Kerry Seeks Probe On Karl Rove

[DrFunkenstein]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Environmental and commercial fishing groups asked the White House on Wednesday to explain the role President Bush's top political aide played in developing water policy in the Northwest.

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The request followed the disclosure that White House political adviser Karl Rove briefed dozens of political appointees at the Interior Department a year and a half ago about diverting water in the Klamath River in Oregon to help nearby farms.

Word of Rove's January 2002 briefing, which took place following a trip by President Bush and Rove to Oregon, was first reported last week by The Wall Street Journal. Rove made a second trip to Oregon before the Interior Department made its decision increasing the water flow to farms.

Sen. John Kerry, one of the Democratic presidential candidates, called on the Interior Department's Inspector General to look into whether "political pressure from the White House is intimidating staff and influencing policy."

"The Bush Administration needs to understand that federal agencies like the Interior Department are not a division of the Republican National Committee and at their disposal to give out political favors," said Kerry.

Interior Department spokesman Mark Pfeifle, who attended Rove's January 2002 meeting, said the Klamath water diversion issue took up "probably 30 seconds to a minute" of a 25-minute presentation.

Pfeifle said the rest of Rove's presentation was taken up discussing matters such as outreach to suburban voters who are interested in environmental issues and to labor unions supporting oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/08/06/national1836EDT0730.DTL