Who will be the next DOI secretary?

For the past however many months we have been enduring the Republican presidential nominating process, which has winnowed the field from eight to four candidates.

Of the four, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is generally deemed the closest thing to a moderate and Ron Paul wears the Libertarian brand.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Rep.

Rick Santorum, R-Pa., seem to be scrambling for the "conservative" middle, with Santorum displaying a slight edge.

According to a recent poll, however, if Gingrich were to abandon the field, only about half of his supporters would embrace Santorum, and the other half would back Romney.

This leads observers to infer that there is no point in Gingrich doing anything different than what he has been doing all along - thumping the table and articulating his ostensibly conservative political views.

A question arises, however, how should Alaskans deal with this field. Is there anyone out there who would be good for resource development in the West or Alaska? The gruesome truth is that all four of the contenders are from east of the Mississippi and, by definition, have no feel for the issues experienced by those who live and work in public land states. That is not to say that presidents who should have known better didn't screw things up pretty badly. Miners in Alaska did not fare particularly well when George W. Bush appointed the former Attorney General of Colorado to be his Secretary of the Interior.

For the most part, the Republicans in the race have been soft spoken or silent about mining and the environment. Newt Gingrich has a track record of playing "footsie" with Nancy Pelosi on the role of anthropomorphic impact of climate change and is understood to be a supporter of the goals, if not the implements, of the Endangered Species Act. This does not bode well for the vast array of other statutes and regulations which burden resource development despite the obvious (to Alaskans) nexus between the flight of capital and jobs overseas and the burden of regulation at home.

It is the basic wisdom of the street that Ron Paul will never become the Republican candidate for president of the United States. His views - no matter how seemingly attractive they are in a vacuum - are wildly out of the contemporary context. Gingrich seems soft on collateral issues, but remains a contender. Neither Santorum nor Romney is explicit in their positions; so, therefore, perhaps they remain flexible. (Or should I say malleable?)

It seems to me, therefore, that now is a capital time to start a whispering campaign to see if we cannot find a way to influence the selection of the next Secretary of the Interior. Of course, if the incumbent president is re-elected, this conversation is academic; however, if there is a Republican winner in the fall, it is possible that a secretary could be appointed who is both pro-development and also enjoys sufficient access to the new administration to actually move the state, and the nation, forward.

It is said that America needs jobs and mining is labor-intensive. Mining jobs also pay well. In the lower 48, a great deal of the mining takes place on federal lands. In Alaska, on the other hand, although we have more federal land than anyone else, most people choose to seek mineralization on land controlled by the state or Native corporations. Federal land, generally, is over-regulated and therefore less attractive than the alternatives, given an equal probability of mineral potential. A Secretary of the Interior who comprehends this aspect and can advocate the development of domestic mineral resources on federal land in Alaska would do us all a great service.

Handicapping the forthcoming election is not complex. Roughly one-third of the electorate is independent and will split according to who they believe will best reflect their views. "R's" will vote red, "D's" will vote blue. If President Barack Obama is deemed liberal enough, then Romney could win over the bulk of the middle. If Santorum - or some other well-credentialed social conservative - happens to win the Republican nomination, the middle will take a left turn.

From the Alaska vantage point, therefore, the hope and the prayer must be that Romney wins the nomination and the election; and, candidly, that is the likely outcome. But it does us little good if the key agencies - Interior, Agriculture, Army Corps of Engineers, EPA and CEQ - are staffed with people who do not value our domestic resource strength and the ability of our resource development industries to continue in their leading role into the ensuing generations.

Who do I like for Secretary of the Interior? It's not hard to guess (but I'm not telling).