Word: interior
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...could prove an even more formidable adversary than Watt because of his low-key, nonbelligerent style and close personal ties with President Reagan. Many environmentalists were quick to point out that Clark has no real expertise in the intricacies of land-management policy and the myriad regulations that the Interior Department must observe or enforce. Complained William Turnage, executive director of the Wilderness Society: "This is the third time that President Reagan has appointed William Clark to a job for which he has no apparent qualifications...
Nonetheless, career veterans at the Interior Department, as well as many Watt-appointed loyalists, look forward to having a boss who has the President's ear. In any bureaucratic battles, notably those with Budget Director David Stockman, the Interior officials expect Clark to emerge on top. "We feel good and secure that he's so close to Reagan," says one Interior aide...
...Interior bureaucrats also expect the glare of public attention on the department to soften under Clark. Watt's public remarks got in the way of gaining broad support for his policies. As one department official puts it: "He's a great fella, but why did he have to shoot his mouth off like that?" Though Clark may be far less vocal, Interior aides expect him to be an aggressive boss, despite his inexperience with environmental issues. On the other hand, no radical shifts in policy are expected. Says one department veteran: "Reagan and Watt didn't have...
...Janet Brown, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund: "Maybe it's better he start with no opinion than the opinions James Watt started with." One thing seems certain: Clark may have been fatigued at NSC, but he will not be able to rest, free of controversy, at Interior...
...resignation: long before his crack about "a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple," Watt had said that the electorate is composed of "liberals and Americans" and that Beach Boys fans are riffraff. But Watt did more than just make inflammatory pronouncements. He pushed through radical changes in Interior policy, most of which are likely to endure at least as long as Ronald Reagan is President. And some elements of the Watt legacy are irrevocable...