Senator Dole placed a call to Andrew Card before Christmas asking the White House to consider Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory for EPA administrator, among other positions.

UPDATE: It appears that the majority of McCrory's federal and environmental experience has come in the form of lobbying for dollars for light rail transit and "smart growth" initiatives. See, for instance, his congressional testimony from March of 1997. The only difference between McCrory's "conservative" smart growth and other smart growth policies is that he seeks more of the subsidy dollars for developers directly instead of city regulatory coffers --- though he certainly hasn't been squeamish about soliciting federal dollars for the city of Charlotte itself. One thing seems rather certain: there certainly would be nothing conservative about the budget for a McCrory EPA.