Disenchanted voters handed Democrats the reins over the House of Representatives in mid-term elections Tuesday, which also counted as a victory for environmentalists eager to bounce Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, as chairman of a powerful committee.
It was still too early to say whether Pombo would lose his District 11 seat to Democratic challenger Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton but the incumbent will no longer sit as chairman of the House Resources Committee.
The majority party controls nearly every House operation, including chairmanships. If re-elected, Pombo will mostly likely end up as the minority party's ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee.
Either way, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen calls Tuesday a win for the environment.
The national group teamed with the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters and Humane Society and has spent more than $1.5 million on anti-Pombo electioneering in the past year.
"Our number one goal was to remove Pombo as the chairman," said Schlickeisen, who led the group's first-ever foray into congressional campaigns. "We worked on 26 races but Pombo was our biggest target."
Pombo had successfully marshaled several bills through the House of Representatives that infuriated environmentalists, including a rewrite of the 1974 Endangered Species Act. The bill was already foundering the Senate, but after Tuesday's results, it has no chance of survival.
Meanwhile, East Bay incumbents Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, were headed for easy victories to hold onto their House seats.
Miller was poised to extend a 31-year career in Congress. Early returns showed more than 80 percent of voters favored Miller over Libertarian challenger Camden McConnell in Disrict 7, which covers northern and west Contra Costa County, much of Solano County and a slice of Napa County.
Tauscher, 54, was headed for her sixth term in Congress with a nearly 2-1 lead over first-time Republican candidate Darcy Linn for the 10th District seat. The district stretches from Livermore across central and east Contra Costa and north through parts of Sacramento and Solano counties.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/15955890.htm
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Bad, bad, sad news. :-(