Jack Kemp’s Death

Jack Kemp died a few days ago.  He had served as a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise institute, where he worked on environmental matters:Jack Kemp is a distinguished fellow at CEI. The CEI page on him states:

His work at CEI centers on promoting rational, free-market environmental policies. He has spoken out against the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and other international efforts to curb economic growth, and he has championed free and open trade as the key to prosperity, in both the developing and industrialized worlds. Mr. Kemp is also a co-director of Empower America, a public-policy and advocacy organization he co-founded in 1993 with William Bennett, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, Vin Weber, and Founding Chairman Ted Forstmann. Prior to 1993, he served for four years as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and proved to be one of our nation

Strangely, the entry ends in mid-sentence, but it does provide some insight into his career.  He combined at least rhetorical support for environmental protection with strong opposition to regulation.  His position was captured by a comment from his v.p. debate with Al Gore:

Look, we recognize that this country has to live in balance with our environment. Every one of us who have children and grandchildren recognize how we have to reach a balance. It is not jobs versus our environment. Both are important. This is the most over-regulated, overly litigated economy in our nation’s history. And to call a businessman or woman who sits down and has a chance to express his or her interest in how to make these laws work and call them a polluter is just outrageous. It is typical of the anti-capitalistic mentality of this Administration. That will change because we believe in democratic capitalism for everybody.

Still, he did admit that environmental problems are real, which was a step ahead of some others today.

Competitive Enterprise Institute, Environment, free market environmentalism, Jack Kemp