Republican Congressman Richard Pombo, who has taken well over $100,000 from Big Oil in the last three years, was no doubt disappointed by the failure of the GOP to push through a measure to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge yesterday.
But Pombo, a far-right anti-environmentalist whose measure to gut the Endangered Species Act has already passed the House, might have bigger problems. He’s said to be close to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff; in fact, according to statistics compiled by the Washington Post, he’s has taken over $36,000 from Abramoff, 17th on the list of dozens. Abramoff, two of whose lieutenants have already "flipped" and promised to testify against him, is looking at a long prison sentence. He’s planning to talk to the Feds himself next week, and, according to this story in the NYTimes, will testify against his "close associates."
A watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has named Pombo one of the thirteen most corrupt members of Congress. On that list are two of Abramoff’s close associates already looking at the possibility of prison time; Randy Cunningham, who has resigned after being caught taking millions of dollars in bribes, and will go to prison, and Bob Ney, who is facing indictment in Ohio. Could Pombo be another one of Abramoff’s "close associates?"
Here’s hoping.
Here’s what the San Jose Mercury-News said about Pombo last month in an editorial:
At the end of September, the House voted 229-193 to approve a Pombo rewrite of the Endangered Species Act, which he has campaigned to eviscerate since he was elected to Congress 13 years ago.
Pombo claims that the act is ineffective, despite studies that show it has arrested the decline of half the species protected under it.
What Pombo really wants the act to protect is his excessive notion of property-owner rights. The rewritten act would require the government to compensate property owners who say an endangered species thwarts their development plans. It’s an open invitation to dream up developments and get bought out of them at exorbitant prices by taxpayers.
Last week, Pombo persuaded the House Resources Committee to approve language for the budget act that erodes the national moratorium on offshore oil and gas leasing in federal waters by offering states who agree to drilling a bigger share of the royalties.
The budget language also would revive a dormant practice of selling public lands to companies that have mining permits on them. And — this can hardly be a surprise — it endorses drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
This environmental destruction is written into the budget act as a way — a shortsighted way — of raising revenues.
Environmental blindness is a Pombo specialty. He’s pushing for a highway from the Central Valley over Mount Hamilton into East San Jose.
There’s only one reason to build it. A river of concrete through an unspoiled landscape would be a symbol of the swath of destruction Pombo is cutting through environmental protections.
Kit Stolz 