[Mb-civic] Whitman Warns against Catering to Right

[Michael Butler]

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    Whitman Warns against Catering to Right
    By Donna De La Cruz
    The Associated Press

     Friday 17 December 2004

     Washington - Christie Whitman, the former New Jersey governor and Bush
environmental official, says in an upcoming book that Republican moderates
must speak up or the party could move so far to the right that it will lose
its influence and strength.

     Whitman, who led the Environmental Protection Agency for President Bush
from 2001 until May 2003, also says in the book that she was often at odds
with the White House on issues such as setting limits on air pollutants and
power plant emissions and in the debate over global warming. Her tenure was
marked by complaints from conservatives that she was too moderate.

     The main focus of Whitman's book "It's My Party Too: The Battle for the
Heart of the GOP and the Future of America," is on her desire for moderate
Republicans to regain control of the party. The more conservative wing of
the party has claimed much credit for Bush's re-election.

     "A clear and present danger Republicans face today is that the party
will now move so far to the right that it ends up alienating centrist voters
and marginalizing itself," Whitman writes in the book, obtained Friday by
The Associated Press. The book is to be released by The Penguin Press in
late January.

     Whitman says fellow moderates, such as former New York City Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, were
instrumental in Bush's re-election win, often campaigning with him in
battleground states.

     The role of moderates is to bring the party back to its center, she
says.

     "It is time for Republican moderates to assert forcefully and plainly
that this is our party, too, that we not only have a place but a voice, and
not just a voice but a vision that is true to the historic principles of our
party and our nation, not one tied to an extremist agenda," she says.

     Whitman was not available to discuss her book. Her publicist, Rachel
Rokicki, said Whitman would not be conducting book interviews until next
month.

  

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