WILKES WITHDRAWS
Obama’s Forest Service Pick Backs Out
Conservationists were surprised by the choice of Wilkes, but he says criticism didn't influence his decision.By David Frey, 6-08-09
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| Homer Wilkes, right, in an NRCS archive photo | |
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Homer Lee Wilkes, President Obama’s choice to oversee the Forest Service, has withdrawn his nomination, saying it was a bad time to move his family to Washington.
“It was great for me, but when it comes to the end of the day, I had to do what’s best for my family,” Wilkes told NewWest.Net in a telephone interview on Monday afternoon.
Wilkes said because he had two sons in high school it would be a difficult time for him to move his family from their home in Mississippi.
“Had this worked for me and the timing had been right, oh yeah, I would have done it,” he said.
Wilkes would have been the first black to serve as undersecretary of agriculture in charge of the Forest Service. His selection surprised many because he had little forestry background. He is a career employee with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, an agency he also would have overseen as Agriculture undersecretary for natural resources and the environment.
The Associated Press reports that the White House has not picked a replacement for Wilkes.
Conservationists were surprised by the choice of Wilkes. The position has usually gone to someone with a forestry background.
“I think it reflects the rather low priority that the Obama White House places on public lands,” Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, told NewWest.Net last month.
Wilkes said such criticism played no role in his decision to withdraw his name.
“I define myself as a leader and leaders lead,” he said. “I understand the natural resources and I think forestry is a natural resource. I don’t put a lot of weight to it (the criticism).”
Wilkes was nominated on May 5 but his name was never sent to the Senate for confirmation.
The state conservationist in Mississippi, Wilkes is a 28-year NRCS veteran. He previously served as budget officer for the service in Amherst, Mass., the assistant financial manager and fiscal specialist in Washington and chief of administrative staff for the NRCS South Technical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
A resident of Madison, Miss., he holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s of business administration and a Ph.D. in urban conservation planning and higher education from Jackson State University.
“For nearly thirty years, Homer has worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service where he has been dedicated to conserving and improving the environment in multiple states,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, in announcing the pick.
Jay Jensen has already taken the position of deputy undersecretary for natural resources and environment. Since May 2005, he served as executive director of the Council of Western State Foresters/Western Forestry Leadership Coalition, based in Lakewood, Colo.
Wilkes called his nomination a “great honor” and a “great opportunity” but said it was bad timing.
“I hope the opportunity comes again in three years,” he said.
The new undersecretary will inherit a host of controversies that surrounded President Bush’s pick, Mark Rey, who was blasted by environmentalists for policies they saw as favoring timber and energy interests. The under-funded national forest system is also grappling with problems including a massive beetle infestation, a growing wildfire danger and controversies over gas drilling, logging and roadless protections.
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Comments
The family first deal does not ring true. The man is black, from the deep South, and his family cannot have been unaware of the honor and hopes of many others of their ethnicity, for having a black man in that job. The SO of the USFS in Mississippi is a black woman, and having Wilkes working between ObamaNation and the USFS Chief's Office, and Kimball, would have been a realization of the equality this country has in government. Family saying "no" don't cut it. A black guy and his family saying no to the first black President is not believable. Sorry. But, they have had a posting in D.C., and maybe thought they would be safer in Mississippi.
Historically, Gifford Pinchot employed a black man on his staff, in the Chief's office, in an administrative position and not to the liking of many in Congress at the time. So there is history at work in the USFS, and for Wilkes to say "no" is just not sitting right in the scope of things.
So you now have to wonder about the vetting process, and if some tax avoidance, or green cardless housekeeper, the usual tripwires to nuanced regrets at not being able to accept a job, are in play. I sort of thought you didn't get nominated unless you had first given written indication you wanted to be considered.
The timing of the announcement of non-acceptance coming on the weekend while the Prez is out of the country, and announced not by White House Press Sec Gibbs, nor by Wanda Sykes who was not available either, but by an Asian gay media minder and great vote getter in the campaign, further speaks to a purposefully low key muffled kind of response. I don't think we have gotten the truth, the whole truth, and nuttin' but da truth from this deal yet. The RightWingFerrets are going to work overtime to find the Real Reason. And have Alan Keyes be their spokesperson in some sort of middle digit salute to Chicago. So then it becomes another straw man deal, and not unlike that comic strip about spys we used to chuckle at in Mad Magazine.
As to Washington, there is a huge black population, well paid, educated, and working for government and with government in that area. Those people are just not seen in their numbers by the rest of the country, but they are there. If Wilkes' kids thought they would not have a social life, with equals, they are sorely mistaken. That might be the best place in the country for a kid of color to grow up, with the exception of the Washington DC inner city of poverty, dependence, addiction, and other social ills all concentrated in a small area but in great numbers. But surrounding the Capitol, there are many suburbs with a multitude of kids from all over the world, as well as the US, of color who do just fine and thrive. That excuse does not cut it.
So, I am awaiting the true answer, the real facts. And they will come out sooner than later. The sleazy announcement on a weekend with press out of town, by a lackey in a the media room, is suspect as well. That is not where and how a pass on a very responsible USDA under secretary job is announced. Sorry.