| The story concerns the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) which was passed by the Governor last year, landing him on the cover of major magazines and in the hearts of the punditocracy as a sensible centrist reformer who can bridge the nasty partisan divide. The law was passed with the implementation written deliberately vaguely, and the control over it handed to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a regulatory body appointed entirely by the Governor. This was seen as a major victory for Democrats in the Legislature last year, and yet they passed off all authority for implementation over to a body that the Governor controls. And, unsurprisingly, he has politicized the board to an extreme degree.
A couple weeks ago Robert Sawyer, the CARB chair, resigned. But questions arose over the events surrounding his resignation. The Governor's office claimed they were upset with Sawyer for dragging his feet on implementing air pollution and global warming initiatives. Yet environmentalists were defending Sawyer and saying things like "he deserved better." And then there was this curious passage:
Sawyer ... said he was called by a Cabinet secretary who ordered him to limit to three the number of so-called early action measures the board was considering to slow global warming.
So the governor was disappointed in Sawyer dragging his feet on global warming initiatives, yet he was called last week and told to... limit global warming initiatives? That appeared to be the case. And then Catherine Witherspoon, the board's executive director, resigned in protest, incensed by Sawyer's dismissal and the repeated attempts by the Governor to change the landmark global warming law through implementation in ways that he couldn't change it in the legislative arena.
In interviews with The Times, Witherspoon said there had been a pattern of interference by the governor's top staff in favor of industry lobbyists seeking to weaken or stall air pollution regulations, including the state's landmark global warming law and proposed regulations on diesel construction equipment and wood products containing formaldehyde.
"They were ordering us to find ways to reduce costs and satisfy lobbyists," she said, adding that the governor's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, and Cabinet Secretary Dan Dunmoyer took the lead on pressuring the agency staff and board chairman.
Adding insult to injury, she said, members of the governor's staff have publicly blamed her and Sawyer for not doing more - conduct she described as "Orwellian … a triumph of appearances over reality."
This started to create a minor bit the Governor's of buzz around the state. It was becoming clear that the Governor was publicly playing up an environmentalist image, while actively seeking to subvert legislation and make it more corporate-friendly behind the scenes. He was trying to make AB 32 a cap-and-trade law, when Democrats envisioned is as including strong regulatory targets and standards. And the state Democrats, to their credit, jumped on this opportunity:
Environmental groups, backed by Democratic legislators, have denounced the administration's cap-and-trade policy as beyond the intent of AB 32, however, favoring a more direct regulatory mechanism on emissions. The Democratic version of the state budget, in fact, seeks to deny funds for any development of cap-and-trade policy until broader studies are completed.
The relevant State Assembly commitee scheduled a hearing last Friday with Sawyer and Witherspoon to address politicization within CARB. They invited Schwarzenegger Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy and Cabinet Secretary Dan Dunmoyer to attend. The Governor refused their participation. So committee Chair Loni Hancock, a fine progressive, theatened subpoenas:
Assembly Democrats said they may need to subpoena two of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's aides, who are expected to rebuff an invitation to testify at an oversight hearing today on why two officials were forced from the state's air resources board.
Berkeley Assemblywoman Loni Hancock sent letters to Schwarzenegger's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, and Cabinet Secretary Dan Dunmoyer, asking them to testify at the Natural Resources hearing she heads. Her committee is looking into accusations that the administration interfered with the board's implementation of AB 32, the landmark law to curb greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2020.
Eventually, after the Schwarzenegger Administration lied about the unprecedented nature of his subordinates testifying to the Legislature (indeed, Kennedy herself responded to a subpoena and testified when she was in the Gray Davis Administration), they sent a political flack who ISN'T EVEN PART OF THE ADMINISTRATION ANYMORE and is, in fact, a lobbyist.
(Dan) Skopec no longer works for the Schwarzenegger Administration as of a week ago, and has started his own firm, "Climate & Energy Consulting" on Sacramento's K Street Mall, to serve clients he described as "emerging technologies companies that will take advantage of the changes in energy that will result from climate policies." Despite repeated questions from committee members, he refused to reveal who in the Administration had asked him to testify, who he had spoken to about the hearing, who had prepped him, and what he was told. Although he repeatedly testified about actions of the Schwarzenegger Administration using the word "we", he later apologized for the use of that word which he is accustomed to use. He later admitted that he was not speaking for the Schwarzenegger Administration, but was basically there as a private citizen.
Let me step in and say that California has almost no state political media, considering how big a state it is. The efforts made to push this story into the public consciousness were significant. Practically every beat reporter in the state was focused on it, as well as the state netroots and some more institutional Democratic sites (the California Majority Report, an insider site made up of a lot of state political consultants, has been particularly brutal toward the governor in a way I've never seen before).
Skopec, who, in a former life, carried the water of Rep. Doug Ose (the former Sacramento area Congressman who defended the energy generators), was a disaster. He called the testimony of CARB officials "fiction," and then refused to answer committee questions about the Governor's staff review of his testimony. He also provoked the committee by calling the hearing political theater -- not a wise move for someone who later said he may soon be a lobbyist before the legislature.
The testimony of the two former members of the Air Resources Board, Robert Sawyer and Catherine Witherspoon, seemed to me to be fairly damaging.
Schwarzenegger fired Sawyer last month, and Witherspoon resigned Monday because she said the Governor's Office had tried to control the air board to the benefit of polluters. In particular, Witherspoon said Schwarzenegger deputy chief of staff Dan Dunmoyer had routinely called her to question whether ARB policies would unduly hurt businesses in California.
Sawyer said the governor's office has undermined the traditional independence of the air board, which has the reputation of being an apolitical, science-based body.
"The governor's staff has the task of conveying policy directions from the governor to the Air Resources Board," Sawyer said. "However, Gov. Schwarzenegger, your staff has interjected itself in a manner that has compromised the independence and integrity of the board."
This story, carried through by the local media and the local netroots, cuts to the very heart of how the branches of government in California function. The Assembly is standing up right now, so far, because they feel the presence would have no meaning if they pass laws that the Governor then can simply circumnavigate to arrive at his preferred solution. In addition, the Assembly is not being permitted to conduct oversight with the actual executive staff involved in the incident. If Dan Dunmoyer was calling CARB members and pressuring them to back off tough regulatory stances, then he ought to be brought before the committee to answer for that. It's quite simple. You have a governor who is working to fire anyone who doesn't toe the corporate line on global warming, where he's supposed to be a Jolly Green Giant.
Dr. Sawyer (the former CARB chief), in his testimony, complimented Catherine Witherspoon for resigning from her position as the Executive Officer of CARB since she serves in that position at the pleasure of the board itself. Despite the desire of Susan Kennedy, Schwarzenegger's Chief of Staff, to have her fired, this could not be accomplished directly by the Governor. Sawyer said he had been ordered to place this on the agenda and met with a subcommittee of the board only to find out that there was a consensus of fellow board members not to do so. It was feared that had Witherspoon remained in the position that individual board members would be removed until there was a majority willing to fire her.
Does this remind one of the Saturday massacre involving U.S. Attorney General Elliott Richardson and Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal of the Nixon Administration?
Schwarzenegger is taking a beating in both the local and national press, as well he should. This reflects nothing more than an abuse of power.
So here's why I bring this to your attention. As I've said, the state progressive movement is moribund. Only when it's a national issue does it get play in California, sadly enough. But this is an urgent story on one of the most important issues that we'll face in the coming years. I'm asking for you're help in ensuring that the California Legislature stays strong. Here we have one of the only legitimate pieces of legislation in this country addressing the issue of climate change, and it's being undermined by a Governor who wants to talk big on the environment while supporting his corporate buddies behind the scenes.
I would like everyone reading this who lives in California to call their Assemblymember. They need to know that they will be supported in this effort to rein in the Schwarzenegger Administration and ensure that oversight is undertaken and the laws of the state are met. That includes subpoenas for top Schwarzenegger Administration officials if need be.
These are the Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee, who are particularly important.
Loni Hancock - Chair
Dem-14 (916) 319-2014 Assemblymember.hancock@assembly.ca.gov
Julia Brownley
Dem-41 (916) 319-2041 Assemblymember.Brownley@assembly.ca.gov
Felipe Fuentes
Dem-39 (916) 319-2039 Assemblymember.fuentes@assembly.ca.gov
John Laird
Dem-27 (916) 319-2027 Assemblymember.laird@assembly.ca.gov
Lori Saldaña
Dem-76 (916) 319-2076 Assemblymember.Saldana@assembly.ca.gov
It helps, of course, if you are a constituent (Asm. Brownley will be getting plenty of calls from me). But even if you're not, this is an important enough issue, one that speaks to the very structure of democracy in this state, that you should make a call. And ALL of your representatives ought to know that you're paying close attention to this issue and that you want results which are consistent with the law and the need to take a real and not a symbolic step in the fight against global warming.
Thanks. |
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