Bucking the tide

Hiking along a ridge trail at Point Reyes National Seashore, Peter Douglas can see the shadow of his past and a glint of the future.

The deep-green landscape of conifer trees and chaparral is where he built his first home, raised two sons and spread his grandmother's ashes.

He helped establish this place as a national park and a personal reminder of why he perseveres as a leading advocate for California's 1,100-mile coastline.

A political Houdini, Douglas has spent a lifetime sparring with developers, local government and even fellow environmentalists over his vision of coastal protection.

This year marks his 20th anniversary as executive director of the California Coastal Commission, an agency created by a grass-roots ballot initiative co-written by Douglas and approved by voters in 1972. Considered one of the state's most powerful and independent agencies, the commission controls development of California's high-priced coastline.

Douglas, who recently battled throat cancer, has been called "the ultimate survivor" by close associates. But the 63-year-old doesn't have the luxury to salve his wounds or savor his accomplishments.

Any day now, the state Supreme Court could issue a ruling that shipwrecks the commission and immerses it in the greatest crisis of its history.

A lawsuit brought by property-rights activist and Sacramento attorney Ron Zumbrun contends that the commission's structure – four appointments each by the governor, Assembly speaker and leader of the Senate – is unconstitutional.

Membership on the California Coastal Commission is a path to wealth. You have the power to decide who prospers and who doesn't. You can approve billion dollar coast side housing developments or you can stand in the way of someone putting up a new car port.

I have a relative whose house is threatened by a 13 foot (base diameter) redwood. Last year's storms eroded the creek bank it sits on and disturbed the root system. Her home is outside the coastal exclusion zone but she can't remove it because it resides in a watershed that flows to the sea and is therefore under the Coastal Commission's control. The tree is to the northwest of her home.

She submitted her harvest plan to the CDF (Property owner will remove one redwood tree located at...) and they were all set to cut when one member of the commission protested and the commission blocked the "timber harvest within a sensitive watershed area." Needless to say, if my relative wanted to sell her property to someone other than a known conservative republican she could easily find a buyer - at a price considerably below market value.

Won't it be a wonderful day when 'crats like this bachelor's child are held personally accountable for the undue burdens, takings, ad nauseam which they have caused?

To use an old English response to such people "A pox upon ye!"

Oops - it appears G*d has anticipated me.

That's crazy, but of course liberals will call it reasonable.

Call it anything but graft or extortion!

This is liberalism's secret weapon: agencies, bureaus and commissions set up long ago with noble intentions. They have found their niche of power and will fight to the death before they relenquish it. It's the government within the government.

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