Shocking!

Yet another shocker (note the sarcasm) from the Bush administration. Philip Cooney, the chief of staff of the administration's Council on Environmental Quality, has resigned to pursue a job at Exxon Mobil. This in and of itself isn't a surprising thing, as there's a frequent rotation of lobbyists into and out of the administration, and Big Business and government usually have close connections (e.g. Cheney and Halliburton).

Anyhow, what makes this move scandalous is that Mr. Cooney was the guy who recently raised eyebrows concerning the editing of administration climate reports. Essentially, the documents a whistleblower provided showed that Cooney edited the reports so as to play down the certainty of the scientific conclusions. Exxon Mobil is an outspoken critic of environmental policy in regards to climate change, and has drawn the ire of many environmental groups in the past.

Anyhow, as an American it's really hard for me to sit here and feel that the folks in government are honest and uncorrupt, when you see such a set of disturbing events. Guy lobbies for oil interests, guy gets job in charge of an environmental council in administration, guy alters reports to paint a more rosy picture, guy gets well-paying job in the oil industry with one of the main companies his edits helped. It just doesn't sit right. Business as usual, eh?

Here's a link:
Former White House official takes Exxon job