Two days after being revealed as an official inside the White House who rewrote scientific research reports on climate change in 2002 and 2003, lawyer Philip Cooney resigns. A White House press secretary said he wanted "to take the summer off to spend the time with his family.”
His departure was "completely unrelated" to the disclosure, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said (according to the AP).
If we were feeling cynical, we might ask: Who will take over the rewriting-the-scientific-reports-on-global-warming chore inside the White House now?
More to the point, Cooney’s vanishing goes back to what Republican pollster Frank Luntz has been warning the White House for years: "Green issues are killing us." It’s tough to call for a policy based on "sound science" (a favorite White House phrase on this issue) when people find out that a former oil industry lobbyist is writing the White House version of "science."
Kit Stolz 