The Daily Background
| Can Republican Representative Richard Pombo ‘outfox’ this endangered species?
by Arlen Parsa
So here there I was, scanning over the Associated Press stories that have been sent out this weekend, and one particular headline from yesterday caught my eye.
Congressman Faces Fight Over Species Act
Oh my goodness. Has another silly anti-chimera law been proposed already?! Unfortunately for the sake of humor and opportunities to make fun of the GOP, no. This article was about something much more serious.
The Congressman in question is Republican Representative Richard Pombo of California (up for re-election this year). And the Species Act referred to is none other than the Endangered Species Act. You’ve probably heard of it, the point of the Act is to protect endangered species. Even if you hadn’t heard of it, you probably could have guessed its goal. But Representative Pombo wants to change the act for reasons of his own:
The rancher and chairman of the House Resources Committee is closer than ever to his goal of rewriting the Endangered Species Act to expand property rights — his mission ever since the obscure fox species blocked development of a neighboring town 25 years ago.
[…]
Opponents “were able to use an endangered species that no one had ever seen or heard of in order to stop that project from going forward,” said Pombo…
Yes. Maybe they’re endangered. You dumbshit. Turns out Mr Pombo hasn’t been too smart in terms of ethics either:
As for ethics, Pombo is among lawmakers who got thousands of dollars in questionable contributions from Abramoff or his clients while supporting the lobbyist’s causes. After that came out, Pombo gave $7,000 to charity that he had received from Abramoff. The congressman denies taking any positions because of the money.
Pombo has been criticized for billing taxpayers $5,000 to rent an RV to tour national parks and for letting a top committee aide who lives in California bill for frequent travel to Washington.
Pombo asserts: “I don’t break the rules.”
Sure you don’t, Dick. His first name is Richard, by the way. I don’t generally go around calling people Dicks. Although I might make an exception for this jerk if his name wasn’t already Richard. Or somthing.
By the way, the foxs pictured above are in fact the ones that ‘nobody has ever heard of or seen’. Also pictured is Pombo himself. You can read the full AP article here.
There are a lot of folks in Pombo’s district (and some from outside his district) working to kick him out of Congress. You can help the cause by donating here.