Last week we learned that the Bush White House let Philip Cooney, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, re-write a government report on global warming, editing out scientific conclusions he didn’t like. The controversy drew fairly strong criticism, which, under traditional Bush rules, would help Cooney get a promotion.
But not this time. Cooney has been forced to resign.
A senior White House official involved in a damaging controversy over his deleting of dire climate change warnings from US government reports has abruptly resigned, but the White House denies his departure had anything to do with the flap.
Philip Cooney, chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, stepped down Friday without disclosing his future employment plans, announced presidential spokeswoman Erin Healy.
“He has accumulated many weeks on leave, and so he decided to resign and take the summer off to spend some time with his family,” Healy told AFP.
She added the resignation was “completely unrelated” to the release of documents this past week that show Cooney had given a thorough editing to US government documents on global warming — in what appeared to be an effort to make them look less dramatic.
Of course, it’s just a wonderful coincidence. Within days of sparking widespread disparagement, and after the White House couldn’t think of a way to defend its decisions, Cooney suddenly wants to spend more with his family (which is practically DC code for “forced resignation”).
And let’s not lose sight of the entertaining details. When was Cooney’s resignation announced? That’s right — on a Friday afternoon!
Say what you will about these guys, but they’re predictably consistent.