Word: burford
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...Burford leaves, but big problems linger for EPA on the Hill
...Anne Burford was surrounded. White House aides were a solid Greek chorus subtly pressuring a recalcitrant President Reagan to let go his besieged Environmental Protection Agency chief. They convinced him that she was a roadblock to settling the dispute with Congress and restoring credibility and employee morale at the battered EPA. Burford's mentor in the Administration, Interior Secretary James Watt, advised her that her support was eroding and that she should consider quitting. Finally, shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, she received a call from Reagan Friend Joseph Coors, a Colorado brewery mogul, who had been...
...Burford, known by colleagues as the Ice Queen and once described in her home state of Colorado as so tough "she could kick a bear to death with her bare feet," succumbed with quiet dignity. Her celebrated feistiness had faded under the emotional strain of seeing her agency tarred by allegations ranging from perjury and conflict of interest by her top aides, to mismanagement and political favoritism. She also faced a congressional contempt citation for invoking, on Reagan's orders, Executive privilege to withhold subpoenaed EPA documents from House subcommittees. "She had come apart at the seams personally...
...Burford conceded that the pressure was overwhelming. "It's killing me," she said tearfully. "I can't stand there and watch that agency brought to its knees." New charges had surfaced only a few hours before her resignation. Two Democratic members of Congress released EPA documents showing that Burford was warned by the agency's inspector general nearly a year ago of damaging evidence of conflict of interest against her friend and influential aide, James W. Sanderson, but did not take any action...
Reagan and Burford exchanged official letters at the White House during a bittersweet 20-minute meeting attended by Meese, Watt and Burford's new husband, Robert, a Watt aide. Reagan said he would give Burford a part-time job on a federal board or commission. At a press conference Thursday in Washington, she said: "I resigned because I feel I had become the issue, and I was very concerned that the agency and the many fine people who work there should be allowed to carry on their work...