Posted on 07/10/2002 10:58:17 AM PDT by HoneyBoo
Marie Antoinette would be proud. In the midst of a Saturday night squabble over the budget, the California Legislature passed a bill that could add $3,500 to the cost of an SUV, and pave the way for mile-per-gallon pollution standards.
No other state, and not even the federal government, has seen fit to stick its nose in the taxpayers’ tailpipes. But then no other state has judges that outlawed the Pledge of Allegiance. What’s next, a ban on apple pie?
HYPOCRISY doesn’t begin to describe the dirty deeds of the gashouse emissions gang from Sacramento. They’re circling the wagons at the Capitol, and the wagons are buffed out gas guzzlers. Legislators voting for the bill included San Diego reps Juan Vargas, who drives a 2001 Ford Expedition XLT, Christine Kehoe (a 2001 Mercury Sable), and Sen. Dede Alpert, who gets around in a brand new Ford Explorer.
Where are their socially responsible Honda Civics, their Toyota Corollas, their Plymouth Neons, their electric cars?
Others who voted for the bill include reps Robert Hertzberg (a 2001 Buick Park Ave. Ultra), Carl Washington (a 1999 Ford Expedition), and Sen. Ed Vincent, who makes do in a Lincoln Town Car. It’s like a bunch of drunks voting in Prohibition. It’s like Marlon Brando mandating we do Jenny Craig. It’s like park rangers setting fires to national forests.
But who can blame them? They were lobbied by such notable Californians as Jesse Jackson (he does have a mistress here), and Bill Clinton. The former President had eight years in the White House to become a Global Warming Warrior. Too busy with grand juries to save the planet? Neither Jackson nor Clinton appears to spend much time pedaling a bicycle.
Here’s an idea: let’s do an “energy inventory” of Jackson, Clinton, and Robert Redford to find out how much they use in a given day. Then let’s have the Bureau of Omnipotent Regulators set a “baseline consumption” for every citizen, non-documented guest, and panda bear. Just by reining in Clinton, Jackson, and Redford, we could cut gaseous emissions enough to save a sapling or even a gnatcatcher. C’mon, guys, what do you say?
Gov. Grey says he’s “inclined” to sign the bill. Sounds like he doesn’t want to get too far out in front of this parade of Park Ave. Broughams, either. Duh—if he weren’t going to sign it, why did the legislature pass it?
If taxing SUVs in the name of global warming is such a noble gesture, why did the Silverado Senators and Assemblypersons have to Dodge the process to do it? First, they attached the meat of the bill originally known as AB1058 to another bill (known as a “vehicle” in legislative lingo) concerning auditing procedures. Then they brought it up on a Saturday night in the midst of a debate over the budget. This is like WorldCom releasing its earnings report on Friday afternoon at five o’clock.
Instead of voting up or down a set of SUV regulations for which they could be held accountable, the Le Sabre Legislature kicked the can over to a bureaucracy (the Air Resources Board) to come up with a scheme that the Bravados can plausibly deny they had anything to do with once it takes effect.
According to the Sacramento Bee, not even the bill’s sponsor was thrilled to be associated with her baby. Assemblywoman Fran Pavley told Assemblyman Bill Leonard that “the old number (AB1058) just had a taint to it, a tarnish. And when it was suggested to her that a new number be picked, she said yes.”
Now the Crown Victoria varmints will head for the hills in their La Escalado Imperiales to receive cheers from California’s grateful driving public.
What a bunch of Manure in the California Legislature.
They must think they are untouchable in the 2002 race and that only Davis has a problem!
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Thanks for posting this great piece!
The Democrats are so blatant in their hypocrisy!
Senate Democrats Leave on a Corporate Jet Plane
By Thomas B. Edsall, Page A05
Right after voting yesterday morning to limit debate on legislation clamping down on corporate abuses, 16 Democratic senators flew on corporate jets from Washington to Nantucket, Mass., for a weekend retreat with 250 major campaign donors.
snip_________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Democratic senators attending the Nantucket retreat are DSCC chairman Patty Murray (Wash.), Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii), Evan Bayh (Ind.), Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Jon S. Corzine (N.J.), Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.), Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), John F. Kerry (Mass.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.).
A small number of senators flew commercially, but Ravitz-Meehan said she did not know which ones.
Oops! They already do that.
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