An environmental scoundrel and the GOP’s moral collapse

by | Dec 6, 2017 | Features, Politics | 2 comments

I want to expand on a recent post by Rob Schofield. Schofield writes about the lamentable tenure of former DEQ Secretary Donald van der Vaart. He covers why van der Vaart was such a destructive force in North Carolina policy. But the former secretary’s story has implications beyond the glass-walled building on Jones Street.

 the moral collapse of the GOP.

Van der Vaart is a vindictive, cynical hatchet man who abuses his technical credentials to push an extreme agenda. His respect for science begins and ends at its ideological utility.  He has manipulate government process in unprecedented ways. In a normal political movement, there would be no place for such an unethical man. But the NCGOP elevated him to a central role. And the Trump administration even considered promoting him further to being the nation’s top environmental cop.

Van der Vaart found an opening because the GOP no longer vets for decency. The party reacted to the Bush administration by excluding ethics from their criteria for advancement. Van der Vaart is an environmental scoundrel. So he’s just another kind of questionable figure pouring into the GOP.

Sadly, because of this downward cycle, van der Vaart’s career is almost certainly not over. His last press release struck a savvy faux-victimized tone, and it will make him more of a right-wing darling. Like Donald Trump, he knows what Republicans want. It’s ugly.

2 Comments

  1. ebrun

    Scoundrel? Shoot, is that the best smear you can come up with? Your reputation for invective and defamation directed at conservatives and Republicans is going to suffer among far lefties if you can’t think of a more hateful description of GOP policy makers. And” hatchet man” just won’t cut it, either.

    Maybe I can help you out How ’bout ‘criminal’ ‘Nazi’, ‘ogre’ or ‘fiend ? Any of those slurs should help you maintain your credibility with the far left zealots who frequent this blog. .

    • VIL

      vozvrashchaysya pod svoyu skalu, tovarishch

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