I find it interesting that people seem to be resigning from the White House.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=514&e=4&;;u=/ap/20030521/ap_on_go_ot/whitman_resignation

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Christie Whitman resigned as Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) administrator on Wednesday, weary after two and a half years of struggles with fellow Bush officials, Congress and business and environmental groups.

"Halfway through last December, I was ... saying 'Do I really want to live this lifestyle for another two and a half years?' It was pretty apparent I didn't," she told reporters.

Whitman, who differed with the White House on issues ranging from global warming (news - web sites) to power plant pollution, informed President Bush (news - web sites) of her decision during a half-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon.

She told the president that she considered her tenure at the EPA rewarding professionally, but that it was time to return to her home and husband in New Jersey.

"I said, 'It's time to go. He said, 'I know,'" Whitman said. She plans to step down on June 27.

With Whitman's departure, Bush loses one of the most prominent women in his Cabinet — a moderate former New Jersey governor selected by the president to help soften his image as a political conservative, particularly on environmental issues.

Bush called Whitman a trusted friend and adviser who worked "to achieve real and meaningful results to improve our environment."

White House officials, who sought to deflect any suggestion Whitman had been forced out, said it would be weeks before a replacement would be named.

The president will be under pressure to appoint someone acceptable to his conservative GOP supporters and the business community, but not alienate moderate Republicans and swing voters who favor increased environmental protection.

Whitman's departure is an "opportunity for revolution" if Bush appoints a successor inclined toward less regulation, said the conservative Competitive Enterprise (news - web sites) Institute.

But Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense, said the next EPA administrator "must be an independent voice for public health and the environment" in a Cabinet already heavily leaning toward business interests.

Among those mentioned as possible replacements: David Struhs, who heads Florida's environmental protection department; Josephine Cooper, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, who formerly worked at the EPA; and former Michigan Gov. John Engler.

Meeting with reporters, Whitman cited as accomplishments: reducing pollution from off-road diesel engines; restoring low-level pollution sites known as "brownfields;" a push to cut pollution from school buses; a number of pollution-reduction settlements with industry.

Addressing her differences with the White House, Whitman said, "I wouldn't characterize them as conflicts. I mean, dynamic discussions, yes. But that's what happens all the time."

Whitman clashed with senior White House officials and others in the administration over how best to address climate change, arsenic levels in drinking water, and industry complaints that EPA's air pollution rules were stymieing efficiency improvements.

Within months of coming to the EPA, Whitman in a memo to Bush called global warming "a credibility issue for the U.S. in the international community" and said "we need to appear engaged." A short time later, the president withdrew from the climate talks.

It "was a little awkward," she acknowledged Wednesday, when asked about the new U.S. policy on climate change.

Whitman also expressed frustration over the administration's handling of allowable arsenic levels in drinking water — first rescinding the regulation altogether, then, after a public outcry, agreeing to go along with the tougher standards that Whitman had urged.

Whitman also favored enforcement of a Clean Air Act provision known as "New Source Review," requiring that any increase in production from older factories, power plants and refineries be accompanied by state-of-the-art pollution controls. The regulations were criticized widely within the White House. The EPA eased them last December.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) once joked that Whitman was the administration's "wind dummy," a military phrase for something pushed out the door of a plane before landing to check wind direction.

"I've never felt humiliated. ... You know you can't take any of this personally," Whitman said Wednesday when reminded of Powell's characterization.

Sen. James Jeffords (news - web sites), I-Vt., said Whitman "brought grace and leadership to the EPA at a trying time and did the best job she could under very challenging circumstances."

Whitman joined the administration after seven years as governor of New Jersey, where she made preservation a priority but never managed to convince environmentalists she was one of them. She occasionally had been talked about as a potential GOP vice presidential candidate.

Whitman said her decision to step down was helped when she received a bouquet of roses from her husband, John, an investment banker. "When he gave me flowers for Mother's Day that said, 'Welcome home,' I knew I'd made the right decision," she said.


This is on top of Ari Fleischer's resignation.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=6&u=/ap/20030519/ap_on_go_pr_wh/fleischer_resigns



What does this mean? I have no idea.

(Sorry about the links. I tried.  :-/)


Cat

I don't think it means much.  Not many administrations make it to the end with the same staff.  I am surprised Ari made it as far as he did, I wouldn't want his job.