CA: Gov. Leans Toward a Paler Shade of Green

LA Times ^ | 8/28/05 | Jordan Rau and Miguel Bustillo

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who enthused activists and unnerved business leaders with many of his early appointments to top environmental slots, is increasingly favoring industry officials for key jobs protecting California's forests, air and water.

Schwarzenegger's effort to be a green Republican has been one of the principal ways the governor has depicted himself as being above Sacramento's traditional partisan divides. But in a reversal from the beginning of his tenure, it is now environmentalists who are objecting that Schwarzenegger has bent too far to one side.

--snip--

"We have seen a change in the wrong direction," said Bill Magavern, the lobbyist for the Sierra Club California.

--snip--

Last fall, Schwarzenegger hired Timothy Swickard as chief counsel for the department that oversees toxic waste and its cleanup. Swickard had previously been an environmental lawyer who represented public agencies and agricultural businesses, and had managed a rancher's real estate for 15 years.

--snip--

One of the people Schwarzenegger already has appointed to that board is Jerry Secundy, who spent most of his career as an oil company executive and also was a board member of the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, the industry group for which Tuck worked.

--snip--

"There's nobody like a Terry Tamminen, but you have to look at things in total rather than the last piece out there," said Alan Lloyd, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. He assumed the position after Tamminen was made the governor's Cabinet secretary.

Lloyd, a former Air Resources Board chairman who is widely respected by environmentalists, said nominees should not be rejected simply because of their work history. "We should pride ourselves that in California we give people a chance," Lloyd said.

--snip--

[bboop]

GO ARNOLD!

[kellynla]

"GO ARNOLD!"

yea, GO BACK TO L.A.! LOL

[Wiseghy]

Is this such a shock? Moderate Dems have proven to be a highly unreliable lot in this factionalized state. They abandoned him at the first sign of trouble and now stand idly by while the left savages his leadership. I expect the Gov. to continue to move ever so slightly to the right in a effort to appeal to this his core.

[calcowgirl]

I expect the Gov. to continue to move ever so slightly to the right in a effort to appeal to this his core.

"Ever so slightly" is correct (i.e. no measurable difference). We are still seeing pure leftists.

Corporate Environmental Ethics
Corporate Environmental Ethics
GERALD SECUNDY
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1998

As a self-described knee-jerk liberal, Gerald Secundy has spent the majority of his career working for one of the world's largest oil companies. While many would suppose that a liberal environmentalist would be uncomfortable with such employment, Secundy saw his move from an environmental lawyer for the Justice Department to an environmental lawyer for the Atlantic Richfield Company as a great opportunity. He saw this move as a chance to work from the inside, to bring change to a corporation and industry that had just begun to confront the environmental movement.

(snip)

[calcowgirl]

Last fall, Schwarzenegger hired Timothy Swickard as chief counsel for the department that oversees toxic waste and its cleanup. Swickard had previously been an environmental lawyer who represented public agencies and agricultural businesses, and had managed a rancher's real estate for 15 years.

Interesting. It made it sound like he had a longtime career as an attorney. This 48 year old passed the California Bar in 2000 after law school at McGeorge SOL, CA.