SF CHRONICLE: Pombo "an embarrassment...should be retired"

THE CHRONICLE RECOMMENDS / Replace Pombo with McNerney:

EDITORIAL
THE CHRONICLE RECOMMENDS
Replace Pombo with McNerney

Tuesday, October 17, 2006


LINKS TO disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, efforts to gut wildlife protections and sell off national parks, and a blessing to offshore oil drilling. That's the profile of U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo.

In seven prior elections, the Tracy Republican has had an easy time. He's run low-profile races in a GOP-leaning district that straddles the low hills separating the Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley.

But this time his ethical stumbles and radical positions should catch up with him. His opponent, engineer Jerry McNerney brings a low-key probity that the district and House deserve.

Pombo's positions are simply out of step with the core values of a state that treasures its natural resources. He wanted to allow visitors to the rocky, windswept Farallon Islands, now a wildlife sanctuary. He favors opening up federal waters for offshore drilling, restarting a long-settled debate in California.

He wants to downgrade the science around endangered species designations, making habitat-destroying development easier. It's a special cause for Pombo, a rancher with allies who want to build in his sprawling, fast-growing district. As for national parks, he thinks there are too many, and the less popular ones should be sold off.

It's not just ideology that disqualifies Pombo. It's ethics too. He was jumped from junior member to chairman of the House Resources Committee at the behest of scandal-tainted Rep. Tom DeLay. Pombo's campaign donations included $7,500 from the disgraced Abramoff and another $30,000 from Abramoff clients. If you are judged in politics by the company you keep, Pombo fails the test.

His challenger McNerney lost to Pombo two years ago, and faces an uphill fight in a district designed to pool Republican voters in a Democratic state. But even within his own party, Pombo is proving an embarrassment. He should be retired.