So the White House Council on Environmental Quality took the lead in trying to resolve the question and brokered the endorsement. The council is closely affiliated with Gore, who has made environmental protection a top issue. The contributions had been solicited by the Gore campaign in February 1999, according to a company executive. Staffers at the White House Council on Environmental Quality said that they briefed Gore on the project as the agreement was being negotiated but that he made no effort to influence the decision. Environmentalists voiced outrage, however, and said the White House was going against its commitment to save wetlands.
New Jersey needs more malls like Washington needs more bureaucrats.
Jim Kennedy, a Gore spokesman, said Thursday that the contributions played no role in shaping federal policy. He said the decision struck a balance between preserving open space and private property rights. The federal agreement in some ways went against the developer, he added, because it halved the size of the project, which originally was more than 200 acres. The White House became involved at the request of environmentalists and helped fashion a solution which benefits the environment and in fact bars the Mills Corp. from building the mall it had planned. Brad Campbell, then with the White House environmental council, said Gore was briefed on the proposal simply to prepare him for questions from the news media in New Jersey.