07-03-07 by dugan
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may think that naming a veteran air quality
official like Mary Nichols to head his Air Resources Board will quiet
things down. But any new appointee, even one who formerly chaired the
same board, is bound to fail unless the Gov first takes his mitts off
what the board is supposed to do: develop the regulations that will
enforce the state’s ground-breaking global warming law. the right first
step would be to dump Cabinet Secretary Dan Dunmoyer. Dunmoyer’s
history (as an insurance industry lobbyist) includes a "destroy your
opponents, don’t work with them" mindset, as we warned
when Arnold hired him. Last year the LA Times uncovered a damning memo
authored by Dunmoyer in which he complained that politicians who
challenge the insurance industry have never "felt any paiin or suffered
any angst" and called for imposing "real negative consequences" against
critics.
Dunmoyer, though once a slick lobbyist, hasn’t learned that if you
leave a recorded phone message, you shouldn’t pretend you said
something else.
Robert Sawyer, who Schwarzenegger fired a few days ago as head of the
California Air Resources Board, and his executive director, who quit
Monday, both blamed meddling and demands from Dunmoyer and
Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff, Susan Kennedy. They described being
pressured to go easy on industry while trying to implement the
much-touted state law to limit carbon emissions.
The San Francisco Chronicle tells us that Robert Sawyer, who Arnold
fired a few days ago from the job to which he just appointed Nichols,
recorded a phone message from Dunmoyer before leaving, aware that the
Schwarzenegger spin machine was trying to say he was "too weak"
in running the board. But the Dunmoyer message, as related in the San Francisco Chronicle, was a warning to put forward only the weak greenhouse emission rules that the governor had approved.
Sawyer released the Dunmoyer phone message only after the governor’s
spokesman argued that Sawyer was fired in part for only passing the
three weak rules. And Sawyer even voted against them, calling for more
and stronger emissions rules.
Here’s the last line from our letter last December to the governor:
"Mr. Dunmoyer… cannot serve as a dispassionate communicator between regulatory agencies and your office." Proven, once again.
The turmoil and recriminations will be aired , possibly Friday,
in a hearing called by California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. The
Speaker should remember that this isn’t the first time the governor has
tried to subvert the very emissions law that turned him into a global
enviro-hero. As a reminder, here is the letter that Senate leader Don
Perata sent to Schwarzenegger last year, when the Gov tried to weaken
the Air Resources Board’s role in implementing the law.