The Sierra Club, CLCV, and Vote the Coast (two out of three of which I support with $$$) expose a proclivity for the partisanship that they also decry by continuing to endorse Angelides despite Schwarzenegger's liberalization.  Mea culpa, No Endorsement, or Cheers and Proclamation of Victory would have been more sincere in light of recent bill signings, even if these were (probably) election time stunts. Yes, Angelides has a pretty good environmental record. But, he's creepy. Even creepier than the cyborg.

  Dear Licheniche,

          Why do you think he's creepy?  I am curious.  Please enlighten us.  I do also, but my reasons may be my own.

          A little history.  California, in San Francisco, Berkeley and a few other places (okay, Santa Monica, and I believe West Hollywood) used to allow fairly strict rent control to protect poor people.

          Of course, this drove Republicans nuts.  And it was also quietly attacked by the Democrats, who pretended to care about the poor while trying to pass legislation weakening rent control.

          Except for one David Roberti, who was the Senate Democratic leader for many years, and kept killing the legislation.  Killed it and killed it and killed it.

          He had the misfortune to run for office against one Mr. Angelides (a good friend of property developers (read sprawl kings) as most California Democrats are).  Mr. Angelides attacked Mr. Roberti as being anti-choice.  Roberti was one of the typical liberal Catholic politicians "I am personally against abortion, but will defend women's rights to one..." (not a direct quote, a generalization).

           Everyone understood that he was not an anti-choice politician, so the attack was totally dishonest and was done in a very nasty way.

           Roberti lost. (Angelides followed him to defeat in the general election).  The tone of the campaign left such a bad taste in people's mouths that some of us (myself included) swore never to vote for the man come hell or high water.

           And his campaigns since then also have that nasty flavor.

           Luckily for him, I am no longer in CA.  But I have seen quotes suggesting that a certain number of Democrats have a visceral dislike for the man which is preventing him from rallying the troops.

           Oh, rent control?  With the help of a Roberti-less legislature, it was gutted (one of the reasons folks like me left CA).  And the Democratic leadership held the knife, all the while screaming their concern for the poor and crying tears as they shucked them like oysters.

           (Apologies to Lewis Carroll.)

           November will be interesting indeed.

patrick

I am extremely disappointed with the partisanship of the various green groups, and, for that matter, within Muckraker's article.

The green groups are underestimating the effect of having a Republican enact green legislation, if imperfectly;  they will only harm environmentalism by acting as a wing of the Democrats.  Certainly, their members may feel strongly about issues other than environmentalism, but the creation of two blocks opposed on every issue makes for stupid politics.

The article represents tradable permits as watering down;  this isn't pro-environment:  it is anti-market.  If those who cut emissions the most are those best placed to do it, a greater environmental gain can be had for the same social cost.  Of course, it's more likely that the same gain would be had for a lower cost, but how, exactly, is that a bad thing?  The idea is to improve the environment, not punish business!