Why Not Drop Out Now?

Anyone who's worked in a corporate environment knows there are career limiting things you can do or say. But that must be something Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne hasn't learned yet.

President Bush’s nominee for Interior secretary contradicted administration policy Thursday when he told a Senate committee he opposed selling public land to raise money for cutting budget deficits.

Bush’s 2007 budget plan includes two proposals to sell up to 320,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management and national forest land to raise up to $1 billion over the next four years to help reduce the deficit.

“If it is strictly for deficit reduction, I do not support it,” Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Kempthorne said he could support some sales of public lands if they were surrounded by private land or costly to manage.

“I do not want to preclude the tool,” he said.

I wonder if he will be refusing the nomination so he can spend more time with the family?