, Trump’s willingness to draw from the Kochs’ operation makes sense in several ways.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Trump douses White House hopes of Cruz, Rubio and others</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By BURGESS EVERETT</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Charles and David Koch over the past decade mobilized some of the biggest donors on the right to finance what amounts to a privatized political party — a network of donors and advocacy groups that became a leading employer of conservative operatives and policy professionals independent of the official GOP during a period when Republicans were mostly out of power in Washington.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The 1,200-employee network, which claims it will have spent about $750 million in the run-up to the 2016 election, would have been a logical pool from which any incoming Republican administration might have drawn as it endeavored to fill thousands of jobs.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But there’s an added appeal for Trump.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During the campaign, Trump railed against a Washington GOP establishment — embodied by the family of his vanquished primary foe Jeb Bush — from which the Kochs for years had worked to demonstrate their independence. And, after he won, President-elect Trump announced a sweeping lobbying ban that could be more of a deterrent for many conservative policy professionals than for Koch network staffers, who can work for years within the brothers’ network of think tanks and advocacy groups without directly lobbying federal or state officials.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“If you’re not going to pull from the Chamber of Commerce, Bush wing of the party, you don’t have that many places to go, so it makes sense to look to Koch world,” said a GOP operative who advised Trump team’s during the campaign and the transition. “Trump is looking for new blood that wasn’t part of the traditional establishment, and his presidency is already totally rewriting the Republican hierarchy. There were all these people who were locked out who are now getting their chance.”</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Some former Koch staffers told POLITICO that the allure of joining Trump’s team was compounded by what they saw as the network’s retreat from the 2016 presidential race and its increased emphasis on advocating libertarian-infused policies such as decreasing incarceration and government subsidies.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“It’s less a result of Trump recruiting from the network as it is a result of the network retreating from the political field, leaving people looking for places they could go to have an impact,” said a former network staffer who worked on the Trump campaign.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>In fact, many of the Koch veterans who played major roles in the Trump campaign had left the Koch network weeks or even months before joining forces with Trump, including Short, Lewandowski, Ciepielowski, Cobb, Jolly, Miller and Munoz</b> — none of whom responded to requests for comment for this story.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Most notably, Short resigned his role as president of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce in late February to join Marco Rubio’s rival presidential campaign, motivated partly by the network’s decision to sit out the presidential race.</b></font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Short landed in Trump’s orbit when the Republican nominee tapped as his running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. </b>A longtime ally of the Koch network, Pence had previously employed both Short and Lloyd, who later went to work for Koch Industries</span>, the privately owned multinational oil and industrial conglomerate that is the source of the brothers’ fortunes, which are estimated at $43 billion each. Short is now helping Pence run the transition effort and is expected to fill a senior role in the vice president’s office, as is Lloyd, who is working as a deputy chief of staff in Pence’s gubernatorial office in Indiana and could not be reached for comment.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Other ex-Koch operatives, including Lewandowski, left the network on less-than-great terms, and jumped at the chance to join up early with Trump as he launched a campaign that few establishment operatives or donors took seriously.</font>

</b></font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Lewandowski </b><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">had worked for years at Americans for Prosperity, where he drew complaints from co-workers and directed an underperforming voter registration initiative. Still, he brought with him from AFP undeniable organizing experience.</span><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Under his leadership, the Trump campaign brought on a number of former AFP operatives, including Ciepielowski, Cobb, Jolly, Miller and Munoz</span><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> — all of whom are up for posts in Trump’s administration or at the Republican National Committee, according to sources in Trump’s operation.</span></font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Cobb is currently working for the transition team, which also is getting advice from Selnick and Pyle.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Selnick is a senior adviser and consultant to Concerned Veterans for America,</b> a nonprofit group funded by the Koch network that has pushed to allow veterans to access private health care — a goal that Trump embraced on the campaign trail.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“The Trump transition team’s collaboration with experts like Darin is a positive sign that the president-elect is prioritizing real VA reform,” said Dan Caldwell, a Concerned Veterans spokesman, referring to the Department of Veterans Affairs. “We are optimistic that President-elect Trump will now turn these ideas into tangible reforms, and we will support him in that effort.”</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Pyle, who is leading the Trump transition team’s Energy Department landing team, is the president of a fossil fuel advocacy group called the American Energy Institute,</b> which has received significant Koch network funding. But the group gradually has been cut out of the network, which may have given it leeway to officially endorse Trump over the summer, even as the Koch network was sitting out the race. Pyle declined to comment.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Additionally, some of the deepest pockets helping Trump have either contributed significant sums to the Koch network or attended its twice-a-year donor gatherings. They include transition team executive committee members Mercer, a hedge fund heiress, and Scaramucci, a Wall Street impresario; as well as self-made roofing billionaire Hendricks, a member of Trump’s Presidential Inaugural Committee. Family members of Betsy DeVos, whom Trump nominated last week as his secretary of education, have also been contributors to the network.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>McGahn, who last week was named White House counsel, represented Freedom Partners and its affiliated super PAC</b> — work he continued for a time even after signing on with the Trump campaign. He didn’t respond to a request for comment.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Garza, whose LIBRE Initiative is in good standing in the Koch network, told POLITICO that he is engaged in “some initial talks” about a possible role with the Trump team. But he suggested that, even if he joined the team, it wouldn’t mean that the Trump administration would get a free pass from his group. “We’ll encourage and advocate for freedom-oriented, pro-growth policy proposals and call out bad policy prescriptions regardless of party or personality.”</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The first potential battle between the Kochs and the Trump administration — the one repeatedly mentioned by operatives in and out of the network — is Trump’s centerpiece infrastructure plan, which constitutes the sort of Big Government domestic spending for which the Kochs have long attacked Democratic and Republican politicians alike.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“It will be interesting to see whether AFP actually holds the line on something,” said one top Republican operative. “There really could be a Trump-Koch spat in Year One.”</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Others are interpreting the Koch-Trump détente as evidence that the true allegiance of many Koch staffers was always to the Republican Party, despite the network’s attempts to cast its efforts as independent from the official GOP.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“Starting in 2006 when Republicans lost control of Congress and even more so in 2008, when we lost the White House, a lot of people just needed a paycheck to keep up with their mortgage, and the Koch network kept them afloat,” said one former network official. “That’s not the way Charles Koch saw it, but the people who were accepting the checks saw it that way. And now, there’s an opportunity for them to get off the Koch dole and get back in power.”</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Then there’s the question of whether Trump will even want to collaborate.</font>

</font> 

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Several operatives around the Koch network said there’s concern that the Trump administration will have no incentive to work with the network....</font></p>

</div>

</font></div>

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<i><b><a href="http://www.globalpossibilities.org/is-the-epas-landmark-endangerment-finding-now-itself-imperiled/"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.globalpossibilities.org/is-the-epas-landmark-endangerment-finding-now-itself-imperiled/</font></a></b></i>

<i><b><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2009 endangerment?</font></b></i>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax” and said he plans to unburden American industries from Obama-era requirements to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases causing the planet to warm.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the crosshairs of his agenda — <a href="https://insideepa.com/sites/insideepa.com/files/documents/nov2016/epa2016_2416.pdf" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">according to written statements the Trump campaign made shortly before the Nov. 8 election</a> — is a 2009 determination by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that greenhouse gases are dangerous to human health and security, a ruling that serves as the foundation for the EPA’s efforts to curb climate-damaging emissions and that affects its governing of everything from automobile exhaust to power plants to refrigerators.</font></p>

<div id="google-callout" class="callout-ad ad" data-google-query-id="CMWp6_-0x9ACFRV7fgod_y4Izw" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b> But overturning that rule — known as the “endangerment finding” — might prove difficult, if not impossible</b>, to accomplish with anything like the simple administrative stroke of the pen, according to legal experts.</font></div>

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<p style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Attempting to overturn the endangerment finding would be like running toward a machine gun,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “Scientific support was very strong when it was issued in 2009; it has become much stronger since then.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The rule represented the direct evolution of a 2007 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, one that determined that the EPA not only had the authority to regulate climate gases as pollutants under the federal Clean Air Act, but was obligated to do so. The court directed the EPA to examine the scientific evidence and determine if greenhouse gases posed a threat to the public.</b></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The EPA did that — examining everything from the potential for more damaging hurricanes, to death rates due to ozone and heat exposure, to deadly exposure to pathogens — and concluded in unambiguous terms that there was “compelling” reason to believe the gases threaten the health of Americans, and that the threat would get worse.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The agency’s conclusion rested on thousands of pages of peer-reviewed research, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, from the U.S. Global Climate Research Program, and from the National Research Council. The agency wrote its rules and subjected them to public criticism. The public submitted voluminous comments, all of which were reviewed by the EPA before it issued a final rule.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The original rule-writing process alone took 14 months, (or 10 years if you count the arguments leading up to the 2007 Supreme Court fight). After its completion, The American Chemistry Council and other groups petitioned the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climatechange/us-court-appeals-dc-circuit-upholds-epas-action-reduce-greenhouse-gases-under-clean" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia</a> to review the validity of the finding. In 2012, that court upheld the EPA’s endangerment rule, finding that the agency’s interpretation of its authority and of its obligation to regulate carbon dioxide “<a href="http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/federal-appeals-court-upholds-co2-rules/" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">is unambiguously correct</a>.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In order to effectively eliminate the rule now, one former EPA attorney told ProPublica, the Trump administration would likely have to reargue the original decision, including the merits of the scientific evidence, and then build on it.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Per the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision, the new administration would have to use existing evidence to prove no risk is posed by climate gases. Then it would have to explain how new information that has emerged since 2009 — a period including the hottest years on record, some of the biggest storms and driest droughts, and destabilizing mass human migration — demonstrate how the EPA erred in its 2009 conclusion.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It’s a steep hill to climb, and, as Gerrard points out, would inevitably lead to a fresh wave of lawsuits both against the EPA and against polluters directly in courts across the country.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the meantime, the EPA remains obligated to enforce the climate-related rules on record.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There is, however, another option, but not one the Trump administration can execute alone: Congress could render the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision moot by passing new legislation amending the Clean Air Act itself — changing the landmark 1970 environmental law so as to explicitly exclude its oversight of carbon dioxide, methane and the pollutants known to be driving climate change.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Such a step would inevitably invite filibuster resistance not only among Democrats, but among Republicans concerned about climate risks, said Gerrard.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">David Goldston, director of public affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Trump and other Republicans may try and chip away at environmental enforcement or regulations that are based on the finding, but not likely the finding itself.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“There’s a reason why, despite all the ideological gnashing of teeth for 20 years at least, that Republicans haven’t actually been able to touch the Clean Air Act successfully,” Goldston said. “It passed by a wide bipartisan margin, and it turns out, it’s almost like an article of faith with the public.”</font>

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<p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style=" font-family: ;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For decades, the Kochs had pursued their goals by sinking tens of millions of dollars into wonky research and advocacy groups. It was only during George W. Bush’s presidency that the brothers and their allies began to question whether the power of their ideas alone could carry the day. A movement that started with 15 rich conservatives gathering in Chicago and a single main group — Americans for Prosperity — by 2008 became a congregation of roughly 100 major donors backing a handful of think tanks, grass-roots advocacy networks and political organizations.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2012, the newly created Freedom Partners — the umbrella group for the Kochs’ political operation — raised and spent roughly $250 million. Headed by Marc Short, a former top staffer in the House and Senate, Freedom Partners dispenses funds and expertise to myriad affiliate groups in the network. This year, it began wading into political and policy fights on its own — spinning off a super PAC that spent at least $24 million boosting Republican Senate candidates.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heading into 2016, the Koch network — under the auspices of Freedom Partners — has in many ways surpassed the reach and resources of the RNC. And, unlike the party, it isn’t bound by rules requiring it to maintain neutrality in primaries. Though the network has yet to engage in primaries, that could be the next logical step in its progression from apolitical think tank consortium to aggressive privatized political machine.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With good data, we can target them with the right message at the right moment.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Kochs and their donors and operatives have been sought out by most of the leading 2016 GOP prospects – from Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky to Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Rick Perry of Texas. Their allies are acutely aware of the potential for the Koch groups and their donors to sway the primaries — even if they don’t formally back a candidate.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A key adviser to one of the top GOP presidential prospects said: “If I could have Karl Rove or Marc Short to run a presidential campaign today, I’d take Marc Short.</b> He understands all the technical tools available to a modern campaign and how to apply them to the nominating process. He also has a deep understanding of the political dynamics of the GOP base vote.”</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Short’s connection to another potential GOP presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence,</b> is among the biggest reasons that the Kochs are considering whether going all-in on a presidential campaign would be a good investment. Short was chief of staff to the House Republican Conference when then-Rep. Pence was the chairman, and Short remains a close adviser to Pence.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Veterans of GOP presidential campaigns say that while the Kochs could not, by themselves, provide the credibility necessary to create a candidate for president, their weapons could make a decisive difference for someone who was already running a viable campaign for the nomination — someone like Pence, whose record could make him a bridge between the GOP’s evangelical and establishment wings.</font>

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<b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A candidate favored by the Kochs and their allies could potentially benefit from the full range activities of groups in the Koch network. The biggest presence is AFP, which spent $130 million in the midterms, with 550 paid staff, <span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">including 50 in Florida</span> alone.</font></b>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The LIBRE Initiative, a network-backed group aimed at Hispanics, has 40 staff at its Arlington, Virginia, headquarters and 40 field staff </b>(25 of them part-time) in seven states. Generation Opportunity, the Kochs’ outreach arm for 18- to 34-year-olds, has 30 full-time, paid grass-roots staffers running boots-on-the-ground activism in 10 states. Concerned Veterans for America, another Koch-backed group based in Arlington, has 60 paid staff in 14 states.</font>

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<b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pete Hegseth, an infantry captain in the Army National Guard who is the group’s CEO, says veterans are “reflexively conservative, and they know how to organize.”</font></b>

</font> 

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“With good data, we can target them with the right message at the right moment,” Hegseth said. “They could be much more powerful than they are. There’s no reason veterans can’t be the unions of the right.”</font></p>

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<div><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/koch-brothers-rnc-113359"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/koch-brothers-rnc-113359</font></a></div>

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<div><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-denier-trump-2089375262.html"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-denier-trump-2089375262.html</font></a></div>

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<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">aha:  reviving the dead, ppl who had to quit in disgrace: christie, lewandoski...</font></div>

<div><a href="https://democracynow.org/2016/11/23/headlines/trump_picks_gov_nikki_haley_to_be_us_ambassador_to_the_un"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">https://democracynow.org/2016/11/23/headlines/trump_picks_gov_nikki_haley_to_be_us_ambassador_to_the_un</font></a></div>

<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.globalpossibilities.org/trump-to-scrap-nasa-climate-research-in-crackdown-on-politicized-science/</font></div>

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<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">TRUMP TO SCRAP NASA CLIMATE RESEARCH IN CRACKDOWN ON ‘POLITICIZED SCIENCE’</font></div>

<div>Nov 23, 2016 by Casey Coates Danson</div>

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<div>Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding as the president-elect seeks to shift focus away from home in favor of deep space exploration</div>

<div>A Nasa Earth photo shows the Bruckner and Heim glaciers where they flow into the Johan Petersen fjord in southeastern Greenland.</div>

<div>A Nasa Earth photo shows the Bruckner and Heim glaciers where they flow into the Johan Petersen fjord in southeastern Greenland. Photograph: Jeremy </div>

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<div>Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.</div>

<div>Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding in favor of exploration of deep space, with the president-elect having set a goal during the campaign to explore the entire solar system by the end of the century.</div>

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<div>2016 locked into being hottest year on record, Nasa says</div>

<div>This would mean the elimination of Nasa’s world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. Nasa’s network of satellites provide a wealth of information on climate change, with the Earth science division’s budget set to grow to $2bn next year. By comparison, space exploration has been scaled back somewhat, with a proposed budget of $2.8bn in 2017.</div>

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<div><b>Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”.</b></div>

<div>“We see Nasa in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Walker told the Guardian. “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.</div>

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<div>“My guess is that it would be difficult to stop all ongoing Nasa programs but future programs should definitely be placed with other agencies. I believe that climate research is necessary but it has been heavily politicized, which has undermined a lot of the work that researchers have been doing. Mr Trump’s decisions will be based upon solid science, not politicized science.”</div>

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<div>A senior Trump adviser said there is no need for Nasa to do what he has called ‘politically correct environmental monitoring’.</div>

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<div>A senior Trump adviser said there is no need for Nasa to do what he has called ‘politically correct environmental monitoring’. Photograph: Massimo Rumi / Barcroft Images</div>

<div>Trump has previously said that climate change is a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, although on Tuesday he said there is “some connectivity” between human actions and the climate. There is overwhelming and long-established evidence that burning fossil fuels and deforestation causes the release of heat-trapping gases, therefore causing the warming experienced in recent decades.</div>

<div>‘No one’s an exception’: toll of climate change, from US to the Marshall Islands – video</div>

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<div>Walker, however, claimed that doubt over the role of human activity in climate change “is a view shared by half the climatologists in the world. We need good science to tell us what the reality is and science could do that if politicians didn’t interfere with it.”</div>

<div>It could put us back into the ‘dark ages’ … Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential</div>

<div>Kevin Trenberth, National Center for Atmospheric Research</div>

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<div>It’s understood that federal government scientists have been unnerved by Trump’s dismissal of climate science and are concerned that their work will be sidelined as part of a new pro-fossil fuels and deregulation agenda. Climate scientists at other organizations expressed dismay at the potential gutting of Earth-based research.</div>

<div>Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said as Nasa provides the scientific community with new instruments and techniques, the elimination of Earth sciences would be “a major setback if not devastating”.</div>

<div>“It could put us back into the ‘dark ages’ of almost the pre-satellite era,” he said. “It would be extremely short sighted.</div>

<div>“We live on planet Earth and there is much to discover, and it is essential to track and monitor many things from space. Information on planet Earth and its atmosphere and oceans is essential for our way of life. Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential.”</div>

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<div>Paris climate deal: Trump says he now has an ‘open mind’ about accord</div>

<div>Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, said Nasa has a “critical and unique role” in observing Earth and climate change.</div>

<div>“Without the support of Nasa, not only the US but the entire world would be taking a hard hit when it comes to understanding the behavior of our climate and the threats posed by human-caused climate change,” he said.</div>

<div>“It would be a blatantly political move, and would indicate the president-elect’s willingness to pander to the very same lobbyists and corporate interest groups he derided throughout the campaign.”</div>

<div>Nasa has appointed two officials, Tom Cremins and Jolene Meidinger, to lead the transition to the new Trump administration. However, the president-elect’s team has yet to formally review the space agency.</div>

<div>“The Nasa community is committed to doing whatever we can to assist in making the executive branch transition a smooth one,” a Nasa spokesman said. “The agency remains focused on the future, a future that will improve our understanding of our changing home planet from Nasa’s unique platforms in space.”</div>

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<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">self promot bs?</font></div>

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OMG</font></div>

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<p style=" margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 18.59px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Famous for repeatedly claiming climate change is a “hoax”, Inhofe is a senator and chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">He was part of the US advisory council of</span><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Atlantic Bridge, and though he has publicly ruled out getting a post in Trump’s administration, he told his local paper:</span></font></p>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I got a phone call on the 5th of October and it was Trump. … I am now in a position where I am giving him some advice on national defense”.</font></font>

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<p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Pessimistic Interpretation: Why Trump Will Probably be That Bad</strong></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump is a national populist with a zero-sum worldview.  His long opposition to trade with Japan and now China and Mexico shows that he doesn’t understand how voluntary exchanges are mutually beneficial.  Opinions on trade and immigration are tightly correlated.  His 2013 <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/iowa-donald-trump-warns-republicans-about-hillary-immigration-f6C10893666" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">statements</a> on immigration reform could mean that he thought the Senate’s 2013 bill would destroy the Republican Party.   </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s immigration <a href="https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/Immigration-Reform-Trump.pdf" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">position paper</a> is detailed, specific, and terrible.  It <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/president-trumps-immigration-plans" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">supports</a> drastic cuts in legal immigration and refugees as well as harsh new enforcement measures like a border wall, mandatory E-Verify, and a greatly expanded deportation force.  Many think this plan was inspired by Ann Coulter’s recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2015/08/03/did-ann-coulters-new-book-inspire-donald-trumps-mexican-rapists-comment/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">book</a> on the subject and some of his <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/trump-doubles-down-anti-immigration-position" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">statements</a>support that theory.  In return, Coulter <a href="http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/08/coulter-on-trumps-immigration-plan-greatest-political-document-since-magna-carta/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">called</a> Trump’s immigration position paper, “the greatest political document since the Magna Carta.”   </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>When Trump looked like he was <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/08/25/trump-says-government-can-work-with-illegal-immigrants.html" target="blank" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">wavering</a> from his immigration position in the final week of August 2016, Coulter <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/ann-coulter-mocks-trump-immigration-227392" target="blank" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">mocked</a> him.</b>  In her recent book <em style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In Trump We Trust</em>, she <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ann-coulter-trump-immigration-2016-8" target="blank" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">wrote</a>, “There’s nothing Trump can do that won’t be forgiven … Except change his immigration policies.”   Trump’s response was a blistering <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-donald-trump-immigration-speech-transcript-20160831-snap-htmlstory.html" target="blank" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">speech</a> in Phoenix on August 31, 2016, where he doubled-down on his immigration stance and even read out portions of his <a href="https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/Immigration-Reform-Trump.pdf" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">position paper</a>.  Coulter gave the speech her seal of approval, declaring it “<a href="http://www.vice.com/read/how-ann-coulter-created-donald-trump" target="_blank" style=" background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">better than Lincoln’s Gettysburg address</a>.”  </span></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Virtually every time Trump looked like he was wavering in his opposition to legal immigration or stepped up enforcement, he quickly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/21/donald-trump-flip-flops-then-flips-and-flops-more-on-h-1b-visas/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">reversed course</a>.  When he has spoken off the cuff about immigration, it has almost always been negative and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-immigration-flip-flop_us_57bb9743e4b03d51368a7e24" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">supportive of deportations</a>, <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/10/3285521/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">cutting legal immigration</a>, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-connecting-mexican-immigrants-and-crime/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">linking immigrants to crime</a>.  If speaking off the cuff reveals Trump’s real opinions then they are largely consistent with his policy positions.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s presumptive picks for positions in his administration are opposed to immigration reform, support more enforcement, and generally favor cutting legal immigration.  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Bannon" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">Steve Bannon</a>, the former executive chairman of the nativist Breitbart News and chief executive office of Trump’s 2016 campaign, looks to be on the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/us/politics/transition-briefing-passing-the-presidency-to-donald-trump.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">shortlist for Chief of Staff</a>.  Breitbart’s <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/immigration/" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">immigration position</a> is well known.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s picks for his immigration transition team are uniformly supportive of increased immigration enforcement and, as far as I can tell, large cuts in legal immigration.  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">Kris Kobach</a> is the first member of the transition team.  He is the Kansas secretary of state and architect of many of the immigration enforcement laws around the <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/economic-case-against-arizonas-immigration-laws" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">country</a> in the last decade.  Just yesterday he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/10/the-wall-is-going-to-get-built-immigration-hard-liner-joins-trump-transition/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">said</a>, “the wall is going to get built.”  The second member of the transition team is Danielle Cutrona, the chief counsel in Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) judiciary committee. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The connection with Senator Sessions is important and it runs throughout Trump’s other appointments </b>– the Senator himself could even be appointed to an important <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/11/09/sen-jeff-sessions-is-known-for-fighting-immigration-now-he-could-lead-trumps-pentagon/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">position</a>.  He is the most outspoken <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/rebuttal-sen-sessions-anti-legal-immigration-oped" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">Republican Senator who opposes immigration reform, supports enforcement-first policies, and favors slashing legal immigration</a>.  Trump is reportedly also considering <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/10/exclusive-here-is-a-list-of-people-donald-trump-is-considering-for-senior-white-house-jobs/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">Stephen Miller</a>, former communications aide to Senator Sessions, for one of many potential positions.  <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/10/exclusive-here-is-a-list-of-people-donald-trump-is-considering-for-senior-white-house-jobs/" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">Rick Dearborn</a>, Sessions’ chief of staff, is also being considered for leading the office of legislative affairs. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are also a few leaked lists circulating around DC that say Trump is supposedly considering Cindy Hayden as head of the Department of Homeland Security.  There isn’t much information available on Ms. Hayden except that she was Sessions’ former <a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2008/6/6/senate-section/article/s5353-1?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22Cindy+Hayden%5C%22%22%5D%7D&r=1" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">chief counsel</a> on the Senate Judiciary Committee. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sessions’ praise for Ms. Hayden is deep and effusive.  Upon her departure from the Senate in 2008, he <a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2008/6/6/senate-section/article/s5353-1?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22Cindy+Hayden%5C%22%22%5D%7D&r=1" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">said</a>, “Cindy was just fabulous, and I depended on her.  Day after day, her work and the respect she engendered throughout the country played a big role in the final result, in which the [immigration reform] bill was pulled down without passage in that form.”  Senator Sessions himself wasn’t alone in his praise.  He <a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2008/6/6/senate-section/article/s5353-1?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22Cindy+Hayden%5C%22%22%5D%7D&r=1" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">quoted</a> his former chief counsel William Smith and executive director of the Americans for Limited Government Research Foundation at the time, “The only group I know that will truly celebrate her departure will be illegal aliens.”  Brian Darling, then director of Senate Relations for the Heritage Foundation, was <a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2008/6/6/senate-section/article/s5353-1?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22Cindy+Hayden%5C%22%22%5D%7D&r=1" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">quoted</a> as saying, “Without Cindy and ‘Team Sessions’’ tireless efforts to educate the American public on the contents of the secretly drafted amnesty bill, the bill may have become law.”  Joe Matal, then-counsel for Senator Kyl was also quoted by Sessions as <a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2008/6/6/senate-section/article/s5353-1?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22Cindy+Hayden%5C%22%22%5D%7D&r=1" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">saying</a>that, “If you look closely at the corpse of last year’s immigration bill, you will find a series of small squares holes in its back. Those holes were produced by Cindy’s heels, stomping that bill to death.”</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump has frequently <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/immigration" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">cited</a> the <a href="http://www.humanlifereview.com/hijacking-immigration/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">Center for Immigration Studies</a>, <a href="https://cei.org/studies-web-memo/drought-reason-and-investigation" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">a</a> <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/public-increasingly-pro-immigration" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">think</a>-<a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/cis-exaggerates-cost-immigrant-welfare-use" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">tank</a> <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/center-immigration-studies-exaggerates-immigrant-welfare-use" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">that</a> <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/center-immigration-studies-report-exaggerates-immigrant-welfare-use-part-2" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">produces</a><a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/cis-all-job-growth-2000-went-immigrants-flawed" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">near</a>-<a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/immigrant-welfare-use-response-cost-cheap-labor" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">uniformly</a> <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/immigrants-are-attracted-jobs-not-welfare" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">shoddy</a> <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/serious-problems-e-verify" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">research</a> <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/immigrants-are-not-causing-low-skill-natives-quit-working" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">and</a> <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/low-skilled-immigrants-are-not-harming-low-skilled-natives" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">supports</a> cutting legal immigration.  It’s safe to assume that Trump facts, specific enforcement ideas, and message on immigration during his administration will be more influenced by them than any other group outside of the government.  Ending or severely curtailing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/07/22/us/politics/trump-immigration-ban-how-could-it-work.html" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153);">refugee resettlement</a> will be an early move.    </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">None of Trump’s actions since his election, from his statements to the people on his immigration transition team to those he’s considering for important positions, indicate that he is changing his position on immigration.  Trump looks like he partially wavered occasionally on the campaign when it came to high-skilled immigrants and some form of amnesty.  His instincts over the last several years show that his instincts aren’t uniformly nativist.  However, those few bits of optimism are overwhelmed by his other statements and actions to the contrary. </font></p>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump transition packed with Washington insiders, lobbyists</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By MICHAEL BIESECKER, JEFF HORWITZ AND VIVIAN SALAMA , ASSOCIATED PRESS </font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">November 12, 2016 - 1:30 AM</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON — Donald Trump elicited wild cheers on the campaign trail by pledging to "drain the swamp" in Washington, but the president-elect's transition team is populated largely with creatures of the capital, including former federal bureaucrats, think-tank academics, corporate lawyers and special-interest lobbyists.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An internal organizational chart for the Trump transition team lists more than 30 names, some well-known within the GOP establishment. They are tasked with helping to select and vet Trump's Cabinet, as well as map out the key policy initiatives the new administration will pursue.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Their areas of experience and policy expertise on the chart hint at future efforts to restrict abortion, strip away consumer protections, boost defense spending and dismantle environmental regulations. Key members of Trump's team are also advocates for sweeping privatization of government programs, including Social Security.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Personnel is policy," said Republican operative Ron Kaufman, who also served in George W. Bush's White House.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The team will not necessarily carry over into the Trump administration — though members of past transition teams often have. Instead, they are in charge of putting together hiring recommendations, working with outgoing appointees and laying the groundwork for administration's opening months.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"For people who voted for him thinking that he'd shake things up, I don't think they thought he was going to privatize everything," said Dean Baker, a progressive economist and founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "He runs this populist, anti-Wall Street campaign, and he turns to Wall Street and lobbying guys."</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The behind-the-scenes transition operation is being run by<b> Ron Nichol, a senior partner at The Boston Group, a management consulting firm where 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney launched his business career.</b> A former nuclear submarine officer, Nichol oversees five teams targeted at "Agency Transformation and Innovation."</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Overseeing the transition for domestic issues is Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state, state treasurer and Cincinnati mayor. He is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, which opposes same-sex marriage and abortion rights.</b></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Veteran agribusiness lobbyist Michael Torrey is tasked with transforming the Agriculture Department.<b> Energy industry lobbyist Mike McKenna, who represents electricity and chemical companies, is leading the Energy Department transition team.</b></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>For the Interior Department there is David Bernhardt, a top lawyer at the agency under President George W. Bush who represents mining companies seeking to use resources on federal lands and Indian reservations</b>.<b> Lobbyist Steven Hart, who focuses on tax and employee benefits, is leading the transition team for the Labor Department.</b></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Cindy Hayden, a former congressional staffer who is now the top lobbyist for Altria,</b> the parent company of cigarette-maker Philip Morris, is overseeing the transition for the Homeland Security Department. Jeff Eisenach, a consultant and former lobbyist who has called for deregulation of the telecommunications industry, is overseeing the transition for the Federal Communications Commission.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The man put in charge of staffing for the Social Security Administration, Michael Korbey, is a former lobbyist who led President George W. Bush's effort to privatize America's retirement system. Trump campaigned on keeping Social Security within the federal government.</b></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of Trump's campaign pledges was to spending up to $1 trillion over 10 years on infrastructure projects. But his selection to oversee the transition for the Transportation Department<b>, Shirley Ybarra, has been a champion of "public-private partnerships" to build toll roads and bridges. A former Virginia state transportation secretary, Ybarra now works as a policy analyst with the libertarian-leaning Reason Foundation, which has received support from conservative billionaires David and Charles Koch.</b></font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump has also pledged to renegotiate the Paris climate treaty signed in December, saying efforts to restrict the carbon emissions are harming American industries such as coal mining. Trump's pick to oversee the transition for the Environmental Protection Agency is Myron Ebell from the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has voiced the false view that man-made global warming is a hoax. Ebell has called for dismantling environmental protections and assigning international carbon-cutting agreements to the "dustbin of history."</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump has pledged to transform a national economy he said was hobbled by bad trade deals and rigged against American workers by Wall Street and the big banks. His list of advisers indicates an interest in rolling back many of the reforms made in the wake of the 2008 recession and appears to signal an interest in deregulating the financial sector.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>David Malpass, who is overseeing the Treasury Department transition, was Bear Stearns' chief economist in the years before the firm's 2008 collapse</b>. A few months before the recession began, Malpass wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled "Don't Panic About the Credit Market."</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Housing and debt markets are not that big a part of the U.S. economy, or of job creation," Malpass said in August 2007, predicting continued economic growth. He has complained about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the brainchild of progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan DiMicco, who is overseeing the transition of the U.S. trade representative's office, fits in well with Trump's avowed hard line on tariffs. The former chief executive of <b>steel company NUCOR and a board member at Duke Energy</b>, he's likely to steer the U.S. toward far more aggressive trade policy. In his 2015 book, DiMicco declared that the United States is already in a trade war with China — and that it's losing.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.</b>, is taking the lead on crafting Trump's national security team. The former chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rogers serves on boards for consulting firms IronNet Cybersecurity and Next Century Corp.</font></div>

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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the Justice Department, Kevin O'Connor, a former U.S. attorney for Connecticut, is overseeing the transition. He briefly served as chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a George W. Bush appointee who resigned from the Justice Department in 2007 amid a scandal over the firing of U.S. attorneys.<b> He was also a partner at the law firm of close Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani.</b></font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jim Carafano is the Heritage Foundation's vice president for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies and is leading the transition at the State Department. A 25-year Army veteran, Carafano has been advising Trump on terrorism and border security. In a recent radio interview, Carafano said he told Trump that the next administration must pay more attention to transnational criminal cartels, toughen border security and fight al-Qaida globally.</font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump has tapped retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who is close to Trump military adviser Michael Flynn, to oversee the transition for the Defense Department. Kellogg was chief operating officer for Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, which governed the country after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.</b></font></div>

</font></div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Working with Kellogg is Mira Ricardel, a former acting assistant defense secretary during the George W. Bush administration who more recently served as vice president of business development for <b>Boeing</b> Strategic Missile & Defense Systems, a major military contractor.</font></div>

</div>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==

</font>

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bs

</font>

<div>

<p lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans="Sans" unicode="Unicode" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" freesans="FreeSans" jamrul="Jamrul" garuda="Garuda" kalimati="Kalimati" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" margin: 0.4em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; line-height: 17.92px; font-family: ;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... Some are quite conservative, some are libertarian-leaning, and a few could probably by fairly characterized as part of the swamp Trump promised to drain.  In includes insiders, outsiders, experts, a major fundraiser, and even a few lobbyists.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, understand that this is the transition team, not the cabinet or agency appointments. Part of the job of the transition team is to ease the way for those appointments and make personnel and policy recommendations, but not always fill those positions themselves.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s worth remembering that a large number of the Never Trumpers came from the foreign policy ranks.  Some have extended Never Trump to mean that they wouldn’t work in a Trump administration.  That seems to me to be a recklessly irresponsible position to take.  Trump is certainly inexperienced in foreign policy.  If he is truly as wrong-headed and unsuited for the position as they think – and I’m among those who said he was unfit for the job – he’s still going to be President for four years.  By their own reasoning they’d be doing a great service to the country by serving in his administration, and helping to save us from the worst national security consequences of his governance.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contrast that with Arthur Brooks at the American Enterprise Institute.  Out of 17 candidates, Trump had to be Brooks’s 18th choice.  But at least three of the names here have ties to AEI.  Brooks didn’t burn bridges, didn’t put his organization at risk over an electoral decision, and now is in a position to influence policy for the better.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevertheless, this gives them considerable leverage in setting the tone, approach, and priorities for the new administration. On the whole, I see not much to be scared of, a little to be wary of, and a lot to be hopeful about.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You know, there’s a glimmer of hope that this just might work out.</font></p>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronnicol" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ron Nicol</a> – <strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Director of Agency Action</strong></font>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Defense</strong> – <a href="http://www.kolotv.com/content/news/EXCLUSIVE-Trump-Foreign-Policy-Advisor-Speaks-With-KOLO8-398265011.html" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Keith Kellogg</a></font>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kellogg was one of the first military men sent into Iraq after the invasion, and he eventually went to work for CACI, a large defense contractor, as head of their R&D divison.  Make no mistake – his job wasn’t to head reasearch, it was to help get contracts.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Defense</strong> – <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/255375-america-needs-a-global-missile-defense-plan" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mira Ricardel</a></font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mira Ricardel is an interesting choice for Defense. She was at Boeing for about 10 years, and recently wrote a piece for The Hill about the need for a comprehensive missile defense strategy.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">VA</strong> – Ret. General <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-meese-9906727" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Michael Meese</a></font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">National Security</strong> – <a href="http://www.matthewaid.com/post/148735093426/former-house-intel-committee-chairman-mike-rogers" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mike</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Rogers_(Michigan_politician)" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rogers</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

A lot of us were surprised and disappointed when Mike Rogers left the House for a career in media.  He’s the former head of the House Intelligence Committee, and a very welcome addition to Trump’s team.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">State</strong> – <a href="http://www.heritage.org/about/staff/c/james-carafano" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Jim Carafano</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Carafano is a national security guy, less than a diplomacy guy, and may be a bit of a round peg in a square hole here.  One of his major concerns has been the national security implications of our porous southern border.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">DHS</strong> – Cindy Hayden</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Intel</strong> – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_L.Burgess,Jr." style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ron Burgess</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Former DDNI and head of DIA, so some serious experience chops here.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">NSC</strong> – <a href="http://www.stewartandpartners.com/partners/matthew-c-freedman.php" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Matthew Freedman</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Reported association with Manafort is of some concern</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Justice</strong> – Kevin O’Connor</font></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Economics</strong> – <a href="https://www.discovery.org/news/economics/watch-the-problem-of-crony-capitalism-today/9821" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bill Walton</a>, David Malpass<br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Walton also has a free market-oriented, generally pro-freedom site <a href="http://cgtv.us/" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">here</a>.</font>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Treasury</strong> – <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/david-malpass-the-worlds-monetary-dead-end-1421885831" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">David Malpass</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

David Malpass (like Ebell, educated at Colorado College), has prior experience at Treasury under Reagan and GHW Bush, and is on the record opposing easy money as a substitute for pro-growth policies.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Commerce</strong> – Ray Washburne<br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Dallas developer, Trump Finance Committee Chair, former RNC & Chris Christie finance chairman</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">USTR</strong> – <a href="http://www.dandimicco.com/" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dan DiMicco</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

<a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000561053" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hostile to TPP</a>, and has written extensively about the need to start actually making things again</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Indep. Agencies</strong> – <a href="http://www.aei.org/scholar/paul-s-atkins/" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Paul Atkins</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Former SEC Commissioner, with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N63ITGrQfNI" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">appropriate hostility to Dodd-Frank</a>. Also a scholar at AEI</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SBA</strong> – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Jack_Toretti" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Christine Toretti</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Oil industry exec from Pennsylvania, someone who embodies everything feminists say they like, except for the whole motherhood-and-Republican thing.  Longstanding ties to the Pennsylvania party.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">FCC</strong> – <a href="http://www.nera.com/experts/dr-jeffrey-a-eisenach.html" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Jeff Eisenach</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Jeffrey Eisenach is at <a href="http://www.aei.org/scholar/jeffrey-eisenach/" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">AEI</a>, and his expertise seems like an excellent fit for FCC</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SSA</strong> – Michael Korbey</font></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Domestic</strong> – <a href="http://www.tbo.com/trump-names-gop-maverick-ken-blackwell-a-transition-leader-ap_election3353872c61f04841b75a51c94058adb7" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ken Blackwell</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

“Since his days mixing it up inside the home-state GOP, Blackwell has taken on an increasingly visible national role. He serves on the boards of the National Rifle Association and conservative Club for Growth.”  I remember when Blackwell ran for Governor of Ohio.  Liked him then, like him now.</font>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">DOE/NRC</strong> – <a href="http://mwrstrat.com/bios/mm.htm" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mike McKenna</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Also an energy lobbyist.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">EPA</strong> – <a href="https://cei.org/expert/myron-ebell" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Myron Ebell</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Ebell is at CEI, and famously hostile to Climate Change orthodoxy, and was the source for Trump’s comment that climate change was an scam developed to hobble us economically.  For the record, I think he’s probably right.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Labor</strong> – <a href="http://www.williamsandjensen.com/about-us/principals-associates/j-steven-hart" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Steve Hart</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Major, high-powered lobbyist; I don’t know much else about him</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">HHS</strong> – <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/andrew-bremberg-joins-scott-walker-117987" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Andrew Bremberg</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

“McConnell!  McConnell!” I hear you cry, but he also worked on Scott Walker’s campaign for a while.  He had hoped to help Romney repeal Obamacare</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">DOT</strong> – <a href="http://reason.org/authors/show/shirley-ybarra.html" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Shirley Ybarra</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Ybarra has been involved in transportation issues for years, and has found a home writing for Reason</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Education</strong> – <a href="http://www.hoover.org/profiles/williamson-m-evers" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Williamson Evers</a> / J. Manning<br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Evers is with Hoover, a strong proponent of choice and innovation and opponent of Common Core</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Interior</strong> – <a href="http://www.bhfs.com/people/attorneys/a-b/dbernhardt" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">David Bernhardt</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Based out here in Colorado, a lobbyist and attorney representing clients on land-use issues.  Let’s see if he’s willing to recommend people who want to devolve some public land back to the states.</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Agriculture</strong> – <a href="http://torreydc.com/" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Michael Torrey</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Lobbyist specializing in Agriculture</font></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mgmt/Budget</strong> – Ed Meese (yes, <em style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">that</em> Ed Meese) / Kay Coles James</font>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">OMB</strong> – <a href="http://www.heritage.org/about/staff/w/paul-winfree" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">P. Winfree</a> / L. Springer<br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Winfree is with the Heritage Foundation, as a budgetary expert</font></li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">OPM</strong> – <a href="http://www.aeispeakers.com/speakerbio.php?SpeakerID=1850" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kay Coles James</a><br style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />

Associated with AEI and has worked with OMB before</font></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: outside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Agency Tranform & Innovation</strong> – Beth Kaufman / Jonathan Beck</font></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</font></div>

<div><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/11/stafftheswamp-anti-establishment-trump-choosing-establishment-staff"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/11/stafftheswamp-anti-establishment-trump-choosing-establishment-staff</font></a></div>

<div>

<p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style=" margin: 1em 0px; font-family: ;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By now, we all know that despite his supposedly populist sentiment, Trump is being advised by some of <span class="caps">DC</span>’s longest-serving insiders, including  20-year House Rep. Newt Gingrich and disgraced Fox News Chairman and <span class="caps">CEO</span> Roger Ailes. And Politico has a <a href="https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2016/11/meet-trumps-cabinet-in-waiting-137379" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><u>couple</u></a> great <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-staff-transition-231161" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><u>looks</u></a> about all the <span class="caps">DC</span> power brokers and other elites jockeying for positions in Trumplandia. <span class="caps">RNC</span> chair Preibus is considered to be a prime candidate for Chief of Staff, while former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin is being considered for Treasury Secretary. Because Hillary giving speeches to Goldman Sachs executives is damning, but giving one the Treasury Department is populist.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now <a href="http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000158-4bd6-d173-a559-ebf74bfa0000" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><u>PoliticoPRO has</u></a> an organizational chart for Trump’s transition, and by looking at all the lobbyists and beltway insiders, one would be forgiven for assuming his last campaign catchphrase was #StaffTheSwamp. Apparently Trump’s plan to #DrainTheSwamp entails pulling all the swamp things out of the water, and into the White House.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Homeland Security transition is being led by tobacco giant Altria’s Cindy Hayden. Leading labor is Steve Hart, chairman of Williams <span class="amp">&</span> Jensen, who represents small businesses like Coca-Cola, General Electric, <span class="caps">HSBC</span>, and <span class="caps">VISA</span>. The agricultural sector is being managed by Michael Torrey, who represents lil’ ol’ American Beverage Association.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But what about our core issues of environment and energy? For the Energy Department, Trump’s taking advice from Michael McKenna, who works for <span class="caps">MWR</span> Strategies, which represents the chemical giant Dow, the Kochs, and coal giant Southern Company. It’s been reported for months now that <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/07/21/1550480/-Harold-Hamm-Sergeant-in-the-War-on-Science" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><u>fracking magnate Harold Hamm</u></a> is in the lead for Secretary of Energy.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For Interior, if Trump doesn’t give the position to Trump Jr. (because what did we overthrow British rule for, if not nepotism?) then it may go to Forrest Lucas, co-founder of Lucas Oil.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And for the <span class="caps">EPA</span> transition, Trump has tapped none other than <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/myron-ebell" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><strong>Myron Ebell</strong></a>. He not only works for <span class="caps">CEI</span>, which is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute#Funding" title="" target="blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><u>funded by Exxon, the Kochs</u></a>, big tobacco and other industries, but also directed the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Cooler_Heads_Coalition" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><u>Cooler Heads Coalition</u></a>, which was more or less a front group for Koch front groups.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ebell’s got quite a history of meddling at the highest level. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2003/sep/21/usnews.georgewbush" title="" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration: none;"><u>Back in the George W. Bush administration</u></a>, he was contacted to help suppress climate research coming from the government, and suggested then-<span class="caps">EPA</span> head Christine Todd Whitman be fired for allowing the <span class="caps">EPA</span> to commit the mortal sin of releasing a report about the reality and dangers of climate change. Now he gets to present to Trump candidates to choose from, which should cut down on the need for Ebell to have them fired in the future. (Assuming he doesn’t take the job himself, which is rumored that he might.)</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Seems like Trump’s commitment to being anti-establishment is as serious as his commitment to his wives.</font></p>

</div>

</div>

<p> 

===</p>