Posted on 06/08/2006 12:06:25 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Environmentalists trying to push a green agenda through the Legislature will face a decidedly different atmosphere in 2007.
The Senate has long been the friendlier of California's two legislative houses to environmental legislation, but Tuesday's primary elections swept a small cohort of pro-business Democrats into the upper house. That, combined with the replacement of moderate Assembly Democrats with more liberal counterparts, looks to have shifted the legislative landscape for environmental legislation.
"The Senate is less green and the Assembly has gotten more green," said Bill Magavern, the Sierra Club's senior legislative representative.
According to the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV), there are currently 27 "reliable pro-environmental votes" in the Assembly. After Tuesday's primary elections, the CLCV expects the new total of reliable pro-environment members to be in the mid-30s next year, though that's still well shy of the 41 votes that are needed for legislation to pass out of the Assembly.
The June elections have dwindled the Assembly's moderate caucus, nicknamed the Mod Squad, which is known for supporting business groups over environmentalists.
The Mod Squad, which currently counts 15 members, is not only losing many of its members, but also its leadership. The group's two "co-conveners," Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg, and Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, are both termed-out. Both were replaced by candidates backed by the environmental community, including one who beat Canciamilla's wife, Laura. "We are excited to see people like Joe Canciamilla leave," said Rico Mastrodonato, a CLCV spokesman.
On the Senate side, the CLCV rated 20 current members as reliable environmental votes--only one short of the 21 needed to pass legislation. But next year, the CLCV now counts between 16 and 18 Democratic members as unswerving supporters.
Because the vast majority of the state's districts are drawn with huge advantages for one political party, the intrigue in all but a handful of the year's 100 legislative contests has been resolved after this week's primaries.
The incoming group of pro-business Democrats in the Senate include past and current Mod Squad members Lou Correa, Gloria Negrete McLeod and Ron Calderon. Los Angeles City Councilman Alex Padilla, backed by many business interests, also beat the more liberal Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez in the San Fernando Valley.
"I think our biggest disappointment was losing Montañez," said Magavern.
Environmentalists did win a victory in Senate District 10, where former Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett won a three-way primary, beating business-favored John Dutra.
The only remaining general-election cliffhanger is the Orange County seat of retiring Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, who lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for state controller on Tuesday.
The Democratic nominee for Dunn's seat, former Assemblyman Correa, a pro-business Democrat that received thousands in business-backed independent expenditures, faces Republican Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher, D-Brea.
Environmentalists both in and out of the Capitol say it is not just the number of termed-out pro-environment senators, it is the stature of the members themselves that will hurt their causes. Dunn, Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Montebello, and Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach--all termed out--were each considered leaders on various environmental fronts.
"There are leaders in the Legislature that are getting termed-out and finding the same quality leadership to replace them is difficult and maybe even unreasonable," says Mastrodonato.
Some environmentalists hope the shift may not be particularly pronounced, pointing to a history of moderate Assembly members graduating to the Senate and turning more green-friendly. They point to current Central Valley legislators Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, and Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, who has championed air-quality issues for his Bakersfield-area district, as recent examples.
But the Sierra Club's Magavern remains unconvinced. "I don't think there is any inherent magic in the Senate side," he said. "If you get enough of these polluter-backed candidates in the Senate, they won't forget who put them there."
On the Assembly-side, environment interests fared much better.
In Marin County, Jared Huffman won a five-way primary. Mark DeSaulnier replaces Mod Squad leader Canciamilla in Contra Costa County. Mary Salas, backed by the CLCV, replaces moderate Vargas. Mike Feuer and Anthony Portantino, both supported by the Sierra Club, won contested primaries in the Los Angeles area. And Ed Hernandez replaces Edward Chavez, in a CLCV targeted primary.
"I think the environment was a big winner in the Assembly," said Mastrodonato.
fyi
And the taxpayers remain somewhat bilious. Urp!
Spoken like a true moonbat.
There, corrected for accuracy.
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