By: Ryan Grim

President-elect Barack Obama recently announced the appointmen of John Leshy as the head of his transition team overseeing the Interior Department. It’s a good bet he didn’t run that choice by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

At an August 2007 field hearing in Elko, Nevada, Reid shared with those present his opinion of Leshy, then a professor, according to a transcript of the event.

"[N]ow, thank goodness, [Leshy] is a professor, not involved in doing anything regarding mining," said Reid, the son of a miner. "He tried to destroy mining. Really. [He] didn’t believe in it. He wanted it gone. And that has created uncertainty."

Reid went on to make reference to a document produced by Leshy in 1997 known as the mill site opinion. Leshy was then a Clinton administration solicitor with the Department of the Interior. The Bush administration overturned the opinion in 2003.

"We all remember the Millsite Opinion of 1997," said Reid, "which I said publicly could have been written by somebody in the eighth grade rather than this professor."

A Reid spokesman declined to comment.

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