When the Vote for Cleaner Air Was Close, Tom Daly Was There! But He Voted the Wrong Way, and We Lost

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Congratulations to Tom Daly! You helped to save the South Coast Air Quality Management District from a Democratic takeover!  The donors and Curt Pringle must be very pleased!

Surely you remember late last year, when Orange County’s mayors voted to replace Miguel Pulido on the South Coast Air Quality Management District with a hand-picked Republican anti-environmentalist Dwight Robinson, flipping the  vote from an pro-environment to an anti-environment majority, which promptly fired its longtime and pro-environment Director by a one-vote margin?  (No, you probably don’t — so click that first link above.  Note that it says that the trigger man in the heist was Curt Pringle, working on behalf of the global warming enthusiasts at the Western States Petroleum Association.  That will add some zest to the sauce you’re served below.)

Pulido was usually a good vote on the SCAQMD — although I can’t argue with people who say that it was usually for the wrong reasons, such as his wanting to be there to pad his salary and his having business cronies who would profit from its decisions.  So while I’m pissed off at the result, I’m also still pissed off that the putatively environmentalist Democrats put forward an ethically skeevy candidate whom many decent mayors could not in good conscience support.

Well!  You may have also heard (ok, just read the link) that there was a “legislative fix” coming up — placing onto the (without Pulido) entirely white SCAQMD Board three people from the Environmental Justice (“EJ”) community, who were also expected to be racial or ethnic minorities.  Before you cry “foul,” bear in mind that there’s no really compelling reason for the SCAQMD to exist at all, and that it is entirely a creature of state legislation, which the Lege and the Governor can change as they see fit.

This bill was SB 1387, authored by State Senate Majority Leader Kevin DeLeon.  Yesterday, it came up for a vote in the Assembly.  All of the Orange County Republicans in the Assembly — Ling Ling Chang, Young Kim, Don Wagner, Travis Allen, Bill Brough, and Matt Harper, voted against it — protecting (as one might expect) their party’s takeover of the Board, one of the smoothest and sharpest moves organized by OCGOP Chair Jim Brulte.

OC Democrat Tom Daly, however, naturally voted to … oops, that should be unnaturally.  Daly voted NO also.  (Ian Calderon, for whom Jordan Brandman works as District Director thanks to the amazing job placement service of OC Business Dems, abstained, which was as effective a block as a “no” vote — but less confrontational.

Now, to be clear, I’m not saying that people should vote for his AD-69 opponent, Republican Ofelia Velarde-Garcia, over Daly.  I don’t think that it would make much of a difference — there’s no reason to think that she’d be better than Daly on this issue.  Although, on issues where the vote is close and consequential, I’m not sure that he’s likely to be better than her either.  In situation where the vote is not close, though, I expect that Daly would be a more liberal and Democratic vote, unless perhaps a campaign contributor was involved, which come to think of it is probably a large percentage of the time.

So remember: the next time you see a layer of smog or lethal particulates hanging disproportionately over the poorer parts of the Southland, or some other sickening (literally) evisceration of clean air regulations, be sure to thank Tom Daly!

Because: when a job needs to not be done, Tom Daly is just the man to not do it!

(Note: filing for the June 2018 primary for AD-69  begins in January of that year.)