Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Tuesday, July 24, 2001

 

Page 5

 

Bush to Nominate Sacramento Judge to Interior Post, White House Says

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

President Bush will nominate Sacramento Superior Court Judge H. Craig Manson to be assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife, the White House said.

Manson, 46, was appointed to the Sacramento County Municipal Court by then-Gov. Pete Wilson in January 1998, then made a Superior Court judge by unification of the trial courts six months later. He had previously served in Wilson’s administration as the first-ever general counsel to the Department of Fish and Game, a post to which he was appointed in 1992.

Manson drew criticism in that post from some legislators and environmentalists for his role in negotiating the 1997 amendments to the California Endangered Species Act. Manson rejected the criticism, saying the changes were needed to balance habitat protection against economic needs.

The prospective nominee is a 1976 graduate of the Air Force Academy and served to the rank of major before leaving active duty in 1989. He earned his law degree while in service, in 1981 from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, and was admitted to the State Bar of California the same year.

He was an assistant professor of law at the academy from 1985 to 1989, then left the service to join a Sacramento law firm, Downey, Brand, Seymour and Rohwer, where he worked until Wilson named him to the DFG post. He has also been politically active, serving on the state Republican Central Committee before being appointed to the bench.

He is currently a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard.

 

Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company