Theodore
Most of the other members of the commission also were topnotch people. Mike
Wright was an intellectual power house, or maybe he had a very good staff to
brief him. Strangely enough, even though he had been a staunch Republican all
of his life, the White House staff, without me knowing anything about it or
anybody else on the commission knowing anything about it, got the President
to replace him on the commission.
When Nixon came into office, each of the commissioners had written a short
undated letter saying, "In accordance with established procedure, I hereby
submit my resignation to be
at your pleasure. This is standard for all
presidential appointees, even in the middle of an administration when the new
administration starts. I understand that some Presidents demand that appointees
give them that letter when they are appointed.
So, those undated letters were all on file, and the first thing I knew about it was
when I got a call from the White House telling me that there were some
important papers for me to pick up. When I got them, I found there was an
appointment for Josiah
of Texas, who had been chairman of Democrats
for Nixon in Texas, and another for Roger Ernst of Arizona, who had been an
Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Along with them were letters accepting
Mike Wright's resignation and Frank Diluzio's resignation.
When I called up Mike Wright, I think he thought that I was the one that
wanted to get rid of him. This was the farthest thing from my mind because he
had been a tower of strength in supporting me when other commissioners came
up with unrealistic ideas. Frank Diluzio just shrugged when I called to tell him,
saying that he was surprised that it took as long as it did.
This happened in November 1969. We were well under way, and we had two
new commissioners, and they didn't know anything about the study program.
Roger Ernst from Arizona was well versed in government procedures, having
been an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, but Josiah Wheat's primary
connection to federal water policy had been through the Water Resources
Congress and the National Reclamation Association in Texas. From their
backgrounds I thought they might want to change the focus of the commission
to make it a strong supporter of Western water development.
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