For Michigan and five other Great Lakes states, there's no more important federal official on air, water, hazardous waste and pollution control than the Chicago-based Region 5 administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
There were well-deserved kudos for the 16-year reign of Lithuanian-American Val Adamkus, who got the job after long being a highly respected EPA career officer on Great Lakes issues.
In Chicago's EPA office, Adamkus served presidents of both parties before his 1998 election as president of Lithuania.
Now come reports that the Bush administration ousted its latest regional Environmental Protection Agency administrator for being too protective.
Mary Gade was forced out, according to the Chicago Tribune, for her relentless pressure on Dow Chemical to clean up dioxin contamination downstream from its Midland plant -- an issue of long standing.
The Tribune said: "Gade has been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. The company dumped the highly toxic and persistent chemical into local rivers for most of the last century."
Gade told the paper she resigned after aides to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson stripped her of her powers as regional administrator and told her to quit or be fired by June 1. Quintessential walking papers.
She said of her resignation: "There's no question this is about Dow. I stand behind what I did and what my staff did. I'm proud of what we did."
Michigan Environmental Council President Lana Pollack said: "It appears that once again Dow Chemical, with help of an administration that has little interest in environmental protection, has succeeded in muzzling a woman of unquestioned credentials and integrity who was doing her job enforcing our environmental laws."
If Pollack is correct, it's a sad saga for a Chicago office of an agency whose creation is a rare positive legacy for President Richard Nixon.
Taking the other side, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland, said of Gade: "In 20 years of public life, I have never encountered a more unprofessional and invective public official." Spokesman Sage Eastman said Camp tried to resolve differences but got an "insulting" response from Gade.
(As of this writing, there was no comment from the other northern congressmen, Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, and Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland.)
Ex-MEC Policy Director Dave Dempsey, former environmental advisor to Gov. Jim Blanchard and author of books on the Great Lakes, recalled that the Dow-EPA dioxin dispute goes back to the early 1980s.
Dempsey also said hands of Michigan's state government "aren't clean" on the contamination issue.
He said: "The illegal dioxin pit facilitated by state and county government poses a potentially huge ecological risk and future liability for taxpayers. But the Granholm administration and/or state lawmakers still have time to take appropriate steps to protect the public interest."
Environmentalist Michelle Hurd Riddick of the Lone Tree Council called Gade's ouster "a sad and sorry day for the Saginaw Bay Watershed and for government all the way around."
She also was critical of what she called intervention by Lt. Gov. John Cherry to add "insult to injury" by intervening to have the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality make a ruling favorable to Dow.
Of political interest in this dispute is that Cherry, who as a state senator had a strong environmental record, counts on greens for support for what is likely to be a bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2010.
Of related political interest is that Flint Mayor Don Williamson, according to the Flint Journal, is eying the same gubernatorial nomination as fellow Genesee Democrat Cherry. Also in the Democratic mix may be Genesee County Treasurer Dan Kildee.
The Genesee Three.
Appeals Court Northern Seat
A funny thing happened along the way to a spirited race for the Michigan 4th District Court of Appeals seat being vacated by Judge Bill Schuette, a former congressman, state senator and state ag director who likely will run to replace term-limited Attorney General Mike Cox, a fellow Republican.
Shortly after writing for this column that Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, R-Kewadin, had filed for the race with about 10,000 nominating signatures for the sprawling 58-county district that stretches from the Upper Peninsula to south of Lansing, I got this from Republican State Chairman Saul Anuzis:
"Kevin Elsenheimer agreed to withdraw from the race for the Court of Appeals at the request of the party to give us a better shot at holding this conservative seat. He agreed to run for re-election and continue his service in the Michigan Legislature and help ensure the House Republicans come back as the Majority Caucus next year.
"We certainly understand how difficult of a decision this was for Kevin considering his family priorities and the level of support demonstrated by the over 10,000 signatures he turned in this week. Thanks to Kevin for being an all around team player and helping the party."
Fact of the matter: Although the former Antrim County assistant prosecutor is a strong campaigner who proudly says he drove more than 4,000 miles and had "gone through countless pens" to get the signatures, party big wigs favor Michigan GOP General Counsel Eric Doster, a Lansing attorney who collected fewer signatures than Elsenheimer, to replace Schuette.
Reached late Saturday, Elsenheimer, noting there are two Democrats in the court race and there's a need for Republicans to rally behind someone, said: "I took one for the team."
He sure did. So did Up North.
George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.
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