Representative Devin Nunes (R-Visalia), the "water boy" for corporate agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley, on October 15 made ridiculous claims on the floor of the House of Representatives that salmon fishermen aren't suffering from the fishery closure or are "really out of work" - and that the only reason salmon fishermen can't fish is because the federal government told them they couldn't.
Nunes made the comments as part of his effort to pass a waiver to the Endangered Species Act allowing for increased water exports out of the California Delta as part of H.R. 2442, the Bay Area Regional Water Recycling Program Expansion Act sponsored by George Miller (D-Martinez). Nunes was supported in his effort to lift Delta pumping restrictions by Representative George Radanovich (R-Mariposa) and Representative Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced). Fortunately, Miller's bill passed without the waiver being included.
"I just want to make sure that we set the record straight on this salmon fishing issue," contended Nunes. "A lot of people are probably watching out there and wondering, well, are these salmon fishermen really out of work? The truth is that the salmon fishermen can still fish; they just can't fish for salmon. And that is because the government-us, this body-and others told the fishermen that they cannot fish for salmon. Every other country in the world can fish for salmon, just us."
EDIT by Brian: See the 223:00 mark for Rep. Nunes's speech and see the flip for more and a transcript.
UC Merced welcomed First Lady Michelle Obama to its first graduation. The campus is still developing, with the first class fairly small. The whole campus is about one-tenth of its expected size, but this is already becoming an economic engine for the region, and holds promise to be an anchor in a region that desperately needs the development.
It wasn't enough to make 5 of the 6 regional congressman to show up. The one who did? Democratic Representative Jerry McNerney. 4 of the 5 apparently had something better to do. Interestingly, Bush Dog Dennis Cardoza wrote the legislation that began UC Merced, but apparently has other commitments. Devin Nunes had some big-time duties of being the idiot-in-chief:
A fifth, Visalia Republican Devin Nunes, says he is skipping the ceremony because he is unhappy with President Barack Obama and the majority Democrats in Congress.
"The president's wife is coming to the Valley, and just five miles away you have tens of thousands of people out of work because of the policies of the Democrat Party," he said. "I'm not going to go there and make nice." (Fresno Bee 5/15/09
Shorter Nunes: I'm putting my political extremism over the people of my district.
Skipping right past the fact that he is unclear on English usage, let's focus on the insanity of this statement. This is a major milestone for bringing some sustainable economic development to the region. Nunes is all up in arms regarding the water issues, but frankly Devin, it's best we start getting used to low water.
In Nunes defense, he has already called on Schwarzenegger to resign over water issues too. He's an equal opportunity idiot. But to pile on, he also goes ahead and says there is no drought to anybody who will listen, calling it "man-made" because we won't exterminate the remaining fish in the Delta by turning on the pumps to divert the water. And oh, yeah, Devin, the coastal communities need water to drink too.
Using this event to make an unrelated political statement is offensive to the students who worked to build the community of UC-Merced. But, Nunes has never been one to avoid offense, has he?
It was a compelling scene: Rep Dennis Cardoza and Rep. Devin Nunes brought in a bowl of 3" long smelt and pictures of unemployed farm workers and their families to a House Natural Resources Committee meeting. They were hoping to provide an effective contrast and convince their colleagues to make an emergency exemption to the Endangered Species Act.
The state is in the third year of a drought and it has gotten so bad that in order to protect a federally endangered species a federal judge in 2007 ordered the state and feds to cut down on the amount of water pumped through the delta to save the smelt.
This is not simply about a species of little fish. The smelt, as Kevin Freking at the AP writes "a bellwether for the health of the delta, the heart of California's water-delivery system." More from the article:
With that, he offered to submit a fishbowl filled with nine minnows for the Congressional Record. The fish were rainbow smelt, not the endangered delta smelt, which are illegal to possess without a permit.
Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Norwalk, responded by asking him to take the plastic wrap off the bowl so the fish could get some air, which Nunes did. Napolitano served as chairwoman for Tuesday's hearing.
I can't just picture that scene in my head. Can't you?
Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, said some of the lawmakers were "cherry picking history" and ignoring that water has been pumped into the valley at rates that exceeded what was appropriate.
That's one of the reasons the judge ordered state and federal wildlife agencies to revise how much water should be pumped out of the delta. Most of the pumping occurs from late spring through summer.
"The judge had no choice because the system was run right down to the margins where in fact he did kick in the protections of the Endangered Species Act," Miller said.
We have lacked a sensible water plan for decades. To allow more pumping risks devastating the entire ecosystem. It is not about just a couple of little fish in a bowl.
The farm workers are devastated right now with the cutbacks to water supplies, but we need long term solutions, not short term actions that cause irreconcilable harm.
I have on more than one occasion lamented the fact that our shiny new Democratic Congress in Washington has a hard time getting much more done than renaming post office buidlings and declaring National Asparagus Week.
And, sometimes, I guess, they even have trouble with that.
(bump cause I like congressional and numbers - promoted by Lucas O'Connor)
Turnout from Tuesday's primary by party. Every district with a Republican leaning PVI plus Barbara Lee just for fun and comparison's sake. Of the Republican leaning districts, Dem turnout was higher in 8 and close in several others. Might be an interesting November. Just sayin.
Numbers on the flip.
Update: I should have mentioned in the first place, there are still no Democratic candidates in CA-02, CA-19, CA-22, or CA-25. Turnout was dead even in the 19th and higher for Dems in the 25th, just for starters.
Buried inside this Politico article about Rudy Giuliani's many ties to the Dirty Tricks initiative is this nugget:
There are actually two potential ballot initiatives. One would allocate California's Electoral College votes proportionally, as opposed to the current winner-take-all format. The other affects redistricting.
Where they connect? California Republican Reps. Devin Nunes and Kevin O. McCarthy have asked the Federal Election Commission for a legal opinion on whether they can raise unlimited donations to help the redistricting initiative. But a money-and-politics watchdog group argues that would blow a hole in the 2002 campaign finance reform law that bans federal officeholders from soliciting such big checks - and pave the way for presidential contenders to urge their supporters to shovel money into the proposed Electoral College initiative.
Nunes and McCarthy may be the safest two GoOPers in the state. They are acting as the battering rams to knock down the walls of campaign finance reform, not just for the Dirty Tricks initiative but a whole host of pernicious ballot measures.
In a way, they're trying to retroactively immunize people like Rudy and Darrell Issa for their already-questionable efforts. It's just a hop, skip and a jump from soliciting for signatures, which both campaigns have done, to soliciting for money.
As for the bait and switch techniques being employed to gather signatures, there's going to be a LOT more on this to come.
