He also was known for record approval ratings and his unprecedented ability to raise money for his campaigns until leaving the job in the midst of his third term for the greener - or browner, depending on your point of view - pastures of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Leavitt liked to portray himself as the great compromiser, the guy who could get along with everyone. But now environmental groups are calling him a puppet of the political mastery of Karl Rove, one of President Bush's most trusted advisers and a campaign string puller.
They point to the timing of a number of environmental initiatives the new EPA administrator has announced this year and note that such initiatives are almost always taking place in battleground states where Bush either won or lost by just a handful of votes in 2000.
Before being named by Bush last fall to head the U.S. government's designated protectorate of the Earth, Leavitt received mixed reviews on his environmental record in Utah. A moderate on wilderness issues and a self-described champion of the outdoors, Leavitt promoted open-space initiatives but was criticized by environmentalists for his Legacy Highway proposal that allegedly hurt the environment and resulted in a tumultuous federal lawsuit.
He also was accused of punishing State Division of Wildlife Resources officials involved in the whirling disease investigation that pointed fingers at his family-owned fish pond for introducing to public waterways the plague that killed millions of fish.
But he was popular and likeable and no serious accusations ever stuck.
This year, Leavitt or other officials of the Bush administration have announced new programs to protect the environment in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Oregon and Arizona - all states considered up for grabs this year. The geography and the timing of the initiatives have not escaped the cynical eye of environmental watchdog groups.
"Bush began his tenure by blocking the Clinton administration's effort to reduce arsenic in drinking water and discarding a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Since then the administration has weakened the Clean Air Act, allowed Superfund to go bankrupt, and everything in between," said Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust (NET).
"However, on the state level, the Bush White House has conducted initiatives intended to inoculate the president to charges that he's bad on the environment - an important issue both to soccer moms who care about clean air and clean water, and to NASCAR dads who want a good place to hunt and fish," Clapp said.
Leavitt announced at a press conference in Michigan earlier this year a Bush request to Congress for $45 million to help clean the Great Lakes, a proposal critics claimed co-opted Illinois Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel's Great Lakes Restoration Financing Act.
"Leavitt then announced he would hold a series of town meetings on the proposal in states surrounding the Great Lakes. Well, that includes Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, which are all swing states," said Clapp.
"With an extremely close election, no matter where you go you are accused of pandering in a battleground state," said EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman. "Administrator Leavitt has been to 43 states in the year he has been here to better understand the clean-air and other environmental issues he deals with."
She said the Great Lakes initiative was the result of an executive order and Leavitt has worked to bring officials from all the affected states as well as Canada together to solve serious problems in the lakes and the region.
"These efforts will continue after the election and already are paying off," she said.
Clapp also pointed to a Bush announcement that the federal government would spend $235 million to buy back oil and gas drilling rights in order to protect the Everglades and beaches from oil and gas drilling, an environmental deal that his brother, the state's governor, acknowledged was a re-election boon.
"This is in stark contrast to the president's response to offshore drilling in California where he sided with the oil and gas industry in fighting for the extension of offshore oil drilling rights," said Clapp.
Environmentalists also point with suspicion to Leavitt's announcement in Pittsburgh, Pa., earlier this year of plans to increase funding for the Clean School Bus USA program from $5 million to $65 million, and the Bush administration's "healthy forest" initiative in such battleground states as Arizona and Oregon.
prolly@sltrib.com
