JACKSON, Wyo. - The Bush administration is muzzling national park superintendents by ordering them not to stray in public comments from a list of rosy stances on budget matters, an advocacy group says.

National Park Service officials acknowledge providing "talking points" to help guide employees but say that's standard practice and insist that no policy prevents superintendents from being candid.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group based in Washington, D.C., contends park leaders are being forced to downplay negatives because President Bush made election-year promises to take good care of the nation's parks.

"The Bush administration is trying to turn every national park into a local re-election campaign office," said Jeff Ruch, the group's executive director.

Park Service spokesman David Barna, author of the "talking points," disputed PEER's claims. Park superintendents "are free to talk to the press," he said. "There has not been a restriction at all."

The talking points offer guidance "so we all speak with one voice." But Barna added: "It's not an attempt in any way to keep people from talking to the press."

Park Service Intermountain Region spokesman Rick Frost said his office does not restrict what park superintendents can say.

"We've never done anything like that," he said. "Parks determine for themselves what their situation is and how they respond."

He cited a story in the April 21 issue of the Jackson Hole News&Guide in which Grand Teton National Park spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo described some of the park's financial problems and proposed solutions in detail, going beyond what was recommended in the talking points.

Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press.

###