Dear Editor,
First it was Richard Pombo versus the elderberry bush. Now it’s Richard Pombo versus a cute little bird called the gnatcatcher. He lost both battles in spite of his mantra against the environment – both flora and fauna.
In recent ads and campaign brochures, the District 11 Congressman claims that the preservation of elderberry bushes blocked the repair of California levees, resulting in a flood in 1997 where three Yuba City people died. That’s a proven Pombo fabrication. Elderberry bushes weren’t the culprit.
Now in his latest commercial message, Pombo says he saved the lives of U.S. Marines by going to battle with the California Gnatcatcher, a tiny endangered bird living at Camp Pendleton where the Marines train for combat. He says that legislation he wrote in 2003 exempts all military bases from critical habitat designations. Thus, the Marines were able to train and prepare themselves for the war in Iraq.
The truth is, three years before Pombo’s legislation, the Fish and Wildlife Service excluded Camp Pendleton as a critical habitat. So despite Pombo’s claim, our Marines were never in any “danger” from the California Gnatcatcher.
Pombo is a dinosaur. He will not aknowlegde that we can exist with the birds and the bees without hassle.
On June 6, let’s make Richard Pombo an endangered species.
Stuart Nuttall, Morgan Hill
