Leavitt to the EPA.(Insider Report)

On August 11th, President Bush nominated Michael Leavitt, the liberal Republican three-term Governor of Utah, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. By accepting the nomination, Leavitt followed in the footsteps of Bill Clinton. Like the "Man From Hope," Leavitt broke a re-election campaign promise to serve out his entire term, choosing instead to vacate the statehouse to pursue a national post.

In 1994, Leavitt--posing as an outraged champion of states' rights--began a movement to convene a "conference of the states" that would have been, in everything but name, a second Constitutional Convention (see "Con-Con Call" in our March 6, 1995 issue). Beginning in 1997, Leavitt worked diligently to cultivate business ties with Communist China: The July 13th issue of Salt Lake City's Deseret News reported that Leavitt had signed a bilateral accord creating "a partnership with China to share ideas, tools and strategies to improve worker productivity."

Upon assuming chairmanship of the National Governors' Association (NGA) in August 1999, Leavitt announced a "historic" federalism summit to be held in Washington, D.C., in February 2000 to "celebrate and define the role of the states" ...