A Delicate Balance on State EPA Appointees. Schwarzenegger names a lumber executive No. 2. of EPA

LA TImes ^ | Nov. 13, 2003 | Eric Bailey and Peter Nicholas

[FairOpinion]

Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger named the head of a Santa Monica conservation group his secretary of environmental protection Wednesday but appointed a North Coast timber company executive as the agency's second-in-command.

Schwarzenegger's appointment of Terry Tamminen to head the state Environmental Protection Agency had been expected and was broadly cheered by environmentalists.

But the governor-elect turned in a different direction for the agency's No. 2 slot, naming James Branham, government affairs chief at Pacific Lumber and an official in former Gov. Pete Wilson's administration, as Cal-EPA's undersecretary. Schwarzenegger appointed another onetime Wilson official, Los Angeles attorney Maureen Gorsen, as the agency's deputy secretary.

Three officials named Wednesday to senior posts at the Department of Finance have worked under Senate Republican leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga — an important advisor to Schwarzenegger who campaigned with him during the recall.

[FairOpinion]

This article is a few days old, but interestingly nobody posted it, that I could tell.

This is the first time I read about Arnold's No. 2 appointment to the EPA. He is clearly not giving free reign to the envirowackos.

[EggsAckley]

PING

[FairOpinion]

Gee, don't bother people with facts. It ruins their day. ;)

[Carry_Okie]

This is the first time I read about Arnold's No. 2 appointment to the EPA. He is clearly not giving free reign to the envirowackos.

This is exactly the style of management I predicted FO. Only the big guys get to play. Anybody who thinks that the environmental movemint is about the environment is smoking something.

You still don't get it. This is a corporate feeding frenzy at the expense of small landowners, the bedrock of the Republican Party.

[FairOpinion]

"This is a corporate feeding frenzy "

==

So why didn't you tell us that in the first place: you are against "BIG BUSINESS", and you were just looking for something to attack Arnold about.

[FairOpinion]

ping

[Carry_Okie]

So why didn't you tell us that in the first place: you are against "BIG BUSINESS", and you were just looking for something to attack Arnold about.

You've got it wrong. I am against POLITICAL CORRUPTION which is what enviro-racketeering has become.

[FairOpinion]

So why aren't you cheering the fact that Arnold put in some strong counterbalance to the environmentalists right into the EPA?

You wrote a great deal about Arnold's environmental policy and carefully ignored this.

[Carry_Okie]

So why aren't you cheering the fact that Arnold put in some strong counterbalance to the environmentalists right into the EPA?

You wrote a great deal about Arnold's environmental policy and carefully ignored this.

I didn't know about this appointment and he wasn't on any list I saw. So how does that constitute careful ignorance?

This is no counterbalance. This is more of the same. The only industry representatives on the Board of Forestry are from Simpson and SPI. Things are going swimmingly for them because their competitors are dropping off like flies.

Big companies love regulations. There are economies of scale in paperwork. They can use the rules to kill their smaller competition and are big enough to stiff the offals that come onto their property because they have the legal clout to fight.

[Prime Choice]

Pitting two extremes against each other in one department may well be a shrewd political move, but it is not without pitfalls.

On the up side, the two appointees can spend all their time fighting each other and thus take the heat off Arnold. Then he can step in and act as The Great Mediator to smooth things out.

On the down side, either party could triangulate Arnold into a corner and compel him to make a choice that will be offered as a compromise, but will make both parties equally unhappy and they'll take it out on Arnold.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst and all that.

[FairOpinion]

"Pitting two extremes against each other in one department may well be a shrewd political move, but it is not without pitfalls."

===

Well, it more or less keeps the EPA from ever getting anything done, which is the idea, I think.

[goldstategop]

I agree, which I think is a blessing in disguise.

[Prime Choice]

Well, it more or less keeps the EPA from ever getting anything done, which is the idea, I think.

Touché   ; )

[ridesthemiles]

Go to www.wildlandsprojectrevealed.org.
Very interesting data about what the enviros really want.

Read data on that website and post back to me with your comments....

[DoctorZIn]

This post has been added to the… California In Transition- Must read Threads!

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[Carry_Okie]

I am quite familiar with the Wildlands Project. The saddest part of it is that it may be the single most destructive thing ever done to natrure. These people have no idea what they are doing.

[Fred]

Let me know when you are cruisin in your hydrogen car. have fun stopping every 10 miles.... be sure to not exhale....

[Fred]

Time to FINE so called fair opine (liberal) for too much carbon doxide expelled into Golden Dream Kaliforneeeaaaa... or how about jail time...