Former EPA Chief Says Eastern Press Wanted Tree Hugger
Former EPA chief Anne Burford, who resigned her job amid scandal, blamed the Eastern press, who she said wanted “a tree hugger” and not a good manager.
In a speech to a seminar on ethics in government, Burford said today that she “approached EPA very much from a management point of view.” Her plan, she said, was to help the agency catch up on a backlog of work by introducing a new management system and drafting regulations more efficiently.
“Stylistically, I think I made a mistake,” she told the seminar.
An emphasis on management technique “simply won’t fly with the Eastern press corps,” she said. “They want a tree hugger. The Eastern press corps demands that you be an emotive person about the environment.”
Burford resigned from the agency in March, 1983, amid charges of sweetheart deals with corporate polluters.
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