By Jennifer McKee
Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer
Jan. 3, 2000

President-elect George W. Bush tapped Spencer Abraham, a one-term Michigan senator, to head the Department of Energy on Tuesday, drawing criticism from New Mexico nuclear watchdogs who zeroed in on Abraham's lack of nuclear experience.

"Putting someone with no apparent experience in charge of the Department of Energy ensures that the career bureaucrats, the nukemeisters and strangeloves will be running the show," said Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group, a Santa Fe group that promotes nuclear arms reduction. "They'll be writing the agenda."

If the Senate confirms the nomination, Abraham will replace current DOE Secretary Bill Richardson, an eight-term New Mexico congressman and former United Nations ambassador. Richardson likewise came to the DOE with little experience in nuclear issues. But Mello maintained that Richardson had more political savvy than Abraham and attempted to "bring the national labs back under control."

"Richardson was a pretty good secretary," he said. "He had a lot of political skills and he needed all of them just to survive." Abraham, a Lansing, Mich., native, was an attorney and Republican Party leader before he ran for the Senate in 1994. He served one term and was defeated by Democrat Debbie Stabenow in November's election. Abraham also served as chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, co-chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and was former Vice President Dan Quayle's deputy chief of staff.

In the Senate, Abraham sat on the Budget, Small Business, Judiciary and Commerce committees, none of which have direct oversight over the Department of Energy. The Commerce Committee, however, has some power over managerial decisions within the DOE. Abraham also co-sponsored several measures to dismantle the Department of Energy. New Mexico's Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman called the nomination "an unexpected choice" in a statement Tuesday but went on to wish Abraham well and promised to "do what I can to help him succeed."

New Mexico's Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the DOE, welcomed Abraham. "I believe New Mexicans will have a special friend in Sen. Abraham," Domenici said Tuesday in a prepared statement. Domenici also promised to "endorse and support" Abraham's candidacy. "He has served ably on my Budget Committee for the last six years and I am confident of his abilities to be a good secretary," Domenici said in his statement.

Jay Coghlan, founder of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico in Santa Fe, said Abraham's ample experience in the Republican Party and his relatively light past in energy matters suggests Abraham's nomination is purely political. "He essentially has zero experience," Coghlan said. "What kind of appointment is this? At this particular time, which is quite sensitive with respect to where the world is going with nuclear matters, it just doesn't seem right that there should be some inexperienced person as secretary."

Mello said he feared Abraham would weaken environmental controls at the DOE. Most importantly, he said, Abraham doesn't appear to have the background necessary to fix some well-publicized security and safety problems in the department's facilities, including Los Alamos National Laboratory. "George Bush's handlers have an agenda and this appointment expresses that," he said. "What can we say?"

Representatives of Abraham did not return phone calls Tuesday.

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