"The Idaho Statesman’s award-winning columnist Rocky Barker has an excellent review of who might be the next Secretary of the Interior, depending on who wins the presidential race.

This is of particular interest in Idaho because former governor, U.S. senator and (and Boise mayor) Dirk Kempthorne (R) is the current head of Interior, where his reviews have been generally very good.

Barker points out that the agency’s head is the country’s top wildlife manager of “more than 507 million acres of national parks, rangeland and wildlife refuges.”

Other names being suggested for McCain are Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colorado, and Rep. Steve Pearce R-New Mexico.

Under a President Obama, Rep. George Miller, D-California, John Leshy, who worked at Interior when former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus was Secretary of the Interior, and Montana’s governor Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, are apparently being thrown around. "

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Who Will Lead Interior Under a New President? (New West 10/16)