Corps of Engineers nominee could face opposition

President Bush's nomination of former Rep. Mike Parker, R-Miss., to head the Army Corps of Engineers is likely to be approved, but over the objections of environmentalists and some Republicans who believe he will not do enough to overhaul the $4 billion agency, Gannett News Service reported. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a leader of the newly formed Corps Reform Caucus, questioned the nomination. "I had hoped that we could get someone who's reform minded, but that's not the case with Mr. Parker," he said. Melissa Samet, water resources director for the environmental group American Rivers, said Parker's voting record "suggests strongly that he is hostile to wetlands regulation, and regulations in general." She called his rating with the League of Conservation Voters abysmal. The group twice gave Parker a zero rating when he served in Congress. But Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who lobbied to get Parker the job as assistant Army secretary for civil works, strongly supports his fellow Mississippian. "He knows what the Corps can do. He represented a district that ran along the Mississippi River ... and he also understands the Congress," said Lott. Most recently, Parker--an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1999--has worked as a lobbyist for CSX Corp., part owner of a barge company that ships goods down the Mississippi River. Parker, elected to the House as a Democrat in 1988, switched to the Republican party in 1995.