Ex-Interior secretaries criticize White House

Two former U.S. Interior Department secretaries are upset with the Bush administration. Tuesday, they spoke out.

"Events are clearly headed in an ominous direction," said Bruce Babbitt, who, joined in a media teleconference by Stewart Udall, expressed his disgust for administration attempts to outsource jobs in the National Parks Service.

Udall shared Babbitt's opinion, adding, "I think it's symbolic of the attitude and outlook of this administration. . . . Across the board policy-wise, conservation is now a bad word, you would think, from the way they behave."

The two were responding to proposed policy, currently being considered by Congress, that could give up to 70 percent of jobs in the NPS to private contractors. Jobs currently contracted out in the NPS include food, transportation and lodging services, but additional jobs that could be affected range from maintenance positions to trained biologists.

"There are clearly functions that are appropriate for this . . . but what we have here is stripping the discretion out of the parks service," Babbitt said.

So, why the concern over outsourcing?

"If we start contracting these out, what we're going to do is reduce these to the level of routine eight-hour-a-day jobs," instead of the passion- and service-based jobs they currently are, Babbitt said, adding that forced contracting would change national parks to amusement parks.

Requiring privatization of jobs contributed to the D- grade the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) gave the Bush administration in a June report card. NPCA gave a D grade for administration and management of national parks.

But Utahns, residents of a state that boasts five national parks, don't need to be alarmed just yet.

"The National Parks Service is very concerned, but initially there isn't going to be much of an impact here," said Cordell Roy, Utah coordinator for NPS. This, because Utah is not one of the locations where competitive sourcing studies are taking place, "but all this remains to be seen."

Udall and Babbitt gave their opinions in hopes that a disgruntled public could stop Congress from passing legislation that would bring about this privatization.

"There's a lot at stake here, and the only thing that is going to stop reckless (decision-making) . . . is going to be public opinion," Babbitt said.

Udall served as Department of the Interior secretary from 1961- 1969 under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Babbitt served from 1993-2001 under the Clinton administration.

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