Badlands Journal

As the evidence is mounting against Rep. RichPAC Pombo and he keeps demonstrating how corruption stupefies (he genuinely doesn't know he's done anything wrong and never will), we might pause and spend a few minutes getting a perspective on the Congress as a whole, provided in the Oct. 17 listing of Rolling Stone, "The Worst Congress Ever." http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever

However, as we sit back and spit, let us also consider that these guys aren't moral heroes, their just ordinary, pork-seeking, bribe-taking congressmen. We might contemplate for a moment the sheer rapacity of the special interests who sponsor them as if they were stock cars. Perhaps the day will shortly come when the members of Congress will be required to wear large decals advertising their 10 top contributors just to reach the political junkie segment of the TV audience. The corporations who just cannot pass up the opportunity to bribe a congressman to get a bill that will make them more profits are, if anything, more stupid and corrupt than the moral pygmies we elect to serve in Congress. What lies beneath the congressional corruption scandal is that appears to be much larger than the personal morality of congressmen, a very small thing in itself. The laws, or rather the destruction of Law, is being driven by something powerful. What is it?

Another view from a distance catches something of the anxiety:

The Guardian -- 10-28-06
Republicans facing 'electoral hurricane' in face of centrist Democrat push
Democrats on course to retake House of Representatives but euphoric mood tempered by fears of last-ditch media blitz
Julian Borger in Knoxville
... By several measures, national sentiment is more anti-Congress than it was in 1994, when the Republicans swept to victory with a net gain of 54 seats in the House and eight in the Senate, stunning Bill Clinton's administration. However, even the most optimistic Democrats do not expect a victory on that scale.
"I have a cautionary note to my friends in the Democratic party. This year is different from 94," Dick Gephardt, a former party leader in the House said. "Over the last six months, the Republicans have been on alert that they could lose the election. That was not the case for us in 94, and if you're expecting something, you fight harder."
... For one thing, the Republicans have more money in hand at the end of the campaign. In an election that will end up costing a record total of $2.6bn, the Republicans have a $200m advantage, much of which it will spend in the last few days. According to Jennifer Dunn, a former Republican congressman, her party has more money on hand than the Democrats in 19 of the closest 25 House races. In the Tennessee Senate contest, Mr Corker has raised nearly $13m, more than $4m more than Mr Ford. Furthermore the Republican contender can count on much more financial help from Republican headquarters in Washington than his Democratic rival.

Oct. 26, 2006

San Francisco Chronicle
Money flows to Democratic challengers in California House races...Erica Werner,
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/10/26/politics/p200402D53.DTL&type=printable
Democratic challengers in two hot Northern California congressional races out-raised the GOP incumbents during the first 18 days of October, as Democratic hopes rise for retaking the House. Both national political parties are spending in the district, with the GOP pouring in more than $1.3 million to protect Pombo.

Modesto Bee
Only corrupt Republicans should be afraid of Pelosi...Brad Baker
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/community/story/12937609p-13593810c.html
Local Republican congressmen are stoking the fear. Republican incumbents Richard Pombo, John Doolittle and George Radanovich need fearful voters. They're desperate to protect their seats and their majority party power. Congressmen, your party has led us to record-high deficits, a cascade of corruption scandals, a war without end, environmental plunder, the disastrous mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina, the subversion of Constitutional rights, and the United States' crumbling respect and credibility in the world. Let me whisper this to you gently: You guys are the scary ones. We're getting threats about Pelosi from local Republicans who helped turn the Capitol into a snake pit. They all backed Tom DeLay for their majority leader. Pombo and Doolittle have been linked to the Jack Abramoff investigation. Radanovich's ethics were challenged in a land deal that allowed him to keep his winery when his investors lost everything. Only Republican incumbents should be afraid. The rest of us desperately need a change.

Tracy Press
Negativity rules campaign ads...John Upton
http://tracypress.com/content/view/5094/2/
Attack ads permeate local campaign material, and candidates of all partisan stripes are striking back. “If I were simply a private citizen and not an elected member of Congress, the litany of attacks against me and my family would constitute libel, slander and defamation of character,” wrote Pombo in a Wednesday e-mail to his supporters. “If Jerry McNerney were simply a private citizen and not a Congressional candidate for change, the litany of lobbyist-funded attacks against him and his family would constitute libel, slander and defamation of character,” Yoni Cohen said.
Election 2006...From the dirty tricks of Jerry McNerney's supporters to the money trail behind certain City Council candidates, more voters sound off about the upcoming election.

http://tracypress.com/content/view/5078/2/
Trash McNerney tactics...Monica Dias, Tracy...Jerry McNerney campaign signs illegally placed in our public right of ways. For a man who professes to care so much about the environment, he evidently could care less about the visual pollution he is creating all over Tracy. Tracy’s parks and roads belong to the citizens, not the McNerney campaign. The city should immediately direct municipal workers to remove all the illegal McNerney signs from public property and throw them in the trash, where McNerney and his underhanded campaign tactics belong.

Vote against TRAZC...Dve Dawson, Tracy...TRAQC has accused members of the Tracy City Council of taking developer money, and it has accused developers of creating a monopoly over the housing market, yet TRAQC has taken developer money and is trying to create a monopoly on the City Council.

Follow the money!...Janet Greenhow, Tracy...Have you noticed the enormous amounts of money being thrown into Ives’ campaign and the costly ads falsely denying Garamendi’s concern for Tracy, all the while the city doggedly pursues the developer contracts.

McNerney won't make us saft...Steve Reshakis, Tracy...“Tough tactics produce leads,”...Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean and the rest, including liberal McNerney, cannot be trusted with the lives of our children.
Police our government...Kendra Niedziejko, Brentwook...Republican or Democrat, anyone with a grocery list of documented (even questionable) ethical violations should not only be voted out, but also removed from their existing position. It is our duty as citizens to start policing our government and expecting better of our leaders. It’s disgraceful that a local congressman is listed on the 13 most corrupt politicians’ list.

Contra Costa Times
'Pull untrue ad," Pombo demands...Lisa Vorderbrueggen
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/breaking_news/15855683.htm
Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, has demanded a Sacramento area cable company pull a campaign ad placed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The television spot said Pombo voted to hike his congressional salary eight times while voting against a $1,500 bonus for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The ad is entirely false," wrote Pombo campaign consultant Wayne Johnson in a letter to Comcast, which broadcasts in the San Joaquin County portion of District 11. The Democratic committee spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said the party stands fully behind the ad... The dispute over the allegations in the ad offer a glimpse into the world of political spin and congressional machinations that would make Machiavelli blush. On the pay-raise issue, the argument centers on whether or not procedural battles over the automatic cost-of-living increase for members of Congress constitutes a direct vote on salaries. According to a Congressional Research Service report updated in April, the annual increase goes into effect unless lawmakers vote to stop it. Pombo said he has voted to block the increase four times since he took office in 1993. The congressman also voted in for a 1996 spending bill, which included the automatic pay increase. The salary of a member of the House of Representatives has risen 11 times and been denied five times since 1990. The eight votes referenced in the Democratic committee's ad involve the annual attempt of Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to deny the pay hike through an unrelated bill, a violation of House rules. Bedingfield said that journalists have for years reported this procedural vote as de facto pay hike. "The bottom line is that when the votes came up, Richard Pombo voted to give himself a raise," Bedingfield said. Pombo voted against a failed 2003 bill that author Rep. Bart Stupack, D-Michigan, had said would direct $265 million from an Iraq reconstruction account to fund the bonus. Pombo's staff letter to Comcast calls the assertion false because its text did not specify that funds would go to the bonus. But Pombo said he voted no, along with war hero Jack Murtha, D-Penn., because he opposed the diversion of money intended to help secure Iraq and end the war. "A $1,500 check doesn't do you much good if means you are away from your family another year," Pombo said. Pombo also objected to the ad's portrayal of him as anti-military because several weeks before the bonus legislation he voted
for a 4.1 percent raise for all military personnel.

U.S. Newswire
Rep. Pombo's refusal to investigate Jack Abramoff exposed in hard-hitting, but humorous, television ad...Rick Bielke, Money Watch
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=75109
Newswire/ -- Rep. Richard Pombo's refusal to investigate convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's lobbying on behalf of clients from the Northern Mariana Islands is the subject of one of the most creative and compelling television ads of the fall in the northern California district...
Entitled "Baker's Dozen." The ad is being run by Campaign Money Watch. "Richard Pombo needs to be held accountable for his inaction on serious human rights abuses, in apparent payback to lobbyists and campaign donors," commented David Donnelly, director of Campaign Money Watch. "Despite mounting evidence, he's refused to investigate anything to do with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Money may not buy everything, but perhaps it buys blinders for Pombo."

Grist
Pom and Jerry...Amanda Griscom Little
http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2006/10/26/pombo_race/index.html?source=daily
A year ago it was virtually unthinkable that Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) -- right-wing darling, fundraiser extraordinaire, champion of polluting industries, and enemy No. 1 of the environmental community -- could be unseated by any Democrat, much less one with zero political experience to his name. But now, a week and a half before Election Day, the rookie Democratic challenger in California's 11th District, Jerry McNerney, is giving Pombo a run for his (prodigious amounts of) money. "There's panic in the Pombo campaign," says Rico Mastrodonato, Northern California director of the California League of Conservation Voters. And now [Pombo's] in a dead heat with a guy who just months ago he thought he could eat for breakfast." Not surprisingly, environmeMntal groups have flocked to McNerney's side. Green groups have deployed an extensive on-the-ground outreach campaign to rally votes for McNerney. And it's not just enviros who are rallying behind McNerney. The local media is overwhelmingly endorsing the neophyte Democrat and sparing little subtlety in editorials skewering Pombo...Modesto Bee, San Jose Mercury, The Sacramento Bee. As it is, Pombo isn't saying much of anything. In the midst of the most important political battle of his career, he is reportedly refusing to talk to the press.

Jerry McNerney.org
McNerney on Domestic Spying...Press Release
http://www.jerrymcnerney.org/press_story.asp?id=37
The Jerry McNerney for Congress campaign today responded to a desperate incumbent's slanderous television advertisement. Attempting to avoid being held accountable for flip-flopping on warrantless wiretapping, Pombo is misrepresenting McNerney's position in a new television ad. "In May, Pombo agreed with McNerney that current law provides law enforcement with the tools necessary to monitor terrorist communications and prevent future attacks," said McNerney communications director Yoni Cohen. "Pombo also agreed with McNerney that the government should not spy on American citizens without first obtaining a warrant. But in September, Pombo flip-flopped, embracing President Bush's unconstitutional attack on American liberties. California residents can't trust Pombo to keep his word. Why should they trust him with their vote?"
CLAIM: Pombo's vote for the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act in September is consistent with his statement at a Republican forum in May. (Tracy Press, 10/12/06).
FACT: Pombo initially said law enforcement should monitor phone calls between suspected terrorists only after getting a warrant. In May, Pombo proclaimed: "I believe that when monitoring phone calls or amassing a list of where people call, even though it is specifically targeted at people that are believed to be associated with terrorist groups, that it does have to go through the normal process, that [intelligence officers] do have to get a warrant issued before they take advantage of having that opportunity." (Tracy Press, 10/12/06).
Four months later, Pombo voted to allow the government to spy on American citizens before obtaining a warrant.
CLAIM: "According to his own published answers to Vote Smart, McNerney would stop law enforcement from monitoring terrorist phone calls." (Pombo TV Ad, "Our Time")
FACT: McNerney would encourage law enforcement to monitor terrorist phone calls in a manner consistent with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
McNerney's position is consistent with his response(s) to an online questionnaire.
Notably, Project Vote Smart prohibits the use of its name or survey in any negative partisan activity, including advertising. According to the organization's website, "Project Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any negative campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches" (Associated Press, 10/24/06).

Oct. 25, 2006

Monterey Herald
No sure things this time...Robin Hindrey
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/state/15842761.htm
Scandal fallout could hurt Pombo, Doolittle. Although California is 3,000 miles from the nation's capital, it's not far enough for either incumbent to escape the fallout from Washington's lobbying and congressional page scandals or the Bush administration's roundly criticized Iraq policies.

Sacramento Bee Editorial
The Bee recommends
http://www.sacbee.com/endorsements
District 11: Jerry McNerney
Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton is a political neophyte, a Ph.D. engineer who attended West Point, once worked at Sandia National Laboratories and now owns a wind power company. This, like any election with an incumbent, is a referendum. Richard Pombo work for special interests is at the diseased heart of the quid-pro-quo process that defines Washington politics today. To send him back to the Capitol endorses a system we can no longer tolerate. (Read more)
District 4: Charlie Brown
It's time to replace 16-year incumbent John Doolittle, R-Roseville, and send Democrat Charlie Brown of Roseville to Congress. Doolittle is emblematic of what's wrong in Washington. Brown was a career Air Force pilot and worked eight years in the Roseville Police Department. Brown has a lifelong commitment to public service. (Read more)

Stockton Record
Pombo should be re-elected, but needs to change...Editorial
http://recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061025&Category=OPED01&ArtNo=610250312&SectionCat=&Template=printart
Pombo has become an influential insider susceptible to the enticements and temptations of political power in the nation's capital. The forces arrayed against him in his re-election campaign are an indication of just how powerful he's become - and how he has faltered. The Record endorses Pombo for an eighth term in Congress, but its support is qualified. His Democratic opponent, Pleasanton wind energy consultant Jerry McNerney, has almost no background as a public policy-maker. He's a stronger candidate than his first run at Congress two years ago, but not strong enough. Pombo has found it difficult to counter the criticism. Some of it is accurate. Some is based on falsehoods. Some is rooted in interpretation. Or distorted. If he survives the McNerney challenge, Pombo will have a choice to make: Continue in the same direction or heed the criticism and do some things differently. If re-elected, he must shut the doors of vulnerability - or two years from now, he'll find a more experienced Democrat presenting an even stronger challenge.

Tracy Press
McNerney files ad complaint...Press staff report
http://tracypress.com/content/view/5063/2/
The team behind Democrat Jerry McNerney filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding an advertisement aired by his opponent, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy. The mandatory message from Pombo saying that he authorized the advertisement came at the beginning, instead of at the end, of a television advertisement, as FEC rules demand. Yoni Cohen, said the mistake shows Pombo has a habit of bending rules..said the mistake could cost the Pombo campaign money that could otherwise have been used to pay for more advertising because it could be forced to pay TV stations money as a penalty.

San Francisco Chronicle
Santa Cruz - 3 lawsuits challenge UC campus growth...Tanya Schevitz
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/25/BABADIGEST22.DTL&type=printable
The University of California's plan to expand its Santa Cruz campus has attracted a spate of lawsuits. University officials have argued that they followed all requirements for approval...also contend that the campus has to grow in order to meet the educational needs of the state.
National parties upping the ante as Pombo battles to keep seat...Rachel Gordon
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/25/MNGBOLVHGM1.DTL&type=printable
Republican Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy, once expected to cruise to re-election after easily subduing a primary challenge, now finds his House seat threatened by the Democratic wave that seems to be building across the country. Analysts say the contest for Pombo's district, which includes much of San Joaquin County and parts of three Bay Area counties, has tightened... When the campaign ends, the race between Pombo and Democrat Jerry McNerney, 55, a Pleasanton wind energy consultant, is expected to have cost upwards of $10 million, making it one of the priciest congressional battles ever in California, say campaign strategists.

Contra Costa Times
Outsiders converge on contentious race...Lisa Vorderbrueggen
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/email/news/15842957.htm
It's crowded on the Congressional District 11 campaign trail. Nearly two dozen groups are burning shoe leather, Internet time, money or all three in the contentious contest between GOP Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy and Democratic challenger Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton. In a clear sign that both sides believe they can win, the district's 350,000 registered voters are awash in precinct walkers, rallies, radio and TV ads, e-mail solicitations, phone calls and fundraisers.

Oct. 24, 2006

Reality check on ad from McNerney...Hank Shaw
http://recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061024&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=610240317&SectionCat=&Template=printart
The Record will examine the claims made in advertisements various candidates or political groups air locally this election season. Here is one ad released last week from Democrat Jerry McNerney. The ad: "Lost Limbs."Claim: Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, voted to raise his pay by $30,000. The facts: False. The last time Congress voted to raise its pay was in 1991, two years before Pombo arrived in Washington. Claim: Pombo voted against a measure that would add $53 million to the federal research budget for new prosthetics; the proposal is in response to the large number of Iraq war veterans returning home with lost limbs. The facts: Yes, Pombo voted against it...
The key vote in question was an amendment to a larger defense appropriations bill offered... Melancon and his supporters - mostly Democrats - argued that even though a "yes" vote would use $169 million in base-reduction money to get $53 million in new prosthetics money (congressional accounting rules are arcane), the base-reduction process would be going on for a long time, and the needs of the returning vets were immediate.

Tracy Press
Pombo camp rebukes accusers...John Upton
http://tracypress.com/content/view/5035/2/
The campaign manager for Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, described anti-Pombo campaigners linked to Defenders of Wildlife as “scum” after they accused Pombo in a mailer of refusing to investigate child prostitution, forced abortion and sweatshop labor in the Mariana Islands while he was “under the influence” of convicted felon and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for Pombo’s campaign and the House Resources Committee that Pombo chairs, would not rule out that employees at Preston Gates & Ellis, which employed Abramoff, might have lobbied Pombo or his staff on behalf of the Mariana Islands government. Dennis Stephens, a former Pombo staffer employed since 1995 as a lobbyist for Preston Gates, attended a $500 Pombo fundraiser Oct. 23, 1997, and discussed Mariana Islands issues with Pombo and Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, according to election filings and Preston Gates billing records released by the Marianas. Kennedy said he couldn’t comment on the fundraiser because it was nine years ago, but he said the Preston Gates invoices “scream of padding.”

San Francisco Chronicle
Doolittle, Pombo face unexpectedly tough re-election fights...Robin Hindery, AP
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/10/24/politics/p131153D67.DTL&type=printable
Like many endangered House Republicans, John Doolittle and Richard Pombo enjoyed years of job security most politicians would envy. But no one is envying their re-election prospects now... Although California is 3,000 miles from the nation's capital, it's not far enough for either incumbent to escape the fallout from Washington's lobbying and congressional page scandals or the Bush administration's roundly criticized Iraq policies. The defeat of Doolittle and Pombo, both from normally safe Republican districts, could prove pivotal.Through their political action committees, groups including the Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and Environmental Action have spent about $1 million on anti-Pombo advertising since California's June primary. The Republican Party has taken notice of both congressional races. The National Republican Congressional Committee has contributed more than $153,000 to Doolittle and more than $650,000 to Pombo as of Oct. 23. President Bush visited both districts this month on a fundraising sweep. As of Sept. 30, both incumbents held a financial edge. Pombo had $1.1 million in his campaign fund... The incumbents also are banking on party loyalty to carry them through another re-election.

Oct. 23, 2006

USA Today
Two lawmakers with Abramoff ties in tight...Martin Kasindorf
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-22-california-house_x.htm
TRACY, Calif. — Rep. Richard Pombo's record as chairman of the House Resources Committee has environmental groups so riled that they're spending more than $1 million to beat the seven-term Republican on Nov. 7. In a normally ironclad GOP district that Pombo won with a 61% majority two years ago, polls show that the environmentalists' TV spots and doorbell-ringing are helping to make him a candidate for the politically endangered list. The Sierra Club calls Pombo, a Stetson-wearing cattle rancher, an "eco-thug." The League of Conservation Voters says he advances a "radical, anti-conservation agenda." The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund voted him "wildlife villain of the year." Rolling Stone magazine dubs him "enemy of the earth." Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for Pombo, says the environmental groups "need a boogeyman to sell their message and raise money," and that Pombo disagrees with "the very left-leaning ... organizations on the best approaches to protecting our environment."Polls show races tightening for Pombo and Republican Rep. John Doolittle, worrying GOP leaders enough that President Bush flew out this month to raise $400,000 for Pombo and $600,000 for Doolittle in their districts. After commissioning three private polls it won't release, the National Republican Congressional Committee has spent $625,000 on Pombo. "

The Ledger
Green political groups throwing mud...Cory Reiss, Washington Bureau
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061023&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=610230358&SectionCat=&Template=printart
A recent mailer to voters in a House district south of San Francisco Bay accused the incumbent Republican, Rep. Richard Pombo, of failing to act on "documented charges of child prostitution, forced abortion and sweatshop labor." The only mention of the environment was in the disclosure: Paid for by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. The mailer ties Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, to corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented business interests in the North Marianas Islands, a U.S. territory where abuses have been alleged. The Pombo race holds particular interest for Florida, home to many endangered species and epicenter of the offshore drilling fight. When environmental groups talk about environmental issues in Pombo's district, it is often to argue that Pombo is "in the pocket" of Big Oil. Pombo is unapologetic about his efforts to, in his view, fix an outdated endangered species law and provide offshore energy to the country while preserving the ability of states to keep drilling more than 100 miles from shore. Pombo's campaign says some allegations by environmentalists are "subhuman" and unwarranted. He denies any significant contact with Abramoff or hint of influence.

Truth Out
Grass roots on firs in midterm campaign...Sari Gelzer
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006U.shtml
Pombo Meets His Match - Jerry McNerny's "People Power." Strong grass-roots mobilization paired with a dissatisfaction with Pombo's support of Big Oil's and developer's interests over his local constituents' needs has brought even Republican voters to the conclusion that they are no longer being represented by their Republican candidate, with some choosing to vote for McNerny this election.

FYI
CNN "Broken Government" To Air Thursday Night
Thurs. 8PM CNN will air a segment on the House Republican-led effort "To allow Congress to reverse the judgments of the United States Supreme Court." Pombo is featured prominently in the ad for the show. 8PM Thurs; rebroadcast at 11PM.

Pombo and his flawed ethics don't deserve support
Lodi Sentinel
Oct 21, 2006 - 07:16:49 am
www.lodinews.com/articles/2006/10/24/opinion/guzzardi/guzzardi_061021.txt - 52k
Last week, the Lodi News-Sentinel tepidly endorsed Congressional incumbent Richard Pombo, citing vague reasons like "bright," "amiable," and has "solid conservative values." But the News-Sentinel then listed alarming reasons not to support Pombo, including donations he received from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and from the Indian tribes whose fortunes he oversees in the House. And the News-Sentinel noted that Pombo has hired and retained his wife to work on his re-election staff. Unmentioned is that Pombo also hired his brother and paid both over the last three election cycles more than $370,000 for "bookkeeping" and "consulting."If you don't think these salaries are excessive for the jobs performed, just try to imagine what you, as a non-Pombo family member would be paid. More abuses that the News-Sentinel did not include but which are written up by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct are Pombo's support of two new freeway projects (the Pombo family owns 1,500 acres near the freeway), his opposition to environmental standards, an excessive and inappropriate use of franking privileges and use of federal funds for campaign expenses…

Oct. 22, 2006

Stockton Record
Shaping the future of agriculture-rich Valley...Hank Shaw
http://recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061022/NEWS01/610220330/1001
TRACY - Richard Pombo's cattle ranch sprawls over the suede hillsides of the Coastal Range. Several hundred Angus - black and red - mixed with young Holsteins bound for dairies from Tulare to Tulelake wander the open feedlot below his house. Whether he wins or loses his bid for an eighth term in Congress, Pombo will always have his herd. Pombo is vice chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and is in line to take over that panel in 2009 - if he wins and if his fellow Republicans retain control of the House. Pombo's opponent, Pleasanton wind energy consultant Jerry McNerney, is not an expert on agriculture. He said securing a seat on the Agriculture Committee is not one of his top priorities should he beat Pombo next month, but McNerney says he is rapidly getting up to speed on the industry's issues. Pombo and McNerney agree that the key to next year's Farm Bill debate...

Pombo denies doing big favors for Big Oil...Rep. Richard W. Pombo, R-Tracy
http://recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061022/OPED02/610220310&SearchID=73260638378225
The Record's decision to run a Los Angeles Times story last Sunday ("Pombo bill gives tax incentives to oil companies") was a disservice to readers. The Times has a penchant for tainting its reporting with a liberal slant and willfully neglecting the facts...subject of this story was legislation passed by the House of Representatives in June that was designed to increase American energy supplies from a resource known as oil shale. To put it to work for consumers, however, we must create incentives for producers to invest the necessary risk capital in America instead of overseas. The oil-shale legislation does that by giving them a break on production royalties - or taxes. This upfront incentive to invest in America - or "tax break for Big Oil" as liberals who fail to understand supply-and-demand principals in a global free-market economy like to put it - would create hundreds of thousands of good jobs, generate billions in corporate income tax revenue for the federal government and lessen our dependence on foreign sources. Describing this legislation as a "favor to Big Oil" is intellectually bankrupt and constitutes journalistic malpractice. Was I doing oil companies a favor when I sponsored the House-passed legislation to recover $13 billion in lost royalty payments they owe the taxpayers?

Oct. 21, 2006

Vote could change balance of power...Michael Doyle, Sun-Star Washington Bureau
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/local/story/12921084p-13578330c.html
Democratic control of Congress would be a mixed bag for California and the Central Valley, shifting power, status and priorities in ways that defy easy pre- election reckoning. "I don't expect it to happen," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said of a Democratic takeover... Democrats increasingly anticipate they will retake control of the House and possibly the Senate on Nov. 7. "It becomes possible I could be a subcommittee chairman," mused Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, "but I don't know yet what will be available or offered." University of California political scientist Bruce Cain added that a chairman's powers will vary with the style of party leadership. "We have not done anything besides preliminary discussions," Cardoza said. "We don't want to put the cart before the horse." Other California muscle is also at risk. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, chairs the House Resources Committee. Californians lead the House Appropriations and Armed Services committees, overseeing money and the military. A conservative Californian oversees jobs and schools, as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. Brian Kennedy, spokesman for Pombo's House Resources Committee, adding that a Democratic takeover "obviously would affect the Valley's ability to bring home certain projects." Besides chairmanships, some Californians could gain influence in a Democratic-controlled House. Cardoza and Fresno Democrat Jim Costa, for instance, belong to the centrist Blue Dog Coalition. The group's three dozen middle-of-the-road members would like to be the dealmakers in a narrowly divided House. But this also poses some political risk for individual members; for instance, if a liberal House leadership began expecting party discipline from the centrist Democrats in order to pass high-profile bills.

San Francisco Chronicle
Pombo's letter fills the mailbox
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/21/EDG6PKE3NA1.DTL&type=printable
U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo's ludicrous complaint (Letters, Oct. 19) in response to The Chronicle's endorsement of his opponent deserves a point-by-point response....RODGER SCHLICKEISEN, President Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund Washington, D.C.
-- He repeats his claim that the only "link" between him and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is Abramoff's unsolicited donations to his campaign. Hogwash. Abramoff's own billing records show that he lobbied Pombo and his staff 13 times between 1996 and 2001.
-- He denies that he favors drilling off California's coast because the legislation he sponsored only permitted it and didn't require it. If Pombo didn't support drilling, all he had to do was let the moratorium continue. But instead, he proposed to allow it if and when a willing governor won election.
-- He goes through his repeated assertion that he wasn't weakening the science in the Endangered Species Act and suggests that the House's passage of his bill somehow vindicates him. Why, then, was his bill repudiated by endangered species experts and editorial boards across the country? So extreme was his bill that not even the Bush administration promoted it, and it died when the Republican-controlled Senate refused to consider it.
-- He wants us to forget his proposal to sell off 15 national parks. The fact is that he actually drafted a full bill...
-- He claims that the only role disgraced House Majority Leader Tom DeLay played in securing for him the chairmanship of the Natural Resources Committee was to vote for him. Nonsense. It was well known in Washington that Pombo was able to leapfrog over many senior Republicans on that committee only because DeLay insisted Pombo, one of his lieutenants, be given the position. Several moderate Republicans were so angered by the slight to other, more senior, more deserving and more respected committee members that they actually spoke to the press about it, which duly reported it for the public to read. The reporting was not refuted. Suffice it to say that The Chronicle made a wise endorsement when it chose to endorse Jerry McNerney rather than the incumbent, who is not only the most extreme anti-environmentalist in Congress, but also has been identified as one of the 13 most corrupt members of Congress. California and the nation deserve better.
Has he forgotten?...PETER PETROSKI, Danville...Editor -- Richard Pombo's letter states "I never suggested, proposed, voted for, or endorsed" the selling off of national parks. At the Oct. 5 debate in Tracy, he told the audience "I floated the idea to see what interest there was." Thursday night at a forum in Dublin, he took the middle ground and asserted "It was a proposal some of the staffers worked on, not something I did." The "truth" to Mr. Pombo seems to be set in a geopolitical context: The more left (San Francisco) we are, the more he distances himself from his message to his core constituency. To continue the recent crossover trend, I, a Danville Republican, will not vote for Richard Pombo.
Condemned critics...DAN JULIAN, Kensington...Editor -- Richard Pombo, in his angry response to The Chronicle's endorsement of Jerry McNerney for Congress, included among many other complaints against The Chronicle that their article was laden with "heresy."
'Dullard's' dictionary...DAVE MURPHY, Petaluma...Editor -- Yet another reason not to vote for Richard Pombo: He doesn't know the difference between ''hearsay'' and ''heresy.''
For the record ... THOMAS LETCHFIELD, Palo Alto...Editor -- In his Oct. 19 letter, "Richard Pombo fires back," he exposes the many errors and misstatements in your editorial opposing him. In fairness, I think you ought to acknowledge them. I'm not holding my breath.
Not forthright...CATHERINE GODLEWSKI, Dublin...Editor -- As a constituent of Richard Pombo's, I contacted his office via e-mail several times, urging him to support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. A phone call was also logged to his office. After months, a response specific to this piece of legislation was finally received from Mr. Pombo's office, including that the bill had passed. What Mr. Pombo failed to include was he had voted to reject it. Fact.
Not representing us...MARIAM ES-HAQ, Stockton ...Editor -- Richard Pombo is a poster child for corruption

Contra Costa Times
Show Pombo you oppose sex trade...Paul Corrado, Livermore
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/columnists/perspective/15815102.htm
IS THERE a connection between young women forced into the sex trade, forced to have abortions, working 12 to 14 hour days in sweatshops, and Rep. Richard Pombo's House chairmanship? Any credence to the bipartisan outrage by Alaska's governor, conservative Republican Frank Murkowski, and House Democrat George Miller about this happening on American soil? Yes. Has Miller asked Pombo to hold hearings on these conditions? Yes. Rebuffed? Yes. Did the Senate vote to apply U.S. labor laws to the U.S. Territory Northern Mariana Islands, whose capital is Saipan? Yes, unanimously. Was an attempt to bring this issue to the floor of the House thwarted when Pombo refused to hold hearings? Yes. Is clothing made in Saipan labeled "Made in USA"? Yes. After spending two hours Internet researching what I believed to be hyperbola, an ugly picture emerged.

Ms. Magazine
Saipan Revisited...Kathrine Spillar, Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine...National/Summer 2006
http://www.msmagazine.com/summer2006/saipanrevisited.asp
Ms. cover story sparks ire and action; more Abramoff scandals uncovered. “Article ignores the great strides we’ve made.” That was the headline in the Saipan Tribune in response to the Spring 2006 Ms. cover story on abusive garment sweatshops, forced abortions and sex trafficking in the Northern Mariana Islands (of which Saipan is the largest).
Congressman Geroge Miller...US House of Representatives
http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/abramoff2.html
Abramoff-Congress Scandal Includes Labor/Immigration/Electoral Abuse in U.S. Territory...Congressman George Miller
MEMORANDUM
From: Office of Congressman George Miller
Date: January 3, 2006
Subject: Abramoff-Congress Scandal Includes Potential Electoral Fraud and Blocking Congressional Efforts to Stop Labor, Human Rights, and Immigrations Abuse in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (U.S. CNMI)

The announcement today of a guilty plea by Republican Lobbyist Jack Abramoff provides an important opportunity to bring Abramoff and others to justice for a number of crimes. It also provides a significant opportunity to fully uncover a long-standing but unresolved scandal involving Abramoff, members of Congress, their staff, and others to prevent Congress from passing legislation to end serious labor, human rights, and immigration abuses in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and to investigate interference with local elections in that U.S. territory. “In addition to the million-dollar payment involving the London law firm, for example, half a million dollars was donated to the U.S. Family Network by the owners of textile companies in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, according to the tax records. The textile owners -- with Abramoff's help -- solicited and received DeLay's public commitment to block legislation that would boost their labor costs, according to Abramoff associates, one of the owners and a DeLay speech in 1997.”-- Washington Post story, 12/31/05
Below is a link to the series of letters between Miller and Chairman Pombo and the Justice Department explaining the need for a full investigation of Abramoff’s dealing with the U.S. CNMI and the role that members of Congress, their staffs, and other lobbyists played in blocking reform legislation and possibly interfering in local elections. http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/abramoff.html

Oct. 20, 2006

Sacramento Bee
McNerney for Congress...Editorial
http://www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/42544.html
During his 14 years in the House of Representatives, Richard Pombo has represented the 11th Congressional District, which stretches from San Joaquin County to Santa Clara County. Along the way he has amassed a dubious list of financial supporters -- development interests, Indian gaming tribes, oil companies, foreign mining concerns and some of the most corrupt people in Washington, D.C. To earn that support, Pombo has embraced potentially disastrous environmental policies; suggested selling off national parks; tried to engineer giveaways of natural resources; and embraced drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off both coasts. All of these interests have returned his support in the form of contributions. This record speaks for itself -- and loudly enough that voters should get the message and return Pombo to private life. If you prefer the politics of extremes; if you're OK with selling off national parks; if backroom deal-making and tainted money suit you; if you embrace out-of-balance budgets and the concentration of wealth -- Pombo's your man. But he is no longer representing the true interests of his district, state or nation. That's ample reason for voters to send Jerry McNerney to Congress.

Election 2006...Voice of Voters
http://tracypress.com/election-2006.html
Congressman cares for us...Ralph Jones, Tracy... EDITOR, I will vote for Congressman Richard Pombo on Nov. 7 because he knows the issues and cares about his constituency. He knows whom he went to Washington to represent — we the voters who commute across the Altamont, the ones that $3-a-gallon gas matters the most. I have lived in Tracy nearly 11 years and have seen my commute time to Silicon Valley nearly double while wages stagnanted and gas prices more than doubles. Pombo knows his constituency. This is why I support him. Whether it is his support for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska or drilling off the coast of California to support America’s thirst for oil, I agree. His proposal for a new highway route to the Bay Area, relieving the congestion on the crowded Interstate 580-205 corridor is but one more reason that we have sent the right person to Washington. On a personal note, Pombo lent me his support when I lost my security clearance after 20 years working in the defense industry. It was a small matter, a misunderstanding. Pombo allowed me, Mr. Private Citizen, to be heard. Upon enlisting his help, the matter was quickly resolved. That is why I know and believe that Pombo does not take the voice or vote of his constituency for granted.

Pombo linked to Ives...Mike Boyd, Soquel... EDITOR, Washington, D.C., lobbyist money has finally made it to Tracy with the announcement that Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, gave $25,000 for the defeat of Brent Ives’ mayoral opponent, Celeste Garamendi. That’s a nice payoff for Ives, who has supported the Pombo family’s economic interests surrounding the old antenna farm. Pombo’s family owns land around the antenna farm, and in order to keep a prison off the site, Pombo passed legislation to sell the property to the city so Tracy’s children can play soccer over 36-inch and 24-inch natural gas pipelines. In 1999, the Tracy Planning Commission turned the site down for Tracy Learning Center because placing students near large gas pipelines is not a great idea. Doesn’t matter to Pombo and Ives, since there is money to be made. The antenna farm is also located next to the Tracy Biomass Plant and the Owens-Illinois glass container plant, two of the top industrial polluters in San Joaquin County. The San Joaquin Valley Pollution Control District said there was a less hazardous site for the sports park, but Ives and Pombo have their own agenda. Looks like the next endangered species Pombo is targeting may be the children in Tracy.

Oct. 19, 2006

Capitol Weekly
By David L. Dayen
http://www.capitolweekly.net/opinion/article.html?article_id=1057
After the census of 2000, Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature
made a Faustian bargain, agreeing to preserve their own hides by
gerrymandering the state so resolutely, and so specifically, that it would
be impossible to ever flip seats from one party to the next. It was a
textbook example of what is wrong with politics; an example not of the
voters picking their representatives, but the representatives picking the
voters. In virtually all elections since, this theory held, with every
single seat remaining in the same party's hands in 2004.

But, as Robert Burns once wrote, "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go
awry." In fact, there are at least two House races in California this year
that are defying the odds, and if these two Democrats are successful, they
could help to shift the balance of power in Congress. In CA 11, incumbent
Rep. Richard Pombo is facing wind energy expert and businessman Jerry
McNerney; and in CA 04, Rep. John Doolittle is being challenged by Charlie
Brown, an ex-Republican Air Force Lt. Colonel (Ret.) who served in every
forward action from Vietnam to Operation Desert Storm…

San Francisco Chronicle
Richard Pombo fires back...U.S. Rep. RICHARD W. POMBO, 11th District, Tracy...Letters to the editor
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/19/EDG6PKDVUQ1.DTL&type=printable
Editor -- I did not expect to receive the San Francisco Chronicle's endorsement, but when you gave your blessing to my opponent I certainly did not expect it to be based on factual inaccuracies or laden with political innuendo and heresy. You state that I have had "links to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff," though the only possible "link" to which you can point came in the form of unsolicited contributions to my campaign, the sum of which I donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs when Abramoff pleaded guilty to federal crimes. The fact is Mr. Abramoff never lobbied me on a single bill or a solitary vote -- ever.
I favor drilling off California's coasts, you assert, even though the bipartisan legislation I sponsored would have made that the exclusive decision of coastal states themselves. Our state would have garnered complete and unfettered power to ban offshore drilling from Sacramento -- instead of Washington -- forever. Even the Washington Post had the moderate sense to endorse this legislation before it was passed by the House of Representatives in June.
I also want to "downgrade the science around endangered species designations," you write, even though the scientific standard used in the Endangered Species Act is three decades old and couldn't possibly be "downgraded" any further. The bipartisan legislation I sponsored and the House passed would have updated this standard to match those used in effective laws such as the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and virtually all the rules and regulations that apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's scientific rule-making processes.
And you actually printed an urban legend of the liberal blogosphere when you stipulated that I think the less popular National Parks "should be sold off" -- a proposition I never suggested, proposed, voted for or endorsed. Period.
Even my appointment to the chairmanship of the Resources Committee is tainted, according to your editorial, because it came "at the behest of" former-Rep. Tom DeLay. Assuming Mr. DeLay did vote for me (committee chairman are selected by secret ballot), he would have been only one of the thirty-something votes I needed from the Steering Committee to secure the position.
My opponent and I have very different ideas when it comes to solving the problems facing this country. Liberals and conservatives always do. But I would have respected the editorial board's decision to endorse my opponent had it been deliberated based on those differences. It was not. To the contrary, your endorsement appears to have been a forgone conclusion based on the fact that he places a (D) instead of an (R) at the end of his name and reads like it was drafted using a blend of Greenpeace talking points and Democrat National Committee scripts from the "character assassination" file. Coming from a publication whose readers count themselves among America's liberal and intellectual elite, this conservative "dullard" is not impressed.

Dems see 2 House seats the think GOP can lose...Edward Epstein
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/19/MNG7LLS1041.DTL&type=printable
Increasingly confident Democratic campaign strategists have added the seats of two veteran Northern California Republican congressmen, Richard Pombo of Tracy and John Doolittle of Rocklin in Placer County, to the list of contests they think they can win on Nov. 7.

Inside Bay Area
Outside TV ads blur race in Tracy...Mike Martinez
http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=4515322&siteId=181
TRACY - A political action committee from Sacramento with ties to developers and U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo has spent more on the Tracy mayoral race - almost $58,000 - than all the candidates for mayor in the last two elections combined - $21,150 -according to public documents. Ads paid for by the committee targeting Celeste Garamendi and her opposition to a developer-built youth sports complex have been appearing on MSNBC and the Fox News Channel on Comcast Cable. In its filings with the city, HAT PAC named Garamendi as the candidate supported or opposed in the race for mayor of Tracy. Garamendi said the ad blitz is aimed at electing Garamendis opponent, Brent Ives, and maintaining a pro-development City Council. Never in the history of Tracy has this much money been spent in any kind of mayors race or local race, Garamendi said. In the last race, $15,000 thought to be a lot. Funds for the committee have come from $25,000 donations from a political action committee managed by Pombo, who Ives has said publicly endorses his candidacy for mayor... John Feliz, a political consultant and a director of HAT PAC, said they invest in areas that are pro-business and Tracys mayoral election has a good pro-business candidate were investing in. Consultants retained by Ives campaign for mayor would probably be paid by the PAC, he said.

New York Times
Mr. Pombo's Map...Editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/opinion/19thu3.html?pagewanted=print
When you add up the energy resources of the American West, one of the biggest items in the ledger is oil shale - rock formations containing deposits that can be distilled, by heating, into oil. The processes for extracting oil shale are still hugely expensive...
because the potential environmental costs are staggering. You can pump oil from oil shale by heating the underground formations, with untold effect on groundwater. Or you can dig it all up, cart it away and heat it somewhere else, scarring vast tracts of the West. None of this has stopped Congressman Richard Pombo of California - champion of the idea that we can drill our way to energy independence - from throwing yet another economic bone to the energy sector. In a little-noticed provision of the much- reviled Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act - which the House passed in June and the Senate will take up when Congress returns - Mr. Pombo lowered the royalty rate for oil shale from 12.5 percent to 1 percent. Should the day arrive when the price of shale oil becomes competitive, this could turn out to be an extraordinary giveaway of federal revenue (most oil shale lies under federal land) and a huge incentive to wreak environmental damage. None of this is surprising. Mr. Pombo has been well- financed by oil and gas producers. He has done his best to give away public resources and throw away prudent restraints on energy exploration. We believe that this country must pursue energy independence. But unlike Mr. Pombo, we believe that there is a vibrant new economy to be found in conservation and that is where our future lies. When we try to envision the America that Mr. Pombo has mapped out for us, all we can see is a nation committed to devouring itself, one barrel of oil at a time.

Oct. 18, 2006

Modesto Bee
Pombo a poor legacy to leave to heirs...Debra Renfroe, Escalon...What kind of legacy are we leaving our children and grandchildren if we allow Richard Pombo to remain in office? He has been responsible for writing legislation that has destroyed environmental protections that took years to establish. His position on drilling in Alaska is unwavering in spite of the effect it will have on the delicate environmental balance of the area and the world. Do we want to leave our future up to someone who has been included in a list of the most corrupt politicians in Congress? It is time for a change by voting for Jerry McNerney. He has the expertise in environmental issues and will truly represent the people of this district.

Sacramento Bee
The friends of fixers, gamblers and sweatshops...Peter Schrag
http://www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/41112.html
What is it about the Central Valley that produces so much political muck?...Manteca Congressman John McFall, Rep. Tony Coelho of Merced, Democrat Gary Condit of Ceres, and now we have Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy and Rep. John Doolittle of Roseville. Neither Doolittle nor Pombo has been charged with anything illegal. But the goop trailing behind them makes the transgressions of their Valley predecessors look almost benign. Just tracing their links to Abramoff and the sweatshop-dominated Northern Mariana Islands and the Indian gambling interests that were his biggest clients would take a wall-size diagram. In a recent debate with Jerry McNerney, his Democratic opponent, Pombo declared that Abramoff "never once lobbied me on anything." He'd barely met the guy. But records of the Northern Marianas government show that Abramoff billed his clients there for contacts with Pombo and his staff. How did a rancher from Tracy get so interested in those remote Pacific islands? The low-wage garment industry on the islands, which are U.S. territory, can label its products "Made in U.S.A." When the industry fought to block legislation that would have ended its exemptions from U.S. immigration and labor laws, Pombo and Doolittle were happy to help. Pombo got some $6,500 in individual contributions from the Marianas, but they pale beside the $250,000 he collected in the last two election cycles from Indian gambling interests, most of them Abramoff clients. Thanks to DeLay, Pombo chairs the House Resources Committee, which oversees Indian casinos. No congressman got more from the tribes in those years than Pombo. Back in 1994 Doolittle and Pombo both signed the GOP Contract With America, which promised to restore "the faith and trust of the American people in their government" and to root out "waste, fraud and abuse." Is this how they honor it?

Lodi News-Sentinel
Pombo for Congress — but he must clear ethical clouds...Editorial...10-14-06
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2006/10/14/opinion/editorials/edt_pombo_061014.txt
We are endorsing incumbent Richard Pombo for Congress.Pombo is bright, amiable and adheres to solid conservative values. He is against higher taxes and he has worked diligently on behalf of veterans. He has risen to a position of substantial power in Congress, serving as chairman of the House Resources Committee. His opponent, Democrat Jerry McNerney, is a thoughtful, soft-spoken and decent fellow. But McNerney is a political newbie. While he would be an excellent college professor (he holds a doctorate in mathematics) he would, in our view, be a relatively ineffectual member of Congress.Yet this endorsement comes with reservations.There are fair questions being raised about Pombo's ethics. He has received campaign donations from the convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He has received money from the Indian tribes whose fortunes he controls as a legislative leader. Critics contend he has traded financial favor for legislative action. Pombo has also continued to employ his wife, Annette, as a campaign consultant. None of this reflects well on the rancher from Tracy. We hope that, once re-elected, Pombo will take pains to clear the ethical clouds above him. As a veteran leader of Congress, he can and should use his power to push for higher standards of conduct and accountability.

Tracy Press
Perfect political storm...John Upton
http://tracypress.com/perfect-plolitical-storm.html
While Rep. Richard Pombo is giving money to torpedo Celeste Garamendi's run at mayor... On the same day that Tracy councilman and mayoral candidate Brent Ives appeared to dismiss a proposal by Councilwoman Irene Sundberg to spend city money on youth sports fields and a swimming pool, Ives’ opponent and Sundberg ally Celeste Garamendi revealed Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, has given $25,000 to sink her campaign. AKT wants to give the city money to build sports fields in exchange for the right to build homes in 2012. AKT is owned by the Tsakopoulos family, and records show Katherine Tsakopoulos gave $2,100 to Pombo’s campaign in early July. Garamendi sees in the Pombo donation an effort by a corporate cabal to maintain power in Tracy. “The money is being directed 100 percent at maintaining the special-interest control of the council,” said Garamendi...
“Pombo has historically supported unrestrained development. Pombo’s Rich PAC gave $25,000 three weeks ago to a group led by the campaign manager of Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, to run attack ads against Garamendi, a community activist who for years has defeated big developers on ballot-box initiatives. Angelo Tsakopoulos gave $4,200 to Doolittle in June, records show. Assessor maps show Pombo’s family owns about 800 acres of largely undeveloped land in Tracy’s sphere of influence, where a slow-growth law championed by Garamendi and passed by voters in 2000 dramatically slowed the number of new homes that can be built. Garamendi previously vowed to do “everything legally possible” if elected mayor to block controversial deals that Ives, outgoing mayor Dan Bilbrey and incumbent council candidate Suzanne Tucker asked city employees to negotiate with The Surland Co. and AKT Development. The deals would let AKT and Surland build 500 of the 600 homes that can be built in Tracy every year from 2012 under the slow-growth law until 9,700 homes are built in exchange for at least $40 million in sports facilities and 35 acres of land. Garamendi’s husband, attorney Mark Connolly, has taken the city to court arguing that the deals break the slow-growth law by trading away more than 225 homebuilding permits every year. Attorneys for the city argued that voters never intended to limit the number of homes that can be built by agreement with developers.The deal with AKT Development would help pay for dozens of sports fields on 150 of the 200 acres of western Tracy land being purchased by the city at a bargain rate of $950,000 from the Prisons Bureau under a special law written by Pombo and passed by Congress in 1998. The legislation requires that a quarter of the land be used for economic development such as a business park. The legislation helped prevent a federal prison from being built on the land. The 50 acres earmarked by the city for economic development are on the northwest corner of the site, which is colloquially called the antenna farm, next to 18 acres of Pombo family land on Schulte Road. In nearby western Tracy, Pombo’s uncle, Ernest Pombo, owns 122 acres of land on South Hansen Road, 468 acres on Lammers Road, and 140 acres on West Byron Road. The homes that would be built by AKT Development in exchange for at least $20 million for the 150 acres of sports fields would be built on AKT’s 5,500-home southwest Tracy Hills housing and business project. Pombo’s campaign consultant, Wayne Johnson, said he knew nothing of Pombo’s $25,000 donation. Pombo’s campaign manager, Carl Fogliani, did not reply to a phone call and an e-mail.

Tracy Press
Very poor rich man...Rick Lane, Tracy Press...Voters' Voices
http://tracypress.com/very-poor-rich-man.html
Rep Richard Pombo made a choice while in office, and it wasn't to side with the average Americans he represents. There is a cancer in Congress. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, is at the epicenter of this cancer. And he has used the power we have entrusted in him as our representative to help spread it and hide it, at the expense of our health and our prosperity. Pombo faced a choice: integrity or corruption. He chose corruption. He did this because he believes corruption pays better than integrity. Mr. Pombo...Do you see only our wallets and not our hopes and dreams...What have we done to earn your dishonesty...I voted for you and defended you and am now ashamed of that fact. I think Richard Pombo is a great example of a very poor rich man.

Rude activists...Jean Burgess, Tracy...Voters' Voices
http://tracypress.com/rude-activists.html
Jerry McNerney's rowdy backers at a recent forum provided a stark contrast between him and Rep. Richard Pombo. I have known Pombo since he first ran for Congress in 1992. He is straightforward, ethical and honest, and he always returns home to tell us exactly what is going on in Washington, D.C. He is being unfairly maligned and lied about by his opposition. I’m proud to be his supporter.

Inside Bay Area
Pombo-McNerney contest heats up as election nears...Josh Richman
http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=4509971&siteId=181
The battle between House Resources Committee chairman Richard Pombo and his Democratic challenger Jerry McNerney, already the Bay Area's only hot congressional race, seemed to shift into overdrive last week. With three weeks left until Election Day, McNerney of Pleasanton stepped up his already lively campaign by appearing with prominent House Democrats, making hay over the former Rep. Mark Foley sexual e-mail scandal, bringing a Bay Area congressional press aide aboard his campaign as spokesman and launching a new television commercial. Pombo, R-Tracy, denied new allegations that he'd been directly contacted by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff twice in 1996; continued his direct appeal to voters with a mailer inviting them to call him at his Tracy home; and saw the National Republican Congressional Committee spend more than $52,000 last week for mailings and phone banks against McNerney, bringing the NRCC's total spending on the race since Sept. 1 to about $536,000. Democratic pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner's late-September survey found McNerney leading Pombo 48 percent to 46 percent; with a five-point margin of error, it was a statistical dead heat. But Pombo has said his own polling has consistently found he has a comfortable lead.

Contra Costa Times
Re-elect Rep. Pombo...Editorial
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/community/15786451.htm
SINCE THE 11TH Congressional District was redrawn to include suburban parts of the Bay Area, Rep. Richard Pombo has faced stronger challenges from Democrats. This year turned out to be a particularly tough race against Pleasanton wind energy consultant Jerry McNerney. McNerney was not the choice of the Democratic Party in the primary. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee viewed him as too liberal for the district and refused to include him in its fundraising program. Like many politicians from both parties, McNerney has moved toward the center after the primary. Pombo has been a mainline Republican for his six terms in Congress, representing the interests of rural voters. He is a strong advocate of limited government, tax reduction, free trade and a strong national defense. He continues to support the Bush administration's tax reduction legislation and does not want to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq until the government there is able to operate on its own. Pombo has done a decent job representing his district and so far has adequately answered questions about connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Pombo has nearly 14 years of experience in Washington. McNerney has not held elective office and admits he would have little influence as a freshman legislator. He was not up to speed on some important tax issues that will be considered by Congress in the coming session. Although McNerney is sincere in his aspirations for change, we think voters will have a better representative by re-electing Richard Pombo to an eighth term.

Oct. 17, 2006

The Worst Congress Ever
How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts -- in five easy steps
MATT TAIBBI
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever
Ten Worst Congressmen
7. ENEMY OF THE EARTH
DICK POMBO (R-CALIF.)
No member of Congress has worked harder to savage America's natural resources than Pombo, a Stetson-wearing cattleman who ran for office after a nature trail was slated to run through his family's 500-acre ranch. As chairman of the House Resources Committee, Pombo has waged a career-long campaign to abolish the Endangered Species Act, which he accuses of putting "rats and shellfish" before people. Last year he almost succeeded: His comically titled "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act" would have phased out all protection for threatened wildlife by 2015. Pombo has also won passage of bills to eliminate habitat protections on 150 million acres of wilderness and to lift a quarter-century moratorium on offshore oil drilling.
"Dick Pombo is the most dangerous member of the House," says Carl Pope of the Sierra Club. "There's no one who represents the threat to our public lands that he does."
But Pombo doesn't let his environmental attacks get in the way of his own profit: He raked in $35,000 from clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and paid his own wife and brother $357,000 for dubious campaign services. That's a quarter of every dollar raised by his political action committee -- known, aptly enough, as Rich PAC.

Stockton Record
Pombo flush for ad blitz...Hank Shaw
http://recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061017&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=61016023&SectionCat=&Template=printart
Federal records show the seven-term incumbent has raised $3.4 million for his re-election effort - three times more than he’s ever done - and Pombo intends to spend that cash on mail, radio, television or any other way he can think of to sway voters before Election Day...has more than $1 million left in his account, enough to buy wall-to-wall television and radio ads from now until Election Day. The reason for all this buck-raking is an unusually spirited challenge from Pleasanton wind-energy consultant Jerry McNerney. McNerney has raised more than $1.2 million through Sept. 30, making him by far Pombo’s best-funded opponent. But McNerney is reporting only $323,000 remaining in his campaign account, and he owes staffers and vendors $128,000. Fueling Pombo’s campaign are an array of real estate, agricultural, fishery, oil and energy interests, plus about $250,000 from his fellow Republicans. A look at Pombo’s campaign contributors turns up just about every farmer from Galt to Fresno, all the local developers, a Who’s Who of oil companies and the entire North Pacific fishing industry. And this doesn’t include the roughly $550,000 the National Republican Congressional Committee has spent on Pombo’s behalf for mailing, phone banking and polls. The National Right-to-Life PAC also has been helping Pombo. As for McNerney, his campaign is fueled largely by other Democrats, unions and retirees. Technology companies in Silicon Valley and beyond also have shown him significant support, as have teachers, trial lawyers and environmentalists. It is this last group that has supplied McNerney with his strongest outside aid: Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters all have been active in trying to beat Pombo. Several groups have hired full-time activists to organize in Pombo’s 11th District. Locally, the money chase isn’t even close. Pombo has raised $510,200 from San Joaquin County donors - nearly 18 times more than McNerney’s $28,650.

Tracy Press
Spending spree in big race...John Upton
http://tracypress.com/fall-cleaning.html
Campaign donations have poured into the congressional race at a rate of $120,000 per week, and candidates are spending it. The campaign team behind Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, launched television and direct-mail pieces late last week claiming that Pombo’s opponent, Democrat Jerry McNerney, “said North Korea should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons without fear of U.S. military intervention.” But McNerney bit back at the Pombo claim, telling the Tracy Press that though he would prefer to see the U.S. contain North Korea’s nuclear program with diplomacy and economic sanctions, he would not rule out military options. “My son was in Korea, and I know the risks and danger of Korea,” McNerney said. “We have to use all of the tools that we have available to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. We have to look at North Korea as a containment issue.” McNerney wrote in a project VoteSmart survey that he didn’t support the “United States using military force to dismantle the North Korea nuclear weapons program.” McNerney deleted the survey answer in late July. “Obviously, they already changed their answer on that, because they knew that the voters should be shocked and appalled,” Fogliani said. Meanwhile, the McNerney camp is attacking Pombo over veterans’ issues with an advertisement on San Francisco and Sacramento television stations. “Hundreds of American soldiers lost arms or legs in Iraq,” a voice-over says. “Congressman Richard Pombo added insult to injury when he voted against research to improve prosthetic limbs for veterans.” Fogliani said Pombo voted last May against the amendment to the military appropriations bill that would have increased funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs by $53 million, because it would have caused “unnecessary delays in the (Base Realignment and Closure) process.” The amendment failed by one vote....

San Francisco Chronicle
The Chronicle Recommends...Replace Pombo wioth McNerney
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/17/EDG6PKDVMQ1.DTL&type=printable
LINKS TO disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, efforts to gut wildlife protections and sell off national parks, and a blessing to offshore oil drilling. That's the profile of U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo...this time his ethical stumbles and radical positions should catch up with him. His opponent, engineer Jerry McNerney brings a low-key probity that the district and House deserve. Pombo's positions are simply out of step with the core values of a state that treasures its natural resources... He wants to downgrade the science around endangered species designations, making habitat-destroying development easier. It's a special cause for Pombo, a rancher with allies who want to build in his sprawling, fast-growing district. As for national parks, he thinks there are too many, and the less popular ones should be sold off. It's not just ideology that disqualifies Pombo. It's ethics too. He was jumped from junior member to chairman of the House Resources Committee at the behest of scandal-tainted Rep. Tom DeLay. Pombo's campaign donations included $7,500 from the disgraced Abramoff and another $30,000 from Abramoff clients. If you are judged in politics by the company you keep, Pombo fails the test. His challenger McNerney lost to Pombo two years ago, and faces an uphill fight in a district designed to pool Republican voters in a Democratic state. But even within his own party, Pombo is proving an embarrassment. He should be retired.

Inside Bay Area
Pombo bill could bring him benefits...Mike Martinez...10-16-06
http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=4499730&siteId=181
TRACY - Tall brown grass, a couple of houses, some power lines and cattle are the only objects easily visible on the 200 acres south of Tracy owned by U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo and his immediate family. The grasslands are also prime breeding grounds for the San Joaquin kit fox, which is an endangered species. With a plan for development being revived at the San Joaquin County level, and through revisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 that have been championed by Pombo, the Tracy Republican and his family could make a lot of money if the legislation ever makes it out of the U.S. Senate, where it has been stalled for the past year. The bill would compensate property owners if they are unable to develop their land because it was designated a habitat for an endangered animal or plant. Pombo, who was elected to Congress in 1994 and quickly began advocating for changes to the Endangered Species Act, said the only way he could get paid - if the bill is ever signed into law - is if the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services said he couldn't graze cattle there anymore. "Then you could be compensated on your ag value," Pombo said. "You can't go in and say I want to build a skyscraper, have Fish and Wildlife say no and get aid. That's written on purposeso people couldn't say it's there to pay off developers. You can only be compensated for what the current zoning is." Under bill HR 3824 - passed by the House in September 2005 - "financial conservation aid" can be given to "alleviate the burden of conservation measures imposed upon private property owners." Recently the plan to develop the area, which includes the Pombo property and bumps up against Tracy's city limits, resurfaced. The city of Tracy was so concerned about another new town - immediately south of the proposed Tracy Hills development - they asked a county staff member to discuss it at a recent meeting. No applications have been submitted, but the proposed project... In 2004, city voters rejected developer-backed initiatives, Measures U and V, which would have granted home-builders rights outside of Measure A, the city's slow growth initiative passed in 2000... Pete McCloskey, the original author of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, said providing financial aid for developers who can't build on land designated as habitat would "bankrupt" U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, who then wouldn't be able to preserve anything. "I was proud of that act and I still am," said McCloskey, who lost to Pombo in the Republican primary and has now endorsed Pombo's Democratic challenger, Jerry McNerney. "You can always change it and tinker with things. This guy really wants to gut the act. It's based on the fact that it inhibits development of his own property and his friends' (properties)."

Contra Costa Times
Pombo, Doolittle boast brimming war chests...Samantha Young, AP
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/15778222.htm
GOP candidates' fundraising efforts leave rivals lagging, but neither can shake Abramoff ties. Among Pombo's notable contributions in the last quarter were $4,600 given by members of the Tsakopoulos family, relatives of Sacramento real estate developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, who is a major contributor to Democrats. McNerney had raised nearly $1.2 million in his bid for the Central Valley seat, including $713,000 in the most recent period. Fogliani called the McNerney campaign's assessment a "cheap character assassination." Neither Pombo nor Doolittle's reports include an estimated $400,000 and $600,000 raised by President Bush at respective fundraisers in their districts earlier this month.

Oct. 16, 2006

Pombo raises $3.1M in battle to keep seat...Samantha Young
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12901218p-13560663c.html
Pombo had $1.1 million as of Sept. 30, the last day of the filing period. He had raised $3.1 million overall to defend his seat, nearly a third of that over the summer. He may need it. Pombo opponent and wind energy engineer Jerry McNerney had $334,000 on hand at the end of last month and has raised $250,000 since, said McNerney spokesman Yoni Cohen. "No amount of money from corporate lobbyists can save Richard Pombo's sinking ship," Cohen said. "Despite spending half a million dollars on desperate attack ads against Jerry McNerney, national Republicans have seen Pombo's standing deteriorate." McNerney had raised $1.2 million, including $713,000 in the most recent period. On the Net: Read the reports, www.fec.gov.

Mercury News
Republicans should give Pombo the boot...Editorial
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15770706.htm
Pombo, the seven-term congressman from Tracy, will take delight in proclaiming that we oppose his re-election because we don't like his radical views that call for eviscerating smart environmental laws. But the case for why Democrats and Republicans should support McNerney's candidacy in the sprawling 11th Congressional District goes far beyond Pombo's desire to sell off national parks, drill for oil off the Pacific Coast and make the Endangered Species Act extinct. Pombo is a national disgrace to the Republican Party. His unseemly connections to scandal-ridden lobbyist Jack Abramoff should be an embarrassment to all Republicans. A Washington watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, put him on its list of the 13 most corrupt Republicans and Democrats in Congress. And his questionable connections to oil companies, gambling interests and mining companies have been well documented. Pombo is such a bad role model that even Pete McCloskey, Pombo's challenger in the primary election, couldn't bring himself to endorse his fellow Republican this fall. Declaring ``enough is enough,'' McCloskey said he will vote for McNerney on Nov. 7. So should all voters in the 11th Congressional District.

Oct. 15, 2006

Los Angeles Times
How California helps protect GOP power...Tony Quinn
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-quinn15oct15,0,6297648,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Gerrymandered districts almost ensure no state Republicans will lose their seats even in the worst of times...bipartisan decisions made five years ago to gerrymander congressional district lines in California and other states may be all that's left to save the GOP from losing control of Congress. When the California Legislature redrew the state's political lines in 2001, the priority of both Democrats and Republicans was to put a lock on their respective districts. Four GOP incumbent congressmen had lost in the 2000 election, and the party, fearful of losing even more in increasingly blue California, was desperate to hold on to its 20 seats in the House. Republicans offered Democrats a deal: Give us 20 safe seats in the redistricting plan, and you can do anything you want with the remaining 33. Before the 2001 redistricting, Pombo's district included heavily Democratic downtown Stockton. These voters were given to a neighboring Democrat, and Pombo's new district meandered all over the map in pursuit of Republican-voting suburbanites. In 2003, Stockton residents sued, claiming that Pombo's district violated a California constitutional provision requiring that districts should respect city and county boundaries and be geographically compact. California's congressional Democrats and both parties in the Legislature spent a nice hunk of taxpayer dollars defending their handiwork, and Pombo's district survived. In 2005, Democrats successfully fought to defeat Proposition 77, which would have provided for an immediate redrawing of legislative and congressional districts, despite the fact that their efforts were propping up a number of otherwise vulnerable GOP incumbents, among them Pombo.

Stockton Record
Record readers examine some pros and cons
http://recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061015&Category=OPED02&ArtNo=610150307&SectionCat=&Template=printart
Debate about Pombo continues...Pete McCloskey, Rumsey...A Sept. 9 letter in The Record suggested that "to infer that Congressman Pombo is in trouble during this campaign is untrue and deceitful." Like Ney and DeLay, Pombo took substantial sums from Abramoff in connection with the Northern Mariana Islands sweatshop and prostitution scandals. Three former congressional staffers working for Abramoff have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe members of Congress. All three raised or gave substantial sums to Pombo, as did Kevin Ring... The wives of Pombo and Doolittle received, as did DeLay's wife, over $100,000 from their husbands' campaign funds. Ring took the Fifth Amendment rather than answer Senate questions regarding his relationship with Abramoff at the time he was giving money to Pombo. It's fair to inquire whether Pombo might be the next Republican leader to be subject of a Justice Department inquiry. His communications with Northern Mariana Islands officials have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department. Pombo could clear this all up simply by conducting the committee hearings that have been requested for many years by several of his committee members.
What has Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, done for his district?...Elizabeth Williams, Woodbridge...He voted for budget deficit reduction and more efficient use of our tax dollars...voted to strengthen Medicare...fights to protect our water supply...helped or co-sponsored three major acts and voted to fund 10 water projects in California and six water projects...secured $2,259,108 for schools...continues to work on trying to alleviate gridlock on the Interstate 205 and Interstate 580 corridors and is working on a new project to the South Bay (which doesn't go through any of his or his family's property)...voted to fix the Endangered Species Act...believes it's imperative that both sides work together to achieve the desired result. Pombo has achieved this without a lot of shouting and fanfare. All his achievements have been without raising our taxes.
I would have voted for Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy...C. Sanders, Manteca...But one thing disturbs me greatly about our current representative - his failure to stand up for human rights. Pombo refuses to investigate well- documented reports of involuntary servitude, forced prostitution and forced abortion in the Northern Mariana Islands sweatshops. Why?

Mercury News
Pombo pushes for lower oil fees...Julie Cart
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15765751.htm
Tucked into a massive energy bill that would open the outer continental shelf to oil drilling are provisions that would slash future royalties owed to the federal government by companies prospecting in Rocky Mountain oil shale deposits. Sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Stockton, and passed by the House earlier this year, the bill would amend an existing requirement that the federal government receive a ``fair return'' from oil companies that hold oil shale leases on public lands. Instead, Pombo's bill would reduce royalties from the customary 12.5 percent of annual revenue to 1 percent. Further, the bill could cut the reduced rate by as much as 80 percent if the price of oil fell. The provision would benefit the energy industry, which is a heavy contributor to Pombo's re-election campaign.Pombo and others say oil companies need incentives to invest in the unproven billion-dollar technology, which squeezes oil from deep rock formations.The Senate is considering its own version of the House bill, expanding off-shore oil drilling. But it does not address oil shale royalties.

Oct. 14, 2006

It's a tough act to crack...Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureau...10-14-06
http://www.fresnobee.com/special/2004/elections/story/12897389p-13556929c.html
Tracy Republican Richard Pombo took office vowing to change the Endangered Species Act. In the 14 years since, he's delivered speeches, staged events and written bills. He's enjoyed perfect positions to pursue his signature issue, including, for the past four years, chairmanship of the House Resources Committee while his party has controlled both the House and Senate. The Endangered Species Act, though, remains unchanged since the day Pombo took office in January 1993. The same 22,300 words in the U.S. code then are still intact today. Which raises the fundamental question as Pombo faces a re-election challenge from Jerry McNerney, a Democrat from the Livermore Valley: What does the failure to revise the Endangered Species Act say about Pombo's legislative skills? "It's the sacred cow," Pombo said. "It is the big environmental law that takes precedence over everything." Pombo and his allies invariably cite the Senate as the current roadblock. In particular, they blame Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chaffee... Pombo and Cardoza consider it a success that they moved their Endangered Species Act bill through the House last year... There's another view, and it's not exclusively held by Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental group now trying hard to defeat Pombo. Maryland Republican Wayne Gilchrest oppose Pombo's House bill. House Republican, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert of New York, said, "You can't put all the burden" on Pombo for the failure to revise the Endangered Species Act. "People don't want to come together." Pombo "is not a miracle worker, last time I looked." But while Boehlert today voices sympathy for Pombo's challenge, Pombo reacted sharply when a Bee reporter cited Boehlert's assessment from the mid-1990s that attacking the Endangered Species Act hurt GOP candidates. "He was wrong then," Pombo said of Boehlert. "He's been wrong a lot. "Nonetheless, 30 House Republicans in early 1996 warned GOP leaders in a letter that the party had "taken a beating this year over missteps in environmental policy." The Endangered Species Act debate then essentially hibernated until late 2004, when Pombo's staff members quietly began negotiating with the ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee, Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia.

Lodi News-Sentinel
Editorial: Pombo for Congress — but he must clear ethical clouds

http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2006/10/14/opinion/editorials/edt_pombo_061014.txt
We are endorsing incumbent Richard Pombo for Congress.Pombo is bright, amiable and adheres to solid conservative values. He is against higher taxes and he has worked diligently on behalf of veterans.He has risen to a position of substantial power in Congress, serving as chairman of the House Resources Committee.His opponent, Democrat Jerry McNerney, is a thoughtful, soft-spoken and decent fellow.But McNerney is a political newbie. While he would be an excellent college professor (he holds a doctorate in mathematics) he would, in our view, be a relatively ineffectual member of Congress.Yet this endorsement comes with reservations.There are fair questions being raised about Pombo's ethics. He has received campaign donations from the convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He has received money from the Indian tribes whose fortunes he controls as a legislative leader.Critics contend he has traded financial favor for legislative action.Pombo has also continued to employ his wife, Annette, as a campaign consultant.
None of this reflects well on the rancher from Tracy.We hope that, once re-elected, Pombo will take pains to clear the ethical clouds above him. As a veteran leader of Congress, he can and should use his power to push for higher standards …

Oct. 13, 2006

Tracy Press
Pombo's account is most plausible...Editorial
http://tracypress.com/pombo-s-account-is-most-plausible.html
When deciding who to believe, Jack Abramoff or Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, the Press sides with the congressman. Whom do you trust? A former Washington, D.C., lobbyist who is going to jail for, among other transgressions, padding his billing records, or a popular local congressman who is seeking re-election to an eighth term? The topic was the Northern Mariana Islands... We trust Pombo’s accounting. The two dates that Abramoff billed for talking with Pombo are suspicious. Will this campaign season controversy come down to whether 10 years ago Pombo was home with his family or feasting with Abramoff at the lobbyist’s infamous Signatures restaurant in Washington? It’s that ridiculous.
Power corrupts...Wendy Kimsey, Pleasanton...Your Voice
http://tracypress.com/power-corrupts.html
As the saying goes: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I was not surprised when I read in the newspaper that records show Pombo and his office had multiple contacts with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. I was also not surprised when I received a Pombo campaign flier that complained about the oil companies’ high profits, but didn’t state that Pombo received tens of thousands of dollars from these same oil companies as campaign contributions. Who is Pombo working for It’s not for the 11th District Constituents.
Contra Costa Times
Pombo confident as campaign roils...Lisa Vorderbrueggen
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/community/15748935.htm
"Our internal polling shows me consistently ahead and that hasn't changed," said a relaxed Pombo during a meeting Thursday with the Contra Costa Times editorial board. "This race is different this year because it's one of the only real races in the state, so it's attracted every liberal activist within an hour's drive of the district." Pombo, R-Tracy, called his re-election campaign against Democrat Jerry McNerney high-profile but not tight... "Immigration is probably the biggest issue the Republicans in my district are talking about," Pombo said, "but it's not like they are not going to vote Republican." The congressman said billing records between Abramoff and a client, the Northern Mariana Islands, that show two contacts between Abramoff and Pombo in 1996 were the product of expense padding. He also disputed the accuracy of nearly a dozen contacts between Abramoff's staff and Pombo's staff noted in the records. Some of the records show that meetings took place between Abramoff's staff and Pombo's public affairs chief. "I have policy guys who meet with lobbyists," he said. "They don't meet with my communications chief." More importantly, Pombo said, he had no reason to meet with Abramoff. He was a junior member of Congress who had just published a book on property rights reform and had little interest in the Marianas. Why would I go to Saipan? It wasn't my issue." Ed Yoon, spokesman for Moveon.org and Defenders, remained unpersuaded. He believes Abramoff used campaign contributions to influence Pombo to vote favorably on bills that involved clients such as Indian tribes and the Mariana Islands, where reports of worker abuse and forced abortions would later drive Miller to demand a congressional investigation. Pombo refused to hold hearings.

The following letter, partially read at the public hearing before the Merced County Planning Commission, remained in a basket beside the podium for speakers -- unread, therefore unconsidered by the commission -- for the duration of the hearing at the end of which the commission approved the EIR, General Plan amendment, zoning change and four other items on the project.

Bill Hatch
-------------------

Lydia Miller, President
San Joaquin Raptor Rescue Center
P.O. Box 778
Merced, CA 95341
(209) 723-9283, ph. & fax
raptorctr@bigvalley.net

Steve Burke
Protect Our Water
3105 Yorkshire Lane
Modesto, CA 95350
(209) 523-1391, ph.

Mr. James Holland October 25, 2006
Merced County Planning Department
2222 M Street
Merced, California 95340
Fax: (209) 726-1710

Merced County Planning Commission
2222 M St.
Merced CA 95340
Tel: 385-7654 Via Hand Delivered

Re: Merced County Planning Commission Public Hearing on General Plan Amendment Application No. GPA03-005 and Zone change Application No. ZC3-007, Merced County Board of Supervisors’ Oct. 24 Public hearing to consider the issuance of a proposed decision and findings regarding the Airport Land Use Commission's Finding as to consistency between the Airport Land Use Plan and the Riverside Motorsports Park Project, RMP Master Plan, staff reports, findings, resolutions, and overrides.

Merced County Planning Commissioners:

This comment is made at the Merced County Planning Commission Public Hearing on Application No. GPA03-005 and ZC3-007, Oct. 25, 2006.

We challenge the propriety of the Merced County Planning Department to put this item before you today because the whole of the Riverside Motorsports Park project is dependent on an item heard but not decided yesterday by the county Board of Supervisors: Public hearing to consider the issuance of a proposed decision and findings regarding the Airport Land Use Commission's Finding as to consistency between the Airport Land Use Plan and the Riverside Motorsports Park Project (attached find our letter and attachments submitted to the board on Oct. 24).

First of all, we believe that RMP developers and Merced County were able to successfully lobby CalTrans into temporarily shrinking the size of the real hazard zone to 6,000 feet around the Castle airfield and that, once the racetrack is approved and built, the state will reinstate the original 10,000-foot zone.

For the commission to come to a decision today on this RMP application risks multiple violations of public process, which began when the board held a hearing yesterday on this illegally segmented, intrinsic element of the RMP application.

Yesterday’s board of supervisors’ hearing violated public processes and environmental review.

The staff report on yesterday’s public hearing on the proposed decision regarding the ALUC’s findings was so flawed that supervisors’ were not sure what they were voting on. One supervisor agreed to vote affirmatively only after it was explained that she would not be voting for an override of the ALUC’s consistency findings, but that she was only voting on a proposed decision that must be reviewed by the state Department of Transportation and the ALUC over the next month. In fact, the board was directed by staff to vote for an override.

“Proposed decision: Based on the foregoing recitals and findings, the Board of Supervisors overrules the ALUC Oct. 1, 2003 finding of inconsistency between the RMP project and the ALUP.” – Staff report on Board of Supervisors’ Public Hearing # 2, Oct. 24, 2006.

However, another glaring error occurred in the conduct of the board’s Oct. 24 meeting during the public comment period before the public hearing on the ALUC’s findings was even opened. The public packed the room and the lobby. The board chairman did nothing to stop them or direct the testimony to the proper time. Therefore, the bulk of the testimony given by both sides in the public-comment period will not become a part of the record of this public hearing. This raises even deeper concerns about the validity of the hearing.

We believe that legally compliant public process requires that the County incorporate the oral and written testimony given both during the public-comment period and during the public hearing and that the testimony be forwarded to the state Department of Transportation, the ALUC and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The issue of the override, upon which the RMP project depends, has not been decided and the validity of the board’s vote is in question. Therefore, the commission cannot know what it is voting on today and should not vote on the RMP application. If it does vote on the application, it will be complicit in a flawed public process and a flawed environmental process, because the ALUC’s findings and decision is intrinsic to this project and is being illegally segmented.

The public is constantly criticized for submitting material at public hearings. In this case, the County and the developers waited until a day before the planning commission public hearing on the RMP final EIR to railroad the board into overriding a local agency decision of such major importance that without it the project can’t go forward.

The Castle Master Plan, adjacent municipal and community plans, and the county General Plan updates have just begun. The purposes of these plans and their goals and guidelines are to act as reference points for judgment on new projects. These plans are crucial for guidance on projects with impacts the size of RMP, a regional motorsports facility adjacent to the longest airport runway in the San Joaquin Valley and a federal penitentiary, in the middle of one of the nation’s two worst air pollution basins.

General and specific plans are effectively the only means the present Merced County public has to defend its future against rampant growth. Deciding on these projects before these new plans have been adopted is similar to another example of county planning leadership under Robert Lewis: Hostetler’s illegal 42-inch pipeline through a mile of county land without any permit at all. Like that sewer line, RMP will determine the pattern of growth in its respective areas. Those development-driven plans will have very little to do with official “plans,” which the public pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to have prepared by trained planners. Nor is there any difference between the behavior of John Condren and Greg Hostetler in their blatant, successful efforts to influence county staff and special-interest-funded elected officials. Both of them use helicopters in interesting ways.

A letter from Condren to his investors stated:

Although it’s too early to start planning a ground-breaking party, we can report that RMP has won the support of 4 of the 5 members of the Merced County Board of Supervisors … and we may succeed in securing the unanimous support of the Board once the EIR is released.

In addition, RMP has secured the approval and support of State Senator Jeff Denham, US Congressman Dennis Cardoza, 5 Chambers of Commerce within Merced County, the City Councils of Atwater and Merced, and RMP has the support of the California Builders Industry Association. -- http://www.badlandsjournal.com/old/getarch2.php?title=RMP%20racetrack%20letter%20to%20investors

Hostetler told Supervisor Crookham in a telephone message:

Mrs. Crookham, this is Greg Hostetler calling. My cell number actually is 704-13** if you need to call me. I’m on a cell phone cause my other battery I’m trying to save that, preserve it you know. I’m into preserving things too from time to time, but anyway, uhm, I’m just calling you, uh, to let you know that…ah if you don’t already know… that we’ve had a lot of drama and trouble in the county … everywhere I do business [inaudible] apparently I guess because of Mrs. uh…Mrs. Deirdre Kelsey ah… thinks staff may need some help, because she’s climbing all over them… using [inaudible] staff for her personal pit bulls…trying to bite our people, and our staff — this is my opinion — causing a lot of drama in Livingston, for the City of Livingston and we’re trying to uh in the progress of uh in the process of installing a sewer line over there. If you haven’t talked to Dee Tatum, he could fill you in on what’s going on over there. But uh this probably will not end any time soon. So, I just wanted to give you the update, and if you could give staff any help I’d appreciate it… Thank you! -- http://www.badlandsjournal.com/?p=84

In the RMP project before you today, a similar corrupt pattern is evident: county Planning Director Robert Lewis is an officer of the ALUC, a direct conflict. Mr. Lewis is a very interested party in this project.

The RMP project is another perfect example of how Merced County does business and calls it government.

The county Planning Department has consistently failed to present the public with clear statements of the public processes involved in its projects. For example, the County cannot plead ignorance for its systematic failure to notify federal resource agencies on environmental review processes. The County knows the maps for habitats for endangered species like the San Joaquin Valley kit fox, and the County knows where Critical Habitat and Recovery Plan areas are located. The County understands that analysis of environmental impacts in Merced County cannot ignore compliance with federal regulations. The County also understands that it cannot indefinitely defer rapidly mounting quantities of unmitigated environmental impacts.

The Merced County public has raised the issue of living wages and health benefits in connection with Wal-Mart. We are also concerned that no one in this corrupted process of the RMP project has addressed the issue of union labor or benefits for non-union labor.

The Merced public understands that RMP and Wal-Mart are the anchor tenants for both ends of the UC Merced loop road. This isn’t planning. It is an absurd level of environmental destruction and it threatens public health and safety.

Yesterday’s board hearing segmented an essential part of the whole RMP plan away from environmental review as well as segmenting the timeline for public hearings on this project. Improper segmentation of the RMP project has occurred on four levels:

· Administrative: the ALUC decision, an essential element in the RMP project, has been improperly segmented from the whole of the project;
· Environmental: the ALUC decision is a part of the project as a whole and requires environmental review;
· Timeline: the County and the developer broke the hearings on what is one project into two days and two different forums;
· Administrative record: the County and the developer are fragmenting the records of these hearings to create an obstacle to legal challenge.

We strongly urge the planning commission not to vote on the RMP application today. In view of the mounting number of procedural flaws in the RMP permitting process, deciding on this application will only deepen the morass of conflicts into which the county is falling as a result of this and several other major projects.

The oral public testimony made yesterday during the public-comment period at the board meeting and the oral and written testimony offered during the public hearing on the ALUC decision must be incorporated into this project. The ALUC decision is so intrinsic to RMP’s project that it cannot construct the racetrack unless that decision is overridden.

We also urge RMP proponents to voluntarily withdraw their application before the commission today for the good of the county’s public process.

Finally, we would like to express our frustration at the County for having shared our letter with the RMP developers, causing a racetrack rally at the board chambers yesterday morning, while the County did not share with the public an adequate amount of information. This offers the public no incentive to get their comments in before public hearings.

Following yesterday’s board hearing, when members of the public requested a list of any additional written comments for the hearing from a clerk at the board office, the public was presented with forms to fill out. Members of the public now make an official request that before the County shares our comment letters with developers, it must first make a formal request to whatever members of the public wrote the comments so that we can track you, as you track us. Stacking information access against the public and tracking the public must stop.

Attached you will find our Oct. 25 letter to the Merced County Planning Commission and to the county Board of Supervisors on Oct. 24, and attachments.

We reserve the right to submit additional documents at the public hearing.

Sincerely,

Lydia M Miller Steve Burke

Cc.

Federal agencies
Marsha Burch, Esq.
Babak Naficy, Esq.
Don Mooney, Esq.
James Marshall, Esq.
Rose Zoia, Esq.
Susan Brandt-Hawley, Esq.
Bruce Owdom, Esq.
Keith Wagner, Esq.
Hal Candee, Esq. NRDC
Kim Delfino, Esq. Defenders of Wildlife
Mike Sherwood, Esq. Earthjustice
John Williams
Tom Adams, Esq.
Badlandsjournal.com
Other interested parties

Lydia Miller, President
San Joaquin Raptor Rescue Center
P.O. Box 778
Merced, CA 95341
(209) 723-9283, ph. & fax
raptorctr@bigvalley.net

Steve Burke
Protect Our Water (POW)
3105 Yorkshire Lane
Modesto, CA 95350
(209) 523-1391, ph. & fax

Merced County Board of Supervisors October 23, 2006
2222 M Street
Merced, California 95340
Fax: (209) 726-7977
Ph: (209) 385-7366

Via facsimile and Email

Re: Public hearing to consider the issuance of a proposed decision and findings regarding the Airport Land Use Commission's Finding as to consistency between the Airport Land Use Plan and the Riverside Motorsports Park Project- PH #2-10:00am

On Tuesday, Oct. 24, the Merced County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the above-mentioned item.

The board is being asked to override a decision by the Castle Airport Land Use Commission that the RMP project is inconsistent with state Department of Transportation guidelines on projects near airports.

Under the California Environmental Quality Act, this “decision” is in fact a project. As presently proposed, it is an unanalyzed and unmitigated segment of the RMP environmental impact report.

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, the Merced County Planning Commission will hear the final EIR on the RMP project.

The RMP final EIR staff report states:

“The RMP Master Plan EIR is intended to serve as a comprehensive document that evaluates the full range of impacts anticipated with project implementation.” – Staff Report, Merced County, Oct. 25, GPA03-005 and ZC03-007, p. 9.

Here is a major impact requiring the board to override the ALUC’s decision and findings, which is not included in the racetrack EIR, yet, without the board’s decision to override the commission’s decision and findings, the racetrack project is obstructed. Therefore, at a bare minimum, the board should realize that the racetrack is impacting the Castle Airport Land Use Plan. Once grasping this, the board should reach the deeper insight the two are part of one project, all parts of which are subject to review by the California Environmental Quality Act.

The board's decision and the commission's decisions are mutually reliant. If the board doesn't override the ALUC findings, it is a serious obstacle to approval of the FEIR for the racetrack. They are part of the same project.

We believe the two decisions are mutually reliant and that the County is segmenting a project without adequate environmental review. We assert that the board decision on the ALUC is part of the RMP project, that it is subject to CEQA, and therefore, the RMP FEIR should be recirculated, providing sufficient public notice and adequate environmental information on impacts to the public from a decision to override the ALUC findings, based on state Department of Transportation guidelines for airports.

There are public health and safety issues involved but not considered: the cumulative impacts of noise from both the racetrack and the airport could, under some circumstances, produce a decibel level of noise dangerous to human health. The argument advanced by County staff that because it will already be incredibly noisy at the racetrack, the additional noise of aircraft landing nearby won't bother them lacks any analysis.

This project also changes the impacts discussed in the RMP draft EIR in sections 4.6-5, 4.6-6, 4.6-7, and 4.7. Therefore, the mitigation measures in the RMP final EIR are inaccurate.

The cumulative impacts of aircraft and racetrack noise to the nearby federal prison, located at the end of the drag track, featuring the noisiest events on the track, are not analyzed.

There is no environmental analysis of the impacts of this proposed board decision, yet, if the board does not agree to override the airport commission's findings, a serious obstacle to the RMP project remains.

We also assert that the proposed board decision, if taken, negates an important feature of the Castle airport plan, intended to protect public health and safety.

Beyond the excessively narrow focus of the proposed decision before the board lie the environmental impacts to the base from an anticipated increase in air traffic to the Castle airport, which will generate yet more traffic congestion and further deteriorate air quality. This additional air and ground traffic will come both as a direct result of the racetrack project and as an indirect result of inclusion of the off-base land on which the racetrack is proposed, into the Castle SUDP, which in turn will open the door to the Foreign/Free Trade Zone.

The public was not provided enough information on this proposed decision. At the very least in this public hearing, the public should have been provided: the sections in the draft and final EIRs on the RMP project that address this issue; the minutes of the 2003 ALUC meeting, which could have showed its reasoning and authorities for deciding RMP was incompatible with the Castle airport land use plan; the language in the state Public Utilities Code upon which the County is relying; and the sections of the state Department of Transportation’s California Airport Land Use Planning Handbook upon which the County is relying.

Nor does the public see evidence that the applicant has submitted his FAA form 7460-1, Notice of Proposed Construction or Alteration, etc.

The staff report references an “analysis gap” in the airport commission’s decision. We suggest this staff report is an analysis gap from beginning to end because it fails to analyze the proposed decision’s compatibility with the county’s outdated General Plan, the Castle Master Plan, the Castle SUDP, the federal penitentiary’s land use concerns, the proposed Master Plan for Riverside Motorsports Park, the county Transportation Plan, or the Foreign/Free Trade Zone.

In our scanning of the code and the handbook, we find no sections that condone the situation in this proposed decision. State law, like the Merced public, did not contemplate the local land use planning by constant, ever larger amendment of a dysfunctional, outdated general plan. But, at a bare minimum not achieved by this proposal, the county’s outdated General Plan must be amended as part of the board’s consideration of an override of the ALUC decision and findings. [PUC Section 21676.5 (b)]

This project and the RMP final EIR are mutually reliant, parts of the same project. The strongest evidence for this is Impact 4.6-4 on pages 4.6-21-22 in the RMP draft EIR. Because they are part of one project, the RMP, which is subject to CEQA review, the board cannot decide on this proposal in isolation from the final EIR of the RMP project. The decision to override the decision and findings of the ALUC and to change its plan are in integral part of the RMP project. This is segmenting and piecemealing a project under CEQA.

As further evidence that this issue was raised in both the draft and final EIRs, we attach: the Jan 6, 2006 letter from John Fowler in the RMP final EIR; the Letter 10 Response to Mr. Fowler’s letter, also in the RMP final EIR; sections 4.6-4, 4.6-5, 4.6-6, 4.6-7, and 4.7 in the RMP draft EIR – all of which discuss the very action before the board today.

The public found it unacceptable that Mitigation Measure 4.6-4 in the RMP draft EIR calls for the applicant to request that the ALUC update its policies. Once again, a developer is driving the Merced County planning process. Table 2 in the final EIR, Summary of Impacts and Mitigation Measures, 4.6-4 through 4.7 has not even considered environmental impacts that will arise if the board decides to override the ALUC decision and findings today. The environmental consultants determined in the RMP final EIR that even with the “mitigation” of the decision before the board today, there remain “significant and unavoidable impacts” (see attached).

As the board well knows, the RMP Master Plan is void and inapplicable because the majority of the racetrack lies in a zone that requires the override of the ALUC decision and findings to make it “safe.” Nothing could more emphatically underscore the fact that the decision the county Planning Commission will take tomorrow on the RMP final EIR is totally dependent on the decision the board will take today, without any environmental analysis.

Finally, given the significant quantity of birds in Merced County and the fact that the leading cause of catastrophic aircraft accidents results from bird/aircraft collisions, is it really conscionable to locate the vast concentrations of race spectators adjacent to an airport that will draw increasing air traffic due to the racing events? Is the difference between 6,000 and 10,000 feet a real margin of safety?

We are attaching letters that deal with this specific issue: from the RMP draft EIR, Volume 2 – Appendices, a letter from US Department of Transportation addressing the hazards of wildlife to aircraft in populated areas; a letter from John Fowler, April 1, 2005, concerning building height limitations and human density issues; an April 14, 2005 letter from the state Department of Transportation addressing the problems aircraft, birds and high concentrations of people; an April 26, 2003 letter from the Castle airport manager expressing concern about the high concentration of spectators at the proposed racetrack; and an Aug. 27, 2003 letter from the federal Department of Transportation asking for specific compliance measures from the applicant.

We request the board not to take action on this item and direct the staff to recirculate the RMP EIR to include important, unresolved concerns. This decision must be included in the project as a whole. By segmenting the project before you from the RMP Master Plan, draft and final EIRs, RMP is obscuring its own consultants’ description of the impacts of the decision before you today as “significant and unavoidable.” The public would add, “dangerous to public health and safety.”

Sections in the CEQA Guidelines that appear to bear on this situation include:

15154. Projects Near Airports

(a) When a lead agency prepares an EIR for a project within the boundaries of a comprehensive airport land use plan or, if a comprehensive airport land use plan has not been adopted for a project within two nautical miles of a public airport or public use airport, the agency shall utilize the Airport Land Use Planning Handbook published by Caltrans' Division of Aeronautics to assist in the preparation of the EIR relative to potential airport-related safety hazards and noise problems.

(b) A lead agency shall not adopt a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration for a project described in subdivision (a) unless the lead agency considers whether the project will result in a safety hazard or noise problem for persons using the airport or for persons residing or working in the project area.

15146. Degree of Specificity

While CEQA requirements cannot be avoided by chopping the proposed project into pieces to render its impacts insignificant the EIR need not engage in a speculative analysis of environmental consequences for future and unspecified development. (Atherton v. Board of Supervisors of Orange County, (1983) 146 Cal. 3d 346.)

15021. Duty to Minimize Environmental Damage and Balance Competing Public Objectives

Discussion: Section 15021 brings together the many separate elements that apply to the duty to minimize environmental damage. These duties appear in the policy sections of CEQA, in the findings requirement in Section 21081, and in a number of court decisions that have built up a body of case law that is not immediately reflected in the statutory language. This section is also necessary to provide one place to explain how the ultimate balancing of the merits of the project relates to the search for feasible alternatives or mitigation measures to avoid or reduce the environmental damage.

(b) A lead agency shall not adopt a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration for a project described in subdivision (a) unless the lead agency considers whether the project will result in a safety hazard or noise problem for persons using the airport or for persons residing or working in the project area.

h) The lead agency must consider the whole of an action, not simply its constituent parts, when determining whether it will have a significant environmental effect. (Citizens Assoc. For Sensible Development of Bishop Area v. County of Inyo (1985) 172 Cal.App.3d 151)

15147. Technical Detail

The information contained in an EIR shall include summarized technical data, maps, plot plans, diagrams, and similar relevant information sufficient to permit full assessment of significant environmental impacts by reviewing agencies and members of the public. Placement of highly technical and specialized analysis and data in the body of an EIR should be avoided through inclusion of supporting information and analyses as appendices to the main body of the EIR. Appendices to the EIR may be prepared in volumes separate from the basic EIR document, but shall be readily available for public examination and shall be submitted to all clearinghouses which assist in public review.

15201. Public Participation

Public participation is an essential part of the CEQA process. Each public agency should include provisions in its CEQA procedures for wide public involvement, formal and informal, consistent with its existing activities and procedures, in order to receive and evaluate public reactions to environmental issues related to the agency's activities. Such procedures should include, whenever possible, making environmental information available in electronic format on the Internet, on a web site maintained or utilized by the public agency.

Note: Authority cited: Section 21083, Public Resources Code; Reference: Sections 21000, 21082, 21108, and 21152, Public Resources Code; Environmental Defense Fund v. Coastside County Water District, (1972) 27 Cal. App. 3d 695; People v. County of Kern, (1974) 39 Cal. App. 3d 830; County of Inyo v. City of Los Angeles, (1977) 71 Cal. App. 3d 185.

Discussion: This section declares the importance of public participation as an element of the CEQA process. This section encourages agencies to provide notice on the internet when possible. Internet posting offers the public yet another means of being informed about a project.

In Concerned Citizens of Costa Mesa, Inc. v. 32nd District Agricultural, Assoc. (1986) 42 Cal. 3d 929, the court emphasized that the public holds a "privileged position" in the CEQA process "based on a belief that citizens can make important contributions to environmental protection and on notions of democratic decision making."

15202. Public Hearings

(a) CEQA does not require formal hearings at any stage of the environmental review process. Public comments may be restricted to written communication.

(b) If an agency provides a public hearing on its decision to carry out or approve a project, the agency should include environmental review as one of the subjects for the hearing.

(c) A public hearing on the environmental impact of a project should usually be held when the Lead Agency determines it would facilitate the purposes and goals of CEQA to do so. The hearing may be held in conjunction with and as a part of normal planning activities.

(d) A draft EIR or Negative Declaration should be used as a basis for discussion at a public hearing. The hearing may be held at a place where public hearings are regularly conducted by the Lead Agency or at another location expected to be convenient to the public.

(e) Notice of all public hearings shall be given in a timely manner. This notice may be given in the same form and time as notice for other regularly conducted public hearings of the public agency. To the extent that the public agency maintains an Internet web site, notice of all public hearings should be made available in electronic format on that site.

(f) A public agency may include, in its implementing procedures, procedures for the conducting of public hearings pursuant to this section. The procedures may adopt existing notice and hearing requirements of the public agency for regularly conducted legislative, planning, and other activities.

(g) There is no requirement for a public agency to conduct a public hearing in connection with its review of an EIR prepared by another public agency.

Note: Authority cited: Section 21083, Public Resources Code; Reference: Sections 21000, 21082, 21108, and 21152, Public Resources Code; Concerned Citizens of Palm Desert, Inc. v. Board of Supervisors, (1974) 38 Cal. App. 3d 272.

Discussion: The section encourages agencies to include environmental issues in the agenda when the agency provides a public hearing on the project itself. The section also provides that the draft EIR or Negative Declaration should be used as a basis for discussion of environmental issues at a hearing if one is held. In an effort to simplify procedures, the section allows agencies to conduct hearings on environmental issues according to the same rules that the agency applies to its other hearings. This section also acknowledges that there is no requirement for a public agency to conduct a public hearing concerning its review of an EIR.

Subsection (e) encourage agencies to provide public hearing notice on the internet when possible. Internet posting offers the public another means of being informed about a project.

15203. Adequate Time for Review and Comment

The Lead Agency shall provide adequate time for other public agencies and members of the public to review and comment on a draft EIR or Negative Declaration that it has prepared.

Public agencies may establish time periods for review in their implementing procedures and shall notify the public and reviewing agencies of the time for receipt of comments on EIRs. These time periods shall be consistent with applicable statutes, the State CEQA Guidelines, and applicable Clearinghouse review periods.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter.

Lydia Miller Steve Burke

Cc: Interested parties

BadlandsJournal

Traditionally, congressional elections are linked to internal issues. In these elections, the issue of Iraq is important, maybe the most important in some congressional races in the United States. Of course, some historians, history will judge American history in Iraq. We tried to do our best but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq." -- Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. State Department, Oct. 21, 2006, Al Jazeera

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is. -- Kevin

Tillman, Oct. 19, www.truthdig.com
----------------------------

Here in the 18th congressional district of California, we will be denied any real voting choice on the burning issue of Iraq in the congressional midterm elections because our incumbent boy is so deeply stuffed in the pockets of Development, Inc. that he is protected from the sound of any real political issue, even the problem of endemic graft, about which it is impolitic to speak in official Pombozastan. However, one Republican congressman is already in prison, another awaits sentencing, a third has been indicted, and investigations are growing (Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, for example), and polls are suggesting that the Democrats will take at least one house of Congress in November. Today, Enron CEO Jeffrey Skillings got a 24-year prison sentence.

Nevertheless, out there in the world, things are happening, people are thinking, speaking and writing about the issues of our times, as if history and the world actually mattered. A small but growing body of informed opinion puts the apex of the American Empire at the date of the invasion of Iraq and its decline beginning almost immediately after. In retrospect, the speeches of Tariq Ali, UK author and activist, mirrored the rise and fall: before the war he urged Americans to remember their own Anti-Imperialism League, started over the Spanish-American War by Henry James, Mark Twain and others; and after the invasion, Ali was one of the first to bring to the attention of any American listening that -- judging from the rapid evolution of coordinated attacks -- we weren't facing "scattered insurgents," but a rapidly developing, full-scale resistance.

The world faces its greatest threat from global warming. There is no more time for adolescent imperial fantasies played out in blood.
---------------------------

From: www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/ - 79k - Oct 21, 2006 -

Editor's note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

It is Pat's birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can't be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few "bad apples" in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It's interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don't be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that "somehow" was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat's birthday.

Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,

Kevin Tillman
---------------------------

Top US Diplomat: We have Shown 'Stupidity' and 'Arrogance' in Iraq
Associated Press, Oct. 22, 2006

In an interview broadcast on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel, a senior U.S. diplomat said the United States had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq.

'THERE WAS ARROGANCE AND THERE WAS STUPIDITY FROM THE UNITED STATES IN IRAQ'

As one of the few genuinely fluent Arabic speakers at the U.S. State Department, Alberto Fernandez has become a one-man public diplomacy machine, appearing in Arabic media on almost a daily basis.

Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. State Department, also said the United States was ready to talk with any Iraqi group — excluding al-Qaida in Iraq — to reach national reconciliation in the country, wracked by widening sectarian strife as well as an enduring insurgency.

The interview was taped in Washington on Friday and broadcast by Al-Jazeera Saturday night.

His remarks were in fluent Arabic and translated into English by The Associated Press. In the interview Fernandez said: "We tried to do our best but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq."

Subsequently, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, in Moscow with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said that Fernandez disputed the description of his comments.

"What he says is, that is not an accurate reflection of what he said," McCormack said. Asked whether the Bush administration believed that history will show a record of arrogance or stupidity in Iraq, McCormack replied "No."

A senior Bush administration official questioned whether the remarks had been translated correctly. "Those comments obviously don't reflect our position," said the official, who asked not to be identified because a transcript was not then available for review.

Here is a transcript of the portion of the Al-Jazeera interview in which Fernandez made the remarks about arrogance and stupidity, among other issues. The translation is by AP in Baghdad.
__

Al-Jazeera: That endeavor by the American administration that you describe as good — an attempt to save Iraq and end the bloodshed — can it move forward to direct dialogue, secret or public, between the American administration or American forces on the ground in Iraq and armed groups per se. There is talk now about secret negotiations, it is even in the media, between
the United States of America and what is known as the Islamic Army (taking place) in Amman, Jordan?

Fernandez: Without a doubt. I believe there is wide flexibility in this subject and at the same time, of course, there is coordination between us and the Iraqi government and Iraqi officials. We are open to dialogue because we all know that, at the end of the day, the solution to the hell and the killings in Iraq is linked to an effective Iraqi national reconciliation. At the end of the day, sooner or later, we and all those who are concerned with Iraq must sit together in that room or at that table and must discuss and establish some dialogue. This is the only way forward, and, thanks be to God, the Iraqi government is convinced of that.

Al-Jazeera: There is, Mr. Fernandez, now talk as was mentioned in more than one media outlet, especially in the Los Angeles Times, that a report is being prepared by the former Secretary of State James Baker. You know very well, and let us inform our viewers that the American Congress set up the committee of (inaudible) persons to discuss or present a full report and make recommendations on Iraq. We understood from what has been published that Mr. James Baker will recommend to the American administration major changes in American policies in Iraq. What do u have (interrupted)... .

Fernandez: We expect that report after the congressional elections in the United States of America, maybe in a month or two at the latest. Without a doubt that is a special committee from former experts in American administrations, not just Republican administrations, who thoroughly studied the subject with fresh eyes. Without a doubt we will see interesting recommendations in that report which may be acceptable to the administration or may possibly be rejected by the administration. But what is important, we believe, is the exercise of flexibility and self- criticism and take responsibility for correcting mistakes and policies if those policies have failed or are unable to present the Iraqi people with what they want most: Security first, second and third, and then (solutions to) a long list of problems, including economic and
political one.

Al-Jazeera: I, of course, appreciate your usual candor Mr. Fernandez, especially what you just said. Does that mean, Mr. Ferndandez, in all honesty, that those who are labeled as radicals or hard-liners inside the American administration are responsible for the mistakes in Iraq? There is, in all honesty, I won't say contradictions, but a difference of policies between the State Department and the Defense Department in this respect (interrupted)... .

Fernandez: This, of course, is an important and interesting question. It is difficult for any politician in whatever administration, not just this administration, to admit mistakes, because people in the East as well as the West don't like to admit they have made mistakes or are wrong. This is the mentality of the people, the mentality of power, authority, autocratic thinking. This is reality. I think we are somewhat fortunate in America because we are a democracy and, within weeks, in about two or three weeks, we will witness the start of internal settling of scores in the United States over this question. The American people will decide the policies of the administration and the policies of representatives in the American Congress on the issue of Iraq.

Traditionally, congressional elections are linked to internal issues. In these elections, the issue of Iraq is important, maybe the most important in some congressional races in the United States. Of course, some historians, history will judge American history in Iraq. We tried to do our best but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq."

The next question is about the Baker report, and Fernandez repeats his remarks as noted above on that topic. The interview then concludes with the following question and answer:

Al-Jazeera: My last question. The Iraqi situation, as it is now, I mean we spoke in detail about it, but what is the real impact of the Iraqi situation on conditions in the entire region and especially on the United States, because it (the United States) is not only concerned with the situation in Iraq but with the regional situation, it affects on it, whether negatively or positively?

Fernandez: This is important. We focused today, and the media focuses on blame. There is no doubt that there is plenty of room for blame. Blame of the United States or others, but we haven't focused enough on the future and the possibility of failure in Iraq. If we are witnessing failure in Iraq, it's not the failure of the United States alone. Failure would be a disaster for the region. We, all of us in the region, countries in the region, have a role in what is happening in Iraq.

Failure in Iraq will be a failure for the United States but a disaster for the region. We must all focus on saving Iraq for the sake of the Iraqi people and for our sakes, us in the West, and also you in the Arab world. I know that sometimes there is a kind of gloating in the Arab world that America has problems in Iraq. I fully understand that. But, in the end, we must think of the Iraqi people, the Arabs, the Muslims and the citizens of Iraq more than gloating about the United States.

I had a dream last night.

And in my dream, Mexico invaded Iraq.

At first they came in small groups armed with shovels, rakes, hammers, saws, and wrenches, among other hand implements of construction.

Their orders had been vague: Invade! was about all that was said. So, unsure of exactly why they were there, they began fixing bombed out houses, electrical systems and water systems, because you need a house, electricity and water.

The Iraqis observed this strange behavior of the Mexicans and soon asked them if they could borrow a few tools to do their own repairs. “Por supuesto,” said the Mexicans. “Why not? And we will help.”

Pretty soon, whole neighborhoods of cities and entire villages had running water and electricity and roofs.

The Iraqis, however, especially the children, had suffered much hunger due to the economic sanctions imposed on the country by the US after the Gulf War. So, the Mexicans planted crops, irrigated them with their crude but effective water systems.

The Iraqis also had many health problems and not enough medicines. A Mexican general made a call.

“Fidel,” he began …

The first group of doctors who know how to practice medicine in primitive conditions arrived and began to help the Iraqi doctors.

The Mexicans left a vast swathe of restored gardens in their wake as they moved, remorselessly north, rebuilding houses, repairing electrical and water systems.

“What will we do about the invasion of the Mexicans?” high Baathist officials wondered. “The Shiites of the south appreciate their efforts. The Sunni in the north are already in contact with the Mexicans to do maintenance and repair. Advance scouts of the Mexicans have already been spotted in the kitchens of Baghdad restaurants. They don’t carry guns or Bibles. The people like them. How can we fight this foreign threat? They will take over Iraq if we don’t do something.

“It is all an Anglo-American plot,” they decided.

“Then why do the Americans bomb them every once in awhile?” one high official asked.

“The Americans bomb everybody once in awhile,” said another.

But the Mexicans really had no idea of “taking over Iraq.” They just went on repairing, maintaining, planting and harvesting, with a little yard work on the side. They were just killing time before whatever was supposed to happen would happen.

Meanwhile, what was happening was that Mexicans were repairing Iraq.

“Why should I send an army to annihilate people who are repairing the damage from Iran War and the Gulf War?” asked the Supreme Leader of Iraq.

“It is an Anglo-American plot,” his closest advisors warned.

“If you say that again, I will have your heads cut off,” the Supreme Leader of Iraq said. “This babble is confusing me.”

“But …” said one advisor.

The Supreme Leader shot him.

I wondered, in my dream, what happened to a man in the afterlife whose last word was, “But …”

“The Mexicans have made the Supreme Leader nervous, today,” the remaining advisors told the cleanup crew as they left his office.

The Supreme Leader got on the horn to the Americans.

“Did you send the Mexicans?” he demanded to know.

“We did not,” the Americans said.

“Well, they are rebuilding my country,” the Supreme Leader said. “Can’t you do something about that?”

“We don’t care if they are rebuilding your country,” the Americans said.

“This is an outrage,” the Supreme Leader thought. He called for his jet and his highly-armed yes men and flew south to meet the Mexicans.

“Why are you here rebuilding my country?” he asked the Mexican general.

“We aren’t exactly sure, to tell you the truth, Sire,” the general replied. “Do you mind?”

“You know that you cannot just cross other peoples’ borders and start repairing and maintaining, planting and harvesting,” the Supreme Leader shouted. “I could have you all shot or put in jail and tortured.”

“Senor!” the general said. “Please, not so loud. You will alarm the muchachos who are busy repairing and maintaining, planting and harvesting, washing dishes and performing la yarda. "

“But it doesn’t look right!” the Supreme Leaders said. “Where did you come from? Who told you to come here?”

“We came from Mexico,” the general said. “I have my orders.”

I don’t remember the rest of the dream.

Beyond parody

Merced needs new mall

Editor: As I was shopping the other day at the mall, I noticed the deadness of the mall. We as UC Merced students demand more to do in Merced than just go to the mall. Merced is a great city and I'm sure in the future it will be known for its many differences. Merced as of right now is not known for anything.

Many students come to Merced because it's a new UC. As a student at UC Merced, I question many people why they chose to attend UC Merced. Is UC Merced what you had expected it to be? Many students are frustrated, many plan to transfer and the majority of students regret they even came to Merced. The point I am trying to make clear here is we need major progress in Merced. We as students don't have much money to travel long distances to buy something that we need for school. Merced needs more shopping centers and another mall. We need a reliable city to help motivate us as students to stay here.

We want Merced to be known for its hard-working students at UC Merced. We all want to set standards for the generations to come because we are the first students to attend this new university. For us to be able to do this we need the help of the city to provide us with the right tools. Many of us have to travel to Fresno or Modesto just to shop. We need more shopping centers in Merced. I personally demand more progress to benefit the city of Merced. We all enjoy attending UC Merced but the city needs major progress. I am sure many people want Merced to be known for its academic achievers at the new university. For us to be able to do this and make this city shine, we need the help of the city to provide us with tools such as shopping centers. Merced is a great city. I am aware that the city is trying its best to please each and every one of us. I am grateful for that, but please help us!

Shue Her, UC Merced student, Merced

Today's top story in the Merced Sun-Start was about more than 470 claims filed by residents near the city of Merced who suffered damage from flooding last spring. The are against the Merced city, county and Merced Irrigation District. The newspaper did not inquire whether the Franklin-Beachwood area is in a flood zone, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency 's 20-year-old maps. Possibly, none of the lawyers interviewed, who had their statements duly recorded, mentioned the fact either. It seems, from an insurance standpoint, the fact might have some bearing on the cases.

FEMA flood-plain maps around certain parts of the city of Merced were objects of concern to building department officials as early as 2000, but in the wake of Katrina, FEMA decided to draw new maps. Evidently, the effect these maps might have on the forward march of development in Pombozastan aroused the suspicions of representatives RichPAC Pombo, Whale Slayer-Tracy, and Dennis Cardoza, Polar Bear Slayer-Merced, who were able to block the circulation of these new maps until after the election.

Below is a collection of the major articles on the fix in chronological order. We were happy to learn that "the probability is higher that you won't have big floods," and that once again in Pombozastan honest graft was found to be the universal solution to all human complaint.

Bill Hatch
---------------------

Editorial: Reality bites
Delaying release of FEMA maps would help politicians, not communities at risk
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 2, 2006

Egged on by developers and local politicians seeking re-election, several Central Valley congressmen are urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to delay the release of updated maps that will provide homeowners and businesses a more accurate picture of flood risks.
FEMA should resist this pressure. The government hasn't updated most of these maps for 20 years, despite several damaging -- and revealing -- floods during that period. Following Hurricane Katrina, there has been a major national push to update the cartography. It needs to happen as quickly as possible.

Updated maps are essential for the National Flood Insurance Program to determine which property owners must buy insurance and which should consider it optional. Without updated maps, communities can't make informed decisions about development in the flood plain. Most crucially, prospective homeowners may end up buying homes in unsafe places, with no knowledge of the risks.

Much has changed since these maps were drawn. In some watersheds, the spread of pavement has increased runoff downstream to other communities. Scientists have learned more about the frequency of West Coast storms. Engineers have discovered problems with levees, which provide protection for tens of thousands of homes in the Valley.

The problem is that new maps frighten local officials, such as those in Lathrop who are planning new homes in suspect areas.

They alarm the mortgage industry and certain development interests, who have purchased and optioned cheap land in flood plains that could be affected by FEMA remapping.

Given the money at stake, it's highly suspicious that U.S. Reps. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, and other lawmakers are urging FEMA to delay the release of preliminary maps. FEMA had planned to release the maps in Octoberweeks before the November election.

Some in Congress say Valley residents will be thrown into a panic if they learn they live in a flood plain.

"Until communities can better understand the potential impacts of the map modernization program, the release of these preliminary maps would be premature," Cardoza said.

Such statements are baffling. As Cardoza notes, these FEMA maps are preliminary. The reason for releasing them is so communities can review them, debate them and understand how they might affect insurance and land-use plans before any final versions are approved.

FEMA recently bowed to pressure in remapping flood plains in New Orleans, putting thousands at risk. It shouldn't do the same here -- especially not for a handful of politicians who would rather enhance their re-election chances than face the realities of floods.
------------------------------------------------

Mission accomplished - a joint effort of Pombo and Cardoza!

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061009/NEWS01/610090324/1001

Wait to find out if you need flood insurance may last past election
Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
Published Monday, Oct 9, 2006

The release of federal maps that could determine whether thousands of San Joaquin County homeowners must buy flood insurance likely will be delayed until after the November election.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is evaluating which levees are capable of withstanding anything short of a 100-year flood.

If the levee behind a home fails that test, the federal government could require that the homeowner buy flood insurance - at best costing several hundred dollars a year, at worst more than $1,000.

Or homeowners might have to pay higher property taxes to raise cash to bolster weak levees.

The maps originally were due to be released early this month. In June, a team of lawmakers asked for a delay to give cities and counties more time to prove their levees are adequate.

On Friday, a FEMA spokesman said it's unclear when the maps will be published. In two weeks, officials may be ready to announce a date, James Shebl said.

"There are a number of reviews to make sure all that is required by law is included on the maps, checked and double-checked," Shebl said.

A spokesman for Rep. Richard Pombo said Friday that the maps might not be released until December. By then residents will have voted not only for candidates but also on a $4.5billion levee-repair bond.

Lawmakers have said their proposed delay is not political but is necessary to allow cities and counties time to demonstrate their levees are sound.

The levee study is part of a greater FEMA effort. In all, the five-year, $1billion project will map out 65 percent of the nation, an area encompassing 92 percent of the population.

A decade ago, a similar mapping project forced San Joaquin-area officials to build 12 miles of new levees and improve 40 additional miles, costing close to $70million. Nearly $14million came from property owners' pockets.

This time, if a large number of levees are ignored, the new maps could "wreak havoc" on residents' ability to secure building permits, said Steve Winkler, San Joaquin County's deputy public works director.

It's unclear whether that actually will happen, he said Friday.

"They're holding their cards close to the vest at the moment," Winkler said.

After discussions with cities and counties, FEMA agreed in some cases to approve levees provisionally for up to two years, delaying a high-flood-risk designation. By the end of the two years, however, the levee owner must prove its durability.

"We were relieved to get that new clarification," Winkler said. "Some of this documentation can be very expensive and time-consuming."

The number of flood-insurance policies in California has decreased in recent years as some levees were reinforced, said Tully Lehman, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California. Hurricane Katrina spurred a reassessment of the entire levee system, he said.

Homeowners with mortgages backed by federally regulated lenders - in other words, most mortgage holders - are required by law to purchase flood insurance if their homes are in high-risk areas. That includes residents who already live there when the high-risk designation is made, said Shebl, the FEMA spokesman.

In a statement late last month, FEMA mitigation director David Maurstad said no levee system will provide full protection.

Many levees are 150 years old and might be decaying over time.

"When levees fail, they fail catastrophically," Maurstad said. "The flooding may be much more intense and damaging than if the levee was not there."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Levee woes pile up; El Niño raises concern as crews rush to make critical repairs at more than 70 new Central Valley sites
Sacramento Bee – 10/17/06
By Matt Weiser, staff writer
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/40571.html

State and federal officials have identified at least 71 more damaged levee sections throughout the Central Valley that could fail this winter, and in an unusual step they plan to undertake repairs lasting well into the worst of the rainy season.

Levee experts normally seek to complete repairs by Nov. 1, the official start of flood season, because working in winter adds risks and complications. Swelling rivers can put repair areas under water, and saturated levees may become unstable under heavy truck traffic.

But the 71 new sites have the potential to fail without attention, so repairs are considered urgent. Many protect populated areas, including Clarksburg, Isleton, Plumas Lake and Chico. Others protect vital roads and utilities.

"From a construction standpoint, it's going to be extremely challenging," said Mike Inamine, chief of levee repairs at the California Department of Water Resources. "In the event that we can't get to all of these sites, we're making provisions with the Army Corps and our own forces to get ready to fight floods at these critical sites."

Adding to the challenges, an El Niño weather pattern is in place this winter.

Forecasters predict a 33 percent chance for above-average rainfall south of Fresno. Normal winter conditions are predicted in Northern California, but that could change because the El Niño pattern is still strengthening, said Kelly Redmond, deputy director of Western Regional Climate Center, an arm of the National Weather Service.

"There's nothing in this El Niño forecast that should have Northern California residents worried about floods," said Redmond.

"But most winters bring some episodes of fairly heavy precipitation anyway. And every El Niño seems to bring its own little kind of surprise."

The 71 new levee repair sites come on top of 33 "critical erosion" sites now being fixed under an emergency order by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Identified in surveys before last winter's storms, they are set to be finished by Nov. 1 at a cost of $190 million, said Don Kurosaka, Water Resources project manager.

Four sites recently added to that initial list won't be finished until Nov. 30, however.

The work involves replacing sections of levee material that eroded away, then armoring the levee with layers of large rock.

"Right now we are in a crunch, and we're working on getting some of the quarries started working on Sundays just to make sure we meet our deadline," Kurosaka said.

Of the 71 new damage sites, 35 were identified in July after initial post-storm surveys. The rest were spotted in more recent surveys of the levee system.

The new sites will add at least $150 million in repair costs, Inamine said. They stretch across a vast area, on both the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, from near Colusa in the north to Mendota, Fresno County, in the south. Some involve not just erosion, but through-seepage problems as well.

More sites could be added, because additional surveys are under way.

State and local agencies plan to repair 27 of the sites; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will do the rest. The state is paying for all the work under AB 142, a state law adopted in May that appropriated $500 million for emergency levee repairs.

But the federal government is obligated to pay for most of the repairs, and the state plans to seek repayment.

"We're going after every cent of reimbursement due us," said Inamine.

The 71 new repair sites were damaged in last winter's storms. Though not record-setting, the pattern of last year's rainfall put unusual strain on levees.

First came heavy rainfall in January that pushed river levels up against levees for the duration of winter. Then another pulse of heavy rain in April kept rivers high most of the summer.

The high water delayed levee repairs on known problem sites. It also delayed detailed inspection of other levee stretches.

That's why these 71 new repair sites are only now getting started, said Meegan Nagy, readiness section chief at the Corps of Engineers.

"We were unable to even see many of the sites until June," she said. "You had water on the levees for, in some cases, five months. That's just not a normal condition, so I think that had a big impact on the types of damage that we saw on these levees."

Flood officials plan to work on the damaged sites as far into winter as conditions allow. If flooding conditions occur, high water may prevent access to damaged areas, and soaked levees may not support the weight of trucks and bulldozers.

To prepare for that, Inamine said, officials plan to position equipment and materials to defend weak levees during a flood in case construction has to be stopped.

So far, the forecasted El Niño does not make that more likely. El Niño, caused by higher Pacific Ocean temperatures at the equator, shifts the winter jet stream south. Historically, this has caused both wetter and drier winters in Northern California, and forecasters say the region could go either way this time.

"Every El Niño that comes along has got a little bit different pattern," Redmond said. "Exactly who in the West might get above-average precipitation and who might be drier is pretty hard to say."

Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, believes the El Niño prediction has been overblown.

"Right now, what we see is pretty weak, and it's pretty late in the El Niño season," Patzert said. "When you have these situations, the forecast is very difficult, and the probability is higher that you won't have big floods." #
---------------------

10-18-06
Merced Sun-Star
Attachment: Public Notice
Merced Sun-Star Merced, Calif.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Changes are made in Determinations of Base Flood Elevations for the unincorporated areas of Merced County, California under

the National Flood Insurance Program
Flood damage claims pile in...Leslie Albrecht
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/local/story/12907864p-13566786c.html
More than 470 people have filed claims against the city of Merced, Merced County and Merced Irrigation District seeking what could amount to millions of dollars for damages they say they suffered during the devastating floods that swept through Merced in April. Fresno attorney Mick Marderosian filed the claims on behalf of the residents, who live in the Franklin-Beachwood area and on the southwestern edge of Merced along Lopes Avenue, Thornton Road and Ashby Road. That area suffered the brunt of the April floods, which caused $10 million in damage countywide and prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency. The claims include allegations that the city, county and MID failed to maintain canals and levees, which led to the flooding that damaged residents' property. The claims also argue that raw sewage from a treatment plant on Drake Avenue escaped from the plant during the flooding and contaminated residents' property. "The government here has violated the state constitution and federal and state laws regarding the Clean Water Act," said Marderosian. "They have affected our environment at a level comparable to the Love Canal." Holly Doremus, a law professor at UC Davis, said the government was most recently forced to pay flood damages in 2003 when the state of California was ordered to pay $600 million after a Yuba County flood caused by a weak levee...could mean that it's more likely other flood victims could collect financial compensation. City Attorney Greg Diaz said he was not "unduly concerned" about how the Yuba County ruling could affect
Merced's flood case. "We've had flood cases before and the city of Merced has been very successful before," said Diaz. "We anticipate a similar outcome." The county, which hasn't decided whether it will deny the claims, has hired attorney Terry Allen to represent the county when the case moves to federal court.

Rep. Dennis Cardoza voted twice against the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which eliminates right of habeas corpus for classes defined by the executive branch of the federal government. Habeas corpus is a safeguard against illegal imprisonment as old as the Magna Carta (13th century). The bill passed and the president reportedly will sign it tomorrow. Demonstrations throughout the country are scheduled to coincide with the presidential signing.

Among House Blue Dog Democrats, Cardoza was in a bare majority, a dozen voting once, 11 voting twice against the bill.

Cardoza deserves praise for trying to protect habeas corpus and he will receive it from local opponents of his environmental policies.

Thank you, Dennis, for voting against this tyrannical law.

Bill Hatch
-----------

Reference:

Dennis Cardoza | Congress votes database | washingtonpost.com: See how Dennis Cardoza voted on key votes -- the most important bills ... 9/29/06, Vote 508: S 3930: Military Commissions Act, No, Yes, No ...
projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/c001050/ - Similar pages

An odd letter appeared in the Merced Sun-Star on Oct. 12. It was written by local attorney, Ken Robbins, in praise of Dennis Cardoza, who represents this area in the House of Representatives. The ,letter appeared about the time a spate of letters in praise of Cardoza appeared. Apparently, in our Valley, we praise a politician who has no serious competition in an election.

In any event, what was so odd about the letter was its strange factual natural. Robbins praised Cardoza's leadership as chairman of the Assembly Water Committee, for example. Those of us who have misspent portions of our adult lives in the halls of the state Capitol were trying to remember the Assembly Water Committee. Some said that maybe such a committee existed back in the days of Speaker Jesse Unruh, others thought that if such a committee ever existed, it had pre-dated Unruh.

One bright young staffer suggested that Robbins might have confused Cardoza, who was chairman of the Assembly Agriculture Committee and the Assembly Rules committee with Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, who was once state Sen. Jim Costa, chairman of the state Senate Ag and Water Committee. But other textual evidence suggested that Robbins was aware that Cardoza represented Merced, not Fresno.

But, admittedly, the problem of state Legislature committees is tricky, which is why it helps to look things up. For example, state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Salinas, Merced or Livingston, depending on what press release you read, is presently chairman of the new state Senate Agriculture Committee. They took the water away from the committee, you see, when they made Denham its chairman.

Robbins praised Cardoza's "steadfast support of UC Merced before the City County," presumably meaning the Merced City Council -- not Fresno, Salinas or Livingston city councils. The only problem with the praise is that no one can remember Cardoza ever appearing before the Merced City Council in steadfast support of UC Merced. He is well remembered for legislative bills and for working the backrooms of the state Capitol on behalf of the project. However, beside the time the Merced City Council voted to violate its own ordinances to provide UC Merced with sewer and water hookups, the city has relatively little to do with UC Merced planning and permitting. That could be because the campus is located in Merced County and its planning conducted by the County of Merced UC Development Office, out of its offices at the former Castle Air Force base.

But Robbins letter, "Cardoza a true leader," is only using Cardoza's background as chairman of a non-existent state Assembly committee to build up his argument for Cardoza's "leadership in the U.S. Congress," specifically as a member of the House Resources subcommittee on water and power. According to Lawyer Robbins, Cardoza "reached across party lines" to exert this leadership to protect irrigation and water districts downstream from the Friant Dam from the terrible destruction they imagined would be wrecked by a large group of farmers and environmentalists settling an 18-year-old lawsuit to permit the San Joaquin River to flow again without a 60-mile dry area in the middle of it. Fifteen thousand farmers who have been using water drawn from Lake Millerton behind the Friant Dam for 50 years, agreed with environmentalists that killing the second longest river in California halfway across the San Joaquin Valley and converting its entire north-south reach from Fresno County to the Delta into an agricultural waste drainage ditch was no longer favored by law. So they made a settlement, which included draft congressional legislation to fund it.

It is one of the most ambitious river restoration projects in the nation. This settlement is actually worth great praise.

However, Cardoza's role in the appropriations bill negotiations, was to lead the obstruction of as much as possible of it, on behalf of Robbins' client, the Merced Irrigation District, Westlands Water District, and the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts, who were each experiencing their own kind of angst over the settlement.

The chairman of the water and power subcommittee is Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, in whose district the lake, the dam, and parts of the river and of the canal are located. While we are not personally acquainted with the exact number of good political deeds Radanovich has done in his career in Congress, his work with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, speacial interests like Robbins and Cardoza represent, to get an appropriations agreement in accord with the settlement agreement's requirements, was certainly one good deed, for which he is being severely punished. The Fresno Bee, for example, recently came out with an endorsement for his opponent.

Seven of the subcommittee's 17 members are from California, as is chairman of the Resources Committee, Rep. RichPAC Pombo, Whale Slayer-Tracy. But two are ex-officio, leaving 15 voting members. Four of the Californians -- Pombo, Radanovich, Cardoza and Costa -- are from the San Joaquin Valley. How much more could Pombo have loaded up the subcommittee committee for a hearing on this issue?

Nevertheless, rightly fearing worse if the settlement broke down for lack of appropriations and went back to federal court, Feinstein and the other representatives soothed Cardoza's troubled spirit on behalf of the irrigation districts and got a bill out. At least their press release says they got a bill out.

Then, after their anxious moment having to deal with farmers and environmentalists agreeing on a major California water issue and making a positive proposal, they turned to more familiar work and began punishing Randanovich.

"During extensive negotiations regarding the San Joaquin River settlement implementing legislation," Robbins wrote, "Dennis played a pivotal role in protecting the water rights of Merced and Stanislaus counties and the private property of landowners along the San Joaquin River."

At this point in Robbins' letter, we develop more angst than an irrigation district afraid a few endangered salmon might swim up its river instead of up another irrigation district's river. We want to feel the same warm feeling for Cardoza that Robbins does. Here, after all, is a congressman so incredibly popular in his district "across party lines," that the other party doesn't even bother to mount a serious campaign against him. We wish to participate in this general good will toward Dennis Cardoza that spreads all across the 18th Congressional District of California -- if we could understand why we should feel this way toward a man who introduced three bills to chop up or destroy the Endangered Species Act, just in his first two terms of office.

What are the water rights of Merced and Stanislaus counties? Do counties have water rights? We realize that Robbins is a top man in his field of water law, therefore he must be right. We also know he is incredibly generous with Merced Irrigation District water, once offering 25,000 acre feet ("a drop in the bucket") to UC Merced, years before Cardoza did not appear at the Merced City Council when it agreed to supply the campus with water. But we don't quite know why he's right. Perhaps, that Assembly Water Committee thing still niggles.

We are aware of county-of-origins water laws, by which water agencies in the county in which the water originates get first rights on the use of the water. That must have been what he meant.

But then another problem immediately arises, in fact several problems for those of us who are not top water people. First, the Merced, Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers empty into the San Joaquin River well downstream of the Friant Dam. But, even more confusing, none of those rivers originate in Merced or Stanislaus counties. Thirdly, the irrigation districts have use rights to rivers: they can use so many acre feet per year. With more explanation, perhaps not in the same breathe with which he is praising our favorite congressman, perhaps Robbins could make it clear how some salmon would jeopardize the water rights of these counties.

Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in upcoming negotiations on hydroelectric plants on these rivers when the water agencies apply for relicensing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Fish, water, dams, hydroelectric turbines, irrigation districts in the energy business, federal resource agencies -- that sort of thing. Why would Lawyer Robbins have wished to mix up nightmares like that with praise of our all-popular congressman? We suppose top water lawyers like Robbins make good money in FERC relicensing negotiations, though. A real top water lawyer could probably send a Little League Baseball team to Harvard on a serious and complex relicensing negotiation with FERC, particularly if a few endangered salmon were sighted in the river.

However, we were unequivocably proud of how our congressman protected the private property rights of landowners along the San Joaquin River. We know that Cardoza has always been a zealous defender of private property rights, wherever he can find them in conflict with law or regulation protecting the natural habitat of fish or wildlife. Yet we know, in the same way that we know that Lawyer Robbins speaks with sincerity and truth, that Cardoza cares for our environment. From reading our one newspaper with many names, the McClatchy Co., we know of two farmers whose homesteads lie along the San Joaquin River on the west side of the Valley, who expressed deep concerns about the settlement agreement. They farm cotton on tiny plots they inherited from the Miller-Lux and Wolfsen estates. Presumably -- it's not too clear from the articles -- they have angst that if the river were allowed to flow again, it might flow in places where it used to flow but where they now farm, possibly wiping out the tiny plots where they grow subsistence cotton crops as did their ancestors in a way of life unbroken through countless generations of English-speaking people in the San Joaquin Valley.

Lawyer Robbins urges local voters to join him in reelecting Cardoza to the House. Residents in his district will have to tax the resources of their imaginations to find any alternative to voting for Cardoza. We don't really have a credible choice and we can't tell, certainly from his party label, what Cardoza's affiliations really are. The record suggests he's basically an anti-environmentalist in a rural county experiencing rapid growth.

But that's what happens when the district residents allow a small cabal who display a characteristic as odd as Robbins' "facts" of getting richer as the majority gets poorer, to completely control its local, state and federal slates of political candidates.

Bill Hatch
------------------------
References:

Letter to the Editor: Cardoza a true leader
Merced Sun-Star -- October 12, 2006
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/opinion/story/12876067p-13548945c.html

Editor: I have known Dennis Cardoza for many years and have had the pleasure of working with him on many issues vital to Merced. His steadfast support of UC Merced before the City Council and in the legislature mark him as a true leader for our community.
Recently I also was able to observe his leadership in the U.S. Congress. Dennis' term as the chairman of the Assembly Water Committee has served us well as that experience has translated to his work on the Water and Power Subcommittee of the House Resources Committee, of which he is a member.

During extensive negotiations regarding the San Joaquin River settlement implementing legislation, Dennis played a pivotal role in protecting the water rights of Merced and Stanislaus counties and the private property of landowners along the San Joaquin River. As a member of the Valley Congressional delegation, Dennis reached across party lines to help secure a compromise that will result in restoring the San Joaquin River while protecting those of us that were not part of the litigation.

This deal would not have happened without Congressman Cardoza. This is just more evidence of his effectiveness on our behalf in Congress. I will be voting to re-elect him and I hope you will, too.

KENNETH M. ROBBINS
---------------

House Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power

Mr. George Radanovich, California, Chairman
Mrs. Grace F. Napolitano, CA

Republicans Democrats
Ken Calvert, CA Raul M. Grijalva, AZ
Barbara Cubin, WY Jim Costa, CA
Greg Walden, OR George Miller, CA
Thomas G. TancredoCO Mark Udall, CO
J.D. Hayworth, AZ Dennis Cardoza, CA
Stevan Pearce, NM vacancy
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, WA vacancy
Louie Gohmert, TX Nick J. Rahall, II, WV, ex officio
Richard W. Pombo, CA, ex officio
------------------

Valley well-represented in river-restoration talks...Editorial
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/story/12786191p-13478313c.html
In poker, you can't win if you're not at the table. The same thing is true in water negotiations. Fortunately, we had a seat - several, in fact - at the table where a deal to restore the San Joaquin River between Fresno and Merced has been worked out. Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced a deal... Included were some key third-party representatives. Among them was Modesto Irrigation District General Manager Allen Short, who represented the five irrigation districts - Modesto, Turlock, Oakdale, Merced and South San Joaquin - that depend on and manage the San Joaquin's tributary rivers. Joining him was Ken Robbins, a lawyer for Merced Irrigation District, and all five valley members of the House of Representatives. The negotiations on the bill are complete, but this game is not over. Getting this bill passed will require the help of the entire valley congressional delegation...it is doable.

Some recent clips on one of the greatest enemies of working people.

If this keeps up, Wal-Mart may go down in history as the poster child for resurgent unionism in America. If so, thank you, Wal-Mart, for being such a loud, domineering, shrill, braggart, rapacious and ugly corporation that you have become a huge symbol for corporate harm to working people, even to the extent of creating sustained, militant labor resistance to the pain you have caused through almost every one of your policies.

Wal-Mart is no longer a business firm; it is pure matastasis of unregulated capitalist greed and political juice. It will stand as the domestic retail-business equivalent of the Iraq wars as the legacy of the Republican Reagan and Bushes regimes.

Wal-Mart's plans for Merced would bring nothing but harm to public health and safety. Yet it continues, with the connivance of Merced City officials and the enthusiastic, suicidal rantings of the chambers-of-commerce crowd.

If the history of this period is written, it will be mentioned that the road to the Hell of global warming, class warfare, and air that kills was paved by local land-use authorities who ignored the cumulative impacts of environmentally, economically and socially destructive projects demanded by the sheer, energetic stupidity of business interests, rendered brain-dead Babbitts by Republican and church-sanctified greed.

Bill Hatch
----------------------

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/1013-05.htm
WakeUpWalMart.com Statement on Wal-Mart's Decision to Target Democrats in the 2006 Midterm Elections
WASHINGTON - October 13 - The following is a statement from WakeUpWalMart.com on Wal-Mart's decision to target Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections, as reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Today's Star Tribune reports, "The world's largest retailer is about to take the unusual step of distributing information about specific candidates to its 1.3 million employees nationwide, according to a company official. …Wal-Mart said it will specifically target local, state and national leaders who appeared this summer at a series of anti-Wal-Mart rallies organized by WakeUpWalMart.com, a union-backed group that has called on the retailer to offer workers better pay and benefits."
The following statement is attributable to Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com:
"Rather than embrace our positive vision for a better America, Wal-Mart has officially declared war on the Democratic Party, elected leaders, and every American who believes we should pay workers a living wage, provide affordable health care to all, protect American jobs and keep America safe.
Even though an overwhelming majority of Americans, including Democrats, Republicans and Independents, now reject President Bush's right-wing agenda that has brought us a culture of corruption, repeated scandals, shipped American jobs overseas and even jeopardized our national security, Wal-Mart is launching a political campaign to help keep President Bush in power by trying to defeat Democrats who called on Wal-Mart to be a more responsible employer.
From this day forward, no citizen, regardless of their party affiliation, should doubt how right-wing Wal-Mart's agenda really is. By opposing expanding health care to hard working families and their children, opposing a living wage of $10 per hour, lobbying to ship American jobs to China, and even lobbying against strengthening America's national security, Wal-Mart's agenda is extreme, misguided, and wrong for America. It is an agenda that no American could support, jeopardizes the future of our country, and is one of the key reasons why Wal-Mart's public image continues to collapse.
On behalf of the American people, we are not going to allow big corporations like Wal-Mart to take America in the wrong direction. In that spirit, WakeUpWalMart.com, with the help of 276,000 grassroots supporters, will be announcing a major new initiative next week that will make it clear to Wal-Mart and its right wing operatives that our movement will never stop fighting until the day Wal-Mart truly changes for the better.

Wal-Mart loses suit on work breaks...AP
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart13oct13,1,18655,print.story
Philadelphia - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. forced employees to work through rest breaks and off the clock, violating Pennsylvania labor laws, a state jury found Thursday. The jury, however, ruled in Wal-Mart's favor on the claim that it denied workers meal breaks. The jury now must decide damages in the class-action suit, which covers as many as 187,000 current and former hourly Wal-Mart workers. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant is facing a slew of similar suits around the country. Wal-Mart settled a Colorado case for $50 million and was appealing a $172-million award handed out last year by a California jury. "This is the second [verdict]. With 56 more to go, I think it reinforces that this company's sweatshop mind-set is a serious problem, both legally and morally," said Chris Kofinis, a spokesman for WakeUpWalMart.com, a union-funded effort to improve working conditions at the stores.

Washington Post
Wal-Mart workers win wage suit...Amy Joyce
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101201608_pf.html
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. violated Pennsylvania labor laws by forcing hourly employees to work through breaks and beyond their shifts without overtime pay, a jury decided yesterday. The lawsuit, brought by two employees on behalf of almost 187,000 current and former Wal-Mart employees, claimed that the company made workers in Pennsylvania miss more than 33 million rest breaks from 1998 to 2001. At least 57 other wage-and-hour cases have been filed across the United States against the world's largest retailer, and many of them are awaiting class-action certification, according to company filings. In court, the lawyers argued that the company denied breaks to cut labor costs and increase productivity. The case is one of several class-action wage-and-hour suits against the company to go to trial. In December, a jury awarded $172 million to about 116,000 current and former Wal-Mart and Sam's Club workers in California who claimed that they were illegally denied lunch breaks. Wal-Mart is appealing the verdict. In 2002, a federal jury in Oregon found that Wal-Mart employees were forced to work off the clock and awarded back pay to 83 workers. In 2004, Wal-Mart settled a similar lunch break case in Colorado for $50 million. One of the pending cases, which accuses the company of paying men more than women nationally, is the largest private employer civil rights class action in history. Wal-Mart has asked an appeals court to overturn the class-action status of the case.

New York Times
Jury says Wal-Mart must pay $78 million in damages...Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-retail-walmart-damages.html?pagewanted=print
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania jury said on Friday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, must pay $78.47 million in damages to current and former Pennsylvania employees for forcing them to work ``off the clock'' or during rest breaks. On Thursday, a state jury in Philadelphia found in favor of Michelle Braun and Dolores Hummel, formerly employed by Wal- Mart, saying the company violated Pennsylvania labor laws by failing to pay employees for the work. It awarded about $2.5 million for off-the-clock working and about $76 million for lost rest breaks between March of 1998 and May of 2006. The award was another blow to Wal-Mart's image, which has been tarnished by accusations by labor unions, politicians and others that it pays poverty-level wages and mistreats workers. Before deliberations began in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas, Donovan argued that Wal-Mart employees were forced to work through their breaks because the company wanted to maximize profits.``Wal-Mart doesn't understand anything but numbers,'' he said. ``In order for Wal-Mart to understand this, it needs to see numbers, big numbers. ''Neal Manne, an attorney for Wal-Mart, who asked the jury to award $287,000 for off-the- clock working and $6.65 million for missed rest breaks, argued that many employees had in fact taken breaks without swiping their ID cards to indicate they were on a break. In December, a California jury ruled that Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, should pay $172 million in damages and compensation to about 116,000 current and former employees for denying meal breaks. Plaintiffs in the 2001 California lawsuit claimed Wal-Mart had failed to pay hourly employees for missed or interrupted meal breaks.

City going wrong way...John S. Holmes, M.D., Merced...Letters to the editor
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/opinion/story/12892244p-13552691c.html
Valley only going to get hotter," Sept. 30, and "Work still needed on our air," Oct. 4...You correctly point out that our air quality is still bad and that global warming is looming as a huge problem in the near future. You also make the connection to automobiles and trucks as major culprits. What is so perplexing is why you have so much difficulty connecting the dots to the kinds of economic development Merced County is pursuing. The Riverside Motorsports Park and the Wal-Mart Distribution Center will only aggravate our air quality problems. The local air board has all but admitted we won't be able to meet the 2010 deadline for clean air. Economic development is important, but only within responsible parameters that protect the public health. Your editorial "Study underscores need for clean air," April 4, clearly shows the extent air pollution in the Valley is jeopardizing the public health. A free, independent press is essential for our democratic system to function properly by holding those in power accountable. It is past time for the editors to start connecting the dots on air quality issues.

City wants subdivision to build roads, fund fire station...Adam Ashton
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12892435p-13552938c.html
Modesto released a draft environmental impact report Thursday for a development that would bring more than 3,200 homes and a regional commercial center to the city's northeast border...Tivoli...454-acre project backed in part by Modesto real estate magnate Mike Zagaris...the city expects Tivoli's backers to cut checks for everything from widening roads to wetlands preservation. As is, Tivoli requires a zoning change because the area's land-use designations would limit the project to about 900 fewer homes. The city's zoning restrictions also would permit less space for commercial development. The initial environmental report urges city leaders to require that developers: Set aside money for farmland preservation by contributing to an agricultural resource fund. Designate land for a new fire station and give the city money to build it. Pay their share of a series of road improvements, including projects to extend and widen Claratina Avenue, expand three McHenry Avenue intersections and add lanes to Briggsmore Avenue.
Take steps to limit air pollution during construction by refraining from idling trucks, using new technology and building wind barriers. Encourage alternative transportation options by installing bike lanes and reserving space for bus routes. Dig two new wells to maintain water pressure. People have 45 days to comment on the environmental report before the city begins revising it.