[Davis Democrats] Rep. Pombo taken away, by Lionel Van Deerlin, former Marine and Congressman from San Diego

[John Chendo]

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Subject: Rep. Pombo, by Lionel Van Deerlin, former Marine and Congressman
from San Diego-

REP. POMBO    Nov. 16‹by Lionel Van Deerlin

  
             Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell
down upon the ground and worshiped,
             And saidŠ.The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed
be the name of the Lord.
                                          
                                                                --Book of 
Job 1:20-21
  
             I know better than to mix my religious faith with politics.
Nevertheless, while not into head-shaving, I fully share the prophet Job¹s
sentiments when contemplating Richard Pombo¹s imminent departure from
Congress.
  
             The 7-term northern California lawmaker, whose 4-year
chairmanship of the House Resources Committee was marked by savage attacks
against environmental gains of the last half-century, was surprisingly
turned out of office in a well coordinated campaign by hordes of activists
who had decided enough was enough.
  
             From among California¹s 53-member delegation in Congress,
Chairman Pombo was the midterm¹s lone loser. This in a state whose
legislative gerrymanders are known to protect incumbents with the loving
care a polar bear shows for her young.
  
             It should be unnecessary to stipulate that Richard Pombo is not
an evil person. He¹s been, rather, an historic misfit‹Roseanne Barr in a
chorus line, say. Though lacking a sense of pride in our national parks or
an appreciable concern for the quality of America¹s air and water--and
showing scant love of animals--he was entrusted by Congress with a wand over
all outdoors. Pombo¹s chairmanship of the Resources committee brought
generous concessions to the auto industry, wanton logging or grazing of
public lands, and endless forays against the Alaskan wilderness.
  
             Things seem certain to change when West Virginia Rep. Nick
Rahall, ranking Democrat on the Resources Committee, replaces Pombo as
chairman, and when California Sen. Barbara Boxer lifts Chairman Jim Inhofe¹s
gavel on the Senate Environment and PublicWorks Committee. Though no match
for Pombo as an ecological scourge, Oklahoma¹s Inhofe has intimidated
public-interest witnesses by demanding their organization¹s membership lists
and financial records‹hardly a cordial overture to persons not under
subpoena.
  
             Long feeling themselves on the outside-looking-in during
important congressional battles, pro-environment organizations are
salivating over some huge numerical gains where it counts. When a new
Congress convenes in January, conservationists will have picked up no fewer
than 20 friendly members in the House, plus a half-dozen in the Senate. The
League of Conservation Voters had branded 13 individual senators and House
members ³the Dirty Dozen.² Nine of the 13 were defeated‹the blue-ribbon
prize, of course, the gentleman from California, Mr. Pombo.
  
             And while the count still leaves conservationists with
insufficient numbers to override a presidential veto or to block a Senate
filibuster, organizations like the Sierra Club, Friends of the Wilderness
and Defenders of Wildlife will no longer be left skulking like declawed
pussy cats. In an era of costly campaigning, Chairman Pombo¹s foes raised
and spent close to $2 million to take him out.
  
            But money alone was not going to do it. Pombo¹s defeat came
about because of an extraordinary primary challenge within his own party. It
came from former Republican Rep. Pete McCloskey, the Korean War hero whose
congressional service from the San Francisco Peninsula (1967-82) found him a
part of landmark environmental laws. As a co-founder of Earth Day, McCloskey
was understandably offended last year when Pombo pushed through a bill to
weaken the Endangered Species Act.
  
            The 79-year-old retiree could have sulked, or merely written
petulant letters to the newspapers. Instead, he filed as a candidate against
Pombo in the June primary. More than content on his small farm, with an
intermittent law practice, McCloskey had no desire to return to Washington¹s
turmoil. Indeed, he knew there was scant likelihood of upsetting an
entrenched incumbent within his own party in a heavily Republican district.
But McCloskey¹s primary challenge drew plenty of attention‹and more than a
third of the party vote.
  
            Pombo knew he was in trouble when McCloskey remained in pursuit
of the thousands of party members who had given him all those votes. ³It¹s
time to return our party to the conservationist tradition of Theodore
Roosevelt,² he told them via the op-ed pages.
  
            Which is pretty much what happened as scores of like-minded
campaign volunteers from San Francisco and elsewhere swarmed across the
mainly rural Eleventh District to ring doorbells, make phone calls and
double-check the precinct voting lists on Election Day.
  
            Result: The Eleventh¹s new congressman is a heretofore unknown
wind power technologist, Jerry McNerney. Amid rejoicing unmatched since
folks in Emerald City beheld the meltdown of a Wicked Witch of the West.