President Clinton Response to Question concerning Political Motivation for Giant Sequoia National Monument
April 15, 2000 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT ROPELINE FOLLOWING EARTH DAY EVENT THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary (Bakersfield, California) ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release April 15, 2000 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT ROPELINE FOLLOWING EARTH DAY EVENT Trail of 100 Giants Sequoia National Forest Q -- who say the visit here is politically motivated and say you're trying to build an environmental legacy for yourself and the Vice President? THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I think that when you can't win an argument, sometimes you just attack the person on the other side. (Laughter.) The only issue here is whether we're doing the right thing. I have been doing this kind of thing for seven and a half years now. I've been working on these issues. What I'm trying to do is to build a legacy for these children. And I think we did the right thing. And Secretary Glickman worked very hard to preserve all the functions in this area that are going on, except the logging. And I believe there will be a net gain economically here, because we are protecting these trees for life, forever. That's what I believe and I just think it's the right thing to do. I've always believed this. I did this sort of thing when I was governor. It's not something that I woke up last year and decided it would be a nice thing to do. I believe that. And I think -- we don't have to criticize each other's motives, they can disagree with my decision, but I think I did the right thing and I think the future will prove us out right. END |