Clinton Administration Chief of Staff to Discuss Environment and Democratic Political Strategy

John Podesta, chief of staff for former President Bill Clinton, will discuss “The Environment as a Part of Democratic Political Strategy” on Thursday, February 12 at noon in Bowers Auditorium, Sage Hall, at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, 205 Prospect St.

Podesta was chief of staff from 1998 until 2001 and was responsible for directing, managing and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, congressional relations and staff activities of the White House. He coordinated the work of cabinet agencies with a particular emphasis on the development of federal budget and tax policy and served in the president’s cabinet and as a principal on the National Security Council.

He also served the Clinton administration as both an assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff from 1997 to 1998. During President Clinton’s first term in office, he was a senior policy advisor on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy.

Podesta has held a number of positions on Capitol Hill including: counselor to Senator Thomas Daschle (1995-1996); chief counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee (1987-1988); chief minority counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform; and counsel on the majority staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee (1979-1981). In addition, in 1988, Podesta founded with his brother Tony, Podesta Associates, Inc., a government relations and public affairs firm in Washington, D.C.

Podesta is the president and chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress, a liberal research and educational institute, and a visiting professor of law on the faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center, a position he also held from 1995 to 1997. He has taught courses on technology policy, congressional investigations, legislation, copyright and public interest law.

The talk, which is free and open to the public, is part of a seminar series on “Greening the Vote: Politics and the Environment in the 2004 Election Cycle.”