The Revolving Door Takes Another Turn

Jane Nishida Nominated for EPA Position

President Obama announced on Thursday his intention to nominate Jane Toshiko Nishida as assistant administrator for international and tribal affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Nishida has 30 years of environmental experience working in federal and state government, and international and nongovernmental organizations. She is currently the acting assistant administrator for international affairs and principal deputy assistant administrator for international affairs at the EPA, a position she has held since December 2013.

Prior to this, Nishida served as the director of the Office of Regional and Bilateral Affairs within the Office of International and Tribal Affairs from 2011 to 2013.

Previously, Nishida was the senior environmental institutions specialist at the World Bank from 2004 to 2011, and the senior policy advisor at the Planning and Development Corporation from 2002 to 2004. From 1995 to 2002, Nishida was secretary of the Maryland Department of Environment, and she served as the Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation from 1991 to 1995.

From 1984 to 1991, she served as deputy and assistant legislative officer for the governor of Maryland. Nishida was committee counsel to the House Environmental Matters Committee and Senate Economic Affairs Committee of the Maryland General Assembly from 1980 to 1984.

I don't really have any great insights into this; I know nothing about Nishida, and I don't even have a clue why the EPA would need  an office of international and tribal affairs.  Why would the EPA be concerned with international affairs? Don't we have a State Dept. for that?

But the career trajectory is interesting. Maryland assembly advisor, Governor's advisor, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, World Bank, EPA.  It's almost like the government is in bed with the NGO's. Almost.

UPDATE:  I've had this one open in the browser for weeks, waiting for a chance to use it, and I almost forgot: EPA arms Democrats with data, snubs Republicans

With midterm elections not far off, Democratic opposition researchers are armed with thousands of pages of records obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency through the Freedom of Information Act, far outpacing known Republican efforts to pry information loose from the agency, records show.

Democrats have filed more than 50 FOIA requests, including lots seeking correspondence between Republicans and EPA officials — letters that operatives will scour for any hint that politicians’ rhetoric doesn’t square with how they conduct themselves outside of public view. Their findings help supply a steady flow of material for damaging news stories and campaign ads.


Twenty-eight of the Democrats’ requests have been completed. Most resulted in the EPA release of documents with some reports that a search yielded no records. The other requests are being processed or await assignment.

Republican political committees have filed just four requests since 2012, and none of those has been fulfilled. One request that has languished for more than two years sought correspondence between John F. Kerry, a senator at the time, and EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

EPA officials said they don’t play favorites when it comes to handling requests and go beyond many other agencies in posting online the information they release in response to requests.

The EPA is chock full of true believing democrats.  There's no way they could be nonpartisan, even if they wanted to, which they don't.  Time for my "modest proposal" for the civil service; political affirmative action. Strict quotas by political belief. Fire half of the current crop of democrats, and replace them with partisan republicans up and down the hierarchy and let them keep each other in line. Throw in a proportional number of greens, Peronistas and Naderites to keep them amused.