Hightower Lowdown

Not content with a cabinet full of CEOs and lobbyists, George Bush is corporatizing all the other top policy-making positions of government.

Take the Department of Defense, the most wasteful, fraud-ridden agency of all, which funnels billions of our tax dollars each year to Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and other weapons giants. George's choice for Secretary of the Air Force is none other than James Roche, vice president of Northrop Grumman, which happens to be seeking billions of dollars in new Air Force contracts. Likewise, for Secretary of the Navy, George chose Gordon England, VP of General Dynamics, which is seeking billions of dollars in new contracts from the Navy.

Bush has named Linda Fisher to be deputy administrator of the EPA. She was the top Washington lobbyist for Monsanto, which is seeking numerous environmental dispensations from the EPA.

As head of the Council on Environmental Quality, W. chose James Conaughton, a Washington attorney for General Electric, ARCO, and other polluters.

And to be No. 2 at the Interior Department, which oversees mining on public lands, Bush picked J. Steven Griles, a lobbyist for the National Mining Association.

The people who were outside experts at twisting government to serve corporate interests are now on the inside to do the twisting. The only difference is the fact that their paychecks now come from us taxpayers.