To his Dallas supporters he’s a heartening source of hometown pride, a guy who’s doing the Lord’s work at the Environmental Protection Agency. To his critics he’s an activist environmentalist in regulator’s clothing, a progressive ideologue who, given his druthers, would run roughshod over one of Texas’s most important industries. Now Al Armendariz, who heads the EPA’s region 6, has just given his critics a lot of good ammunition.
In a speech, Armendariz said, “The Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they would crucify them. And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.” And, the former SMU prof added, that tack’s a good one for going after energy companies, too.
Armendariz apologized after a video of his talk emerged. But that hasn’t stopped some from calling for his head. The same calls went up several years ago after W’s HUD Secretary, Alphonso Jackson, said something equally stupid in a speech in Dallas that was reported by D CEO‘s now-managing editor Christine Perez. Jackson was rightfully “crucified” for that, pardon the reference. Doesn’t Armendariz deserve equal treatment?
