CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN

'Christine Todd "Christie" Whitman' (born September 26, 1946, New York City) is an American Republican politician and author who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, and was the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003.
Whitman now has an energy lobbying group called the Whitman Strategy Group, "a consulting firm that specializes in government relations and environmental and energy issues".Website of the Whitman Strategy Group, accessed September 26, 2006. She is currently nominated to be a director at United Technologies.

Contents

Early life

Career in Politics

Nixon Administration and Early Politics

Governor of New Jersey

Environmental Protection Agency

Political philosophy

Electoral history

Quotes

References

External links

See also

Early life

Ms. Whitman was born in New York City, raised in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and attended the Chapin School in Manhattan. She graduated from Wheaton College in 1968, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in government. After graduating, she worked on Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign.
Whitman is a descendant of two New Jersey political families, the Todds and the Schleys, and related by marriage to New York's politically-active Whitmans. She is married to John R. Whitman, a prominent private equity investor, and they have two children. She is the granddaughter-in-law of former Governor of New York Charles S. Whitman. Her maternal grandfather, Reeve Schley, was a member of Wolf's Head Society at Yale.
Whitman retains her maiden name of Todd in part to continue the connection with Republican voters. Whitman is related by marriage to the Bush family; her brother, Webster B. Todd, married Sheila O'Keefe, the stepdaughter of James Wear Walker, whose sister Dorothy Walker Bush was the mother of George H.W. Bush and grandmother of George W. Bush.

Career in Politics

Nixon Administration and Early Politics

During the Nixon administration, Whitman worked in the Office of Economic Opportunity under the leadership of Donald Rumsfeld. She also conducted a national outreach tour for the Republican National Committee, was Deputy Director of the New York State Office in Washington, and worked on aging issues for the Nixon campaign and administration.
She became involved in Somerset County politics in the 1980s and was appointed to the Board of Trustees of Somerset County College (now Raritan Valley Community College). Elected to two terms as a member of the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders, she served as Deputy Director and Director of the Board. Among her accomplishments as freeholder was working to complete construction of a new county courthouse.
From 1988 to 1990 she served as President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in the cabinet of Gov. Thomas Kean.
In 1990, Whitman ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Bill Bradley, and lost a close election.King, Wayne. " THE 1990 ELECTIONS: What Went Wrong?; Bradley Says He Sensed Voter Fury But It Was Too Late to Do Anything", ''The New York Times'', November 8, 1990. Accessed August 7, 2007. She was considered a longshot candidate against the popular Bradley. During her campaign, Whitman criticized the income tax hike proposed by then Gov. James Florio, which Bradley did not take a stance on.

Governor of New Jersey

Whitman ran against James Florio for governor in 1993, and defeated him by one percentage point plurality to become the first female governor in New Jersey history. She was re-elected in 1997, and narrowly defeated Jim McGreevey (again with a one percent plurality), the mayor of Woodbridge Township.
As Governor, Whitman did not fully fund the state pension system and instead floated bonds to avoid raising taxes.State Budget Contains First Appropriation for State Pension Funds in Many Years Although Whitman's predecessors did not take the same approach to state pensions, recent governors from both political parties have diverted billions of dollars from the New Jersey pension fund into other government purposes over the last 15 years.
Walsh, Mary Williams. "New Jersey Diverts Billions, Endangering Pension Fund", ''The New York Times'', April 4, 2007. Accessed August 7, 2007.
In 1996, Whitman rejected her Advisory Council's recommendation to permit needle exchange, an effort to reduce the incidence of HIV infections.Whitman Rejects Panel's Suggestions About Needle Exchange In 1997, she rolled back the 1 cent sales tax increase her predecessor Florio had imposed, instituted education reforms, and removed excise taxes on professional wrestling, which led the World Wrestling Federation to once again hold events in New Jersey. In 1999, Governor Whitman vetoed a bill that outlawed partial birth abortion; the veto was later reversed, but also later declared unconstitutional by the courts.
In 2000, under Whitman's leadership, New Jersey's violations of the the federal one-hour air quality standard for ground level ozone dropped to 4 from 45 in 1988. Beach closings reached a record low, and the state earned recognition by the Natural Resources Defense Council for instituting the most comprehensive beach monitoring system in the nation. Additionally, New Jersey implemented a new watershed management program and became the United States leader in opening shellfish beds for harvesting. Governor Whitman also won voter approval for the state's first stable funding source to preserve one million acres (4,000 km²) more of open space and farmland in New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the country.
In 1996, Whitman joined a police patrol in Camden, New Jersey. During the patrol, the officers stopped a 16-year-old black male named Sherron Rolax for "suspicious activity" and proceeded to frisk him. After finding nothing, Whitman also frisked the suspect while a New Jersey State Police officer photographed her. In 2000, the image of the smiling governor frisking Rolax was published in newspapers statewide, which drew criticism from civil rights leaders who saw the incident as a violation of Rolax's civil rights and an endorsement by Whitman of racial profiling -- especially since the suspect was not arrested nor found to be violating any law. Whitman told the press that she regretted the incident and pointed to her 1999 efforts against the New Jersey State Police force's racial profiling practices.

Environmental Protection Agency

Whitman was appointed by President George W. Bush as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. As head of the EPA, she challenged the validity of a government-commissioned report suggesting a human contribution to global climate change. Compilation of Exhibits for 110th Congress's examination of political interference with climate science
Whitman appeared twice in New York City after the September 11 attacks to inform New Yorkers that the toxins released by the attacks posed no threat to their health.Video: Health Effects of 9/11 Dust On September 18 the EPA released a report in which Whitman said, "Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink."EPA Response to September 11, "Whitman Details Ongoing Agency Efforts to Monitor Disaster Sites, Contribute to Cleanup Efforts" (September 18,2001) Later, a 2003 report by the EPA's inspector general determined that such assurances were misleading, because the EPA "did not have sufficient data and analyses" to justify the assertions when they were made.EPA Report No. 2003-P-00012], page 7. August 21, 2003. A report in July 2003 from the EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response gave extensive documentation supporting many of the inspector general's conclusions, and carried some of them still further.EPA’s Response to the World Trade Center Towers Collapse, A Documentary Basis for Litigation Further, the report found that the White House had "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones" by having the National Security Council control EPA communications after the September 11 attacks.Heilprin, John. "White House edited EPA's 9/11 reports", ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', August 23, 2003. Accessed August 7, 2007..
On June 27, 2003, after having had several public conflicts with the Bush administration, Whitman officially resigned from her position to spend more time with her family.Muchraker: In her forthcoming memoir, former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman takes stock of the GOP's "rightward lurch" under Bush In a later interview, Whitman claimed that Vice President Dick Cheney's insistence on easing air pollution controls, not the personal reasons she cited at the time, led to her resignation.Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency: Leaving No Tracks
On February 2, 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Deborah A. Batts issued a ruling that rejected Whitman's request for immunity in a 2004 class action lawsuit brought by a group who claimed exposure to hazardous debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center. The judge stated that "No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws," and called Whitman's actions "conscience-shocking."Judge Slams Ex-EPA Chief Over Sept. 11, ABC News, February 2, 2006.
On June 25, 2007, Whitman testified in front of Congress about the Agency's culpability in telling rescue workers that the air was safe. She was repeatedly booed by rescue workers and activists who attended the hearing. She defended herself by saying her statements about the air being safe were to people living or working near the area, not to rescue workers. She also said terrorists, not the EPA, were responsible for the tragedies that befell people after September 11.Whitman on Hot Seat Over 9/11 Aftermath

Political philosophy

In early 2005, Whitman released a book entitled ''It's My Party, Too: Taking Back the Republican Party... And Bringing the Country Together Again'' in which she criticizes the policies of the George W. Bush administration and its electoral strategy, which she views as divisive. Whitman has denied that she intends to run for the presidency in 2008. She has formed a political action committee called It's My Party Too-PAC (IMP-PAC) that she intended to help elect moderate Republicans in 2006 and 2008 at all levels of government. She has allied her PAC with the Republican Main Street Partnership, The Wish List, the Republican Majority for Choice, Republicans for Choice, Republicans for Environmental Protection and The Log Cabin Republicans. Eventually, the IMP-PAC went (according to its website) under the auspices of the Republican Leadership Council.

Electoral history

★ '1997 Race for Governor:' Christine Todd Whitman (R) (inc.), 47% - James McGreevey (D), 46%

★ '1993 Race for Governor:' Christine Todd Whitman (R), 49% - James Florio (D) (inc.), 48%

★ '1990 Race for U.S. Senate:' Bill Bradley (D) (inc.), 50% - Christine Todd Whitman (R), 47%

Quotes

★ "It is time for Republican moderates to assert plainly and forcefully that this is our party too, that we not only have a place, but a voice - and not just a voice, but a vision - a vision that is true to the historic principles of our party and our nation.[1]

★ "The defining feature of the conservative viewpoint is a faith in the ability, and a respect for the right, of individuals to make their own decisions - economic, social, and spiritual - about their lives. The true conservative understands that government's track record in respecting individual rights is poor when it dictates individual choices." From ''It's My Party Too'', p.73

References

External links

★ New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, National Governors Association

★ biographical information for Christine Todd Whitman from The Political Graveyard

★ ''It's My Party Too!''.

★ ''Republican Leadership Council''.

★

★ Laura Flanders, ''Bushwomen'' (ISBN 1-85984-587-8).

See also

★ Health effects of September 11, 2001 attacks