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SCHWARZENEGGER CORRUPTION COMMISSION – matthews-ONS – 7oct10
Fish and Game Commission corrupted by Schwarzenegger over MLPA implementation
By JIM MATTHEWS, Outdoor News Service
The blood trails all lead directly back to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office, and his repeated gut-shooting of the California Fish and Game Commission has ruined the credibility and integrity of this body that oversees the state’s rules and regulations on our fish and wildlife.
Ever since the Commission was charged with the implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), passed in 1999 but without funding to implement it until Schwarzenegger decided a string of vast ocean preserves in state waters would be his environmental legacy, the governor has stacked the MLPA’s science advistory teams and blue ribbon task force with environmentalists who take a dim view of any kind of regulated use, including sportfishing. Fish and Game Commissioners who didn’t share have been leaving the Commission at an alarming rate for disturbing reasons.
Most recently, when one of the governor’s hand-picked puppets to rubber stamp the extreme ocean policies wasn’t confirmed by the state legislature in early September and had to leave his post, the governor appointed Michael Sustos to fill the vacant slot. Sustos lasted just 18 days on the job -- and one Commission meeting. It became immediately clear that Sustos was going to do what was right by resources and the public and not follow the radical environmentalists’ agenda. They went howling to Arnold, and Sustos was gone before the next meeting, removed from the job September 27.
Sustos crime? During the Commission meeting, he asked the Department of Fish and Game staff to tell him which fisheries were in danger in California waters. Well, the reality is that none are really in danger with the state management programs already in place. It illustrated that the whole MLPA is a feel-good effort to change how our oceans are managed to suit the radical environmentalists. And Arnold has bought in and Sustos was shipped out.
In Sustos place, we now have Jack Bayliss of the Coastal Conservancy, which arguably would make his votes on the MLPA a conflict of interest.
But Schwarzenegger hasn’t let those kinds of allegations slow his effort to ram through the radical environmental version of MLPA closures. It has been shown that Commissioner Michael Sutton could gain financially and his employer would almost certainly reap large benefits from an MLPA with massive closed areas. So he should be recusing himself on all MLPA votes, but doesn’t. A request to investigate Sutton was dismissed by the Political Fair Practices Commission, reportedly after pressure from the Governor’s office. So Bayliss is also likely in the clear. For now.
Throughout the entire MLPA process, there have been a succession of serious allegations of corruption and conflict of interest reported that are simply being ignored by state law enforcement and ethics agencies because of the governor. Hopefully, whoever becomes the next Governor, will force a new look at this whole effort and mandate a return to ethical and legal behavior.
Fish and Game Commission corrupted by Schwarzenegger over MLPA implementation
By JIM MATTHEWS, Outdoor News Service
The blood trails all lead directly back to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office, and his repeated gut-shooting of the California Fish and Game Commission has ruined the credibility and integrity of this body that oversees the state’s rules and regulations on our fish and wildlife.
Ever since the Commission was charged with the implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), passed in 1999 but without funding to implement it until Schwarzenegger decided a string of vast ocean preserves in state waters would be his environmental legacy, the governor has stacked the MLPA’s science advistory teams and blue ribbon task force with environmentalists who take a dim view of any kind of regulated use, including sportfishing. Fish and Game Commissioners who didn’t share have been leaving the Commission at an alarming rate for disturbing reasons.
Most recently, when one of the governor’s hand-picked puppets to rubber stamp the extreme ocean policies wasn’t confirmed by the state legislature in early September and had to leave his post, the governor appointed Michael Sustos to fill the vacant slot. Sustos lasted just 18 days on the job -- and one Commission meeting. It became immediately clear that Sustos was going to do what was right by resources and the public and not follow the radical environmentalists’ agenda. They went howling to Arnold, and Sustos was gone before the next meeting, removed from the job September 27.
Sustos crime? During the Commission meeting, he asked the Department of Fish and Game staff to tell him which fisheries were in danger in California waters. Well, the reality is that none are really in danger with the state management programs already in place. It illustrated that the whole MLPA is a feel-good effort to change how our oceans are managed to suit the radical environmentalists. And Arnold has bought in and Sustos was shipped out.
In Sustos place, we now have Jack Bayliss of the Coastal Conservancy, which arguably would make his votes on the MLPA a conflict of interest.
But Schwarzenegger hasn’t let those kinds of allegations slow his effort to ram through the radical environmental version of MLPA closures. It has been shown that Commissioner Michael Sutton could gain financially and his employer would almost certainly reap large benefits from an MLPA with massive closed areas. So he should be recusing himself on all MLPA votes, but doesn’t. A request to investigate Sutton was dismissed by the Political Fair Practices Commission, reportedly after pressure from the Governor’s office. So Bayliss is also likely in the clear. For now.
Throughout the entire MLPA process, there have been a succession of serious allegations of corruption and conflict of interest reported that are simply being ignored by state law enforcement and ethics agencies because of the governor. Hopefully, whoever becomes the next Governor, will force a new look at this whole effort and mandate a return to ethical and legal behavior.
