The EPA will have to find a new crucifixion chief.
The Obama administration’s top environmental official in the oil-rich South and Southwest region has resigned after Republicans targeted him over remarks made two years ago when he used the word “crucify” to describe his approach to enforcement.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson sent Sunday, Al Armendariz says he regrets his words and stresses that they do not reflect his work as administrator of the five-state region including Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
He can’t even tell the truth on the way out. Armendariz’s words do reflect his work and his attitude. Since Obama appointed him to head EPA’s Region VI, the agency has set about punishing the energy industry every chance it could. What Armendariz committed in that 2010 tape was a Kinsleyan gaffe: He accidentally said what he really thinks.
Armendariz joins Van Jones and Anita Dunn among the radicals hired by Obama and more or less fired by the people, once their radical ideas and associations became widely known.
Update: Armandariz resigned just ahead of being hauled to Congress to testify.
Update: Half an hour after a major EPA official resigns, and MSNBC has yet to report it. Instead, Andrea Mitchell is chatting with Democrat activists about Obama’s Osama-killin’ ads.
Update: CNN is reporting on the “dangers of sitting.” Nothing yet about Armendariz’s departure.
Update: Flashback — one of Armendariz’s big Texas cases led to an embarrassing reversal for the EPA.
Update: When monitoring a story like this, DirecTV’s News Mix comes in handy. I’m watching 7 news channels plus the Weather Channel at the same time. So far, only Fox has reported on Armendariz’s resignation. CNN and MSNBC are both doing the “if we don’t report it, it didn’t happen” routine.
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