Dead in the desert (Cadiz)

Sac Bee ^ | 10/10/02 | Editorial

[NormsRevenge]

This was one of the loonier water ideas Southern California has ever come up with -- to pay a politically connected entrepreneur millions upon millions of dollars to pump a corner of the Mojave Desert. Yes, the arid Mojave.

Total payout: more than a half-billion dollars (valued in today's currency) over a half-century. With a Rolodex of lobbyists and leaders that only money can buy, the company named Cadiz Inc. seemed to have it all. Everything, that is, except the water.

[NormsRevenge]

But an important thing happened inside the MWD board. It began to focus more on water than politics and all of Cadiz's friends, from Gov. Gray Davis to former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to outgoing state Sen. Jim Costa of Fresno.

It may have been Costa who actually did in the Cadiz deal. He recently publicly warned MWD that he may look kindly on dismembering the agency if it walked away from deals. He didn't cite Cadiz by name. He didn't have to. Some MWD members got the message, and it was cited by one as the reason to kill this deal. Beware of Costa, Davis, Babbitt or any other of the many pals of Cadiz if they dare try anything to resurrect this dumb desert deal.



GO SIMON

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Tom McClintock for CA State Controller



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Dick Ackerman for CA Attorney General



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[Jimbaugh]

No money for Gray Davis