Modesto Bee Endorses McNerney

The Modesto Bee has endorsed Jerry McNerney, while heaping scorn on Richard Pombo. This is a scathing indictment by a local paper:

This, like any election with an incumbent, is a referendum. While Pombo has been effective in a few high-profile issues — such as helping to broker a settlement on re-watering the San Joaquin River — he has worked even harder for a host of special interests. He is at the diseased heart of the quid-pro-quo process that defines Washington politics today. To send him back to the Capitol endorses a system we can no longer tolerate.

And while his strident environmental views have caused us concern in the past, the idea he floated this past term about selling off parks was over the top. It's just one of many such ideas.

In contrast, we admire McNerney's more practical approach. Pombo got headlines by trying to gut the Endangered Species Act — but his plan went nowhere. McNerney suggests negotiating changes to the act while preserving its goals.

If you prefer the politics of extremes; if you're OK with selling off national parks; if backroom dealmaking and tainted money suit you; if you embrace out-of-balance budgets and the concentration of wealth — Pombo's your man.

But he's no longer ours.

P.S. This might raise a whole new realm of questioning for Richard Pombo. You can reach him at (209) 836-3326. You might want to ask him politely what his response is to the Modesto Bee claiming that he is "at the diseased heart of the quid-pro-quo process that defines Washington politics today." Or not.

Tags: CA-11, Jerry McNerney, Richard Pombo, ethics, corruption, Endangered Species Act, ESA