IF THE LAME DCCC CAN'T FIND SOMEONE TO BEAT POMBO, A DECENT REPUBLICAN MAY!!

Back on July 15 I did a blog entry called "IF YOU THOUGHT "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM WAS BAD, WAIT TIL YOU MEET RICHARD POMBO." These days more and more humans are becoming aware of who-- and what-- Richard Pombo is, and what a danger he is to America. A couple nights ago I was celebrating Tom DeLay's resignation from the fascist hierarchy with some friends. Almost half thought that Pombo can now be considered the single worst Republican on Capitol Hill. And apparently, it isn't only Democrats who see what Pombo is.

This week Nick Juliano wrote a story for the San Joaquin News Service explaining that revulsion for Pombo crosses party lines. "Richard Pombo may have a sooner-than-expected fight to keep his seat in the US House of Representatives, as a former congressman announced his intention Monday to find a primary challenger for the Tracy Republican in next year's election." Pete McCloskey, another Bay Area congressman (1967-'83), prior to the Republican Party becoming an out-and-out fascist organization, says "The Republican values that I grew up with, Pombo is not espousing."

"The former Congressman, according to Juliano, "said he's been working for three months to find a primary challenger. If one doesn't emerge, the 77-year-old Republican said he may move to the district to challenge Pombo himself. McCloskey, a co-author of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, was among a panel of farmers, fishermen and environmentalists at a press conference who criticized Pombo's proposed overhaul of the landmark environmental legislation. Pombo has lost touch with his Republican roots, McCloskey charged, and is now more concerned with supporting his campaign contributors than his constituents in California's 11th Congressional District." McCloskey may not have been paying attention as the GOP itself lost touch with its roots and has become a party working strictly for the interests of huge corporations and big campaign contributors. Pombo claims not to be worried and one of his "consultants" laughed when told of McCloskey's potential candidacy, calling McCloskey a liberal. "It's not correct to say that he represents moderate Republicans because he doesn't," said Wayne Johnson, Pombo's campaign consultant.

"At Monday's press conference," according to Juliano, "McCloskey said Pombo's bill undercuts and reverses the most important facets of the legislation he helped write 32 years ago. One change could remove the government's ability to designate 'critical habitat' so species that are declining in number can recover. Another suggested change to the law would give the Interior Secretary authority to decide on what is the 'best available science' when it makes a decision that involves an endangered species. McCloskey complained that could lead to politics muddying scientific data. 'This is an administration which has repeatedly derogated or suppressed scientific opinion which opposed the agenda of the politicians,' McCloskey said. McCloskey also criticized an idea floated by Pombo last week to sell off national parks, slap advertisements on the sides of parks service vehicles and drill for oil off the California coast. 'It's so transparent ... these guys are selling the store,' McCloskey said."