Dems will waive rules, for some

Published online on Monday, Sep. 14, 2009

State lawmakers got emotional about environmental regulations last week. They talked about suspending them to create 18,000 jobs and put food on the table of families devastated by California's lousy economy.

You might be thinking: Here comes another rant about delta smelt, water shortages and the choking of some San Joaquin Valley farms.

Well, yes and no.

The environmental law under assault was the California Environmental Quality Act, not the federal Endangered Species Act.

And state lawmakers -- an overwhelming majority in the Assembly, anyway -- were looking to clear the decks so that Ed Roski Jr. could fast-track a 75,000-seat stadium in the City of Industry to lure a National Football League team to greater Los Angeles.

When Roski speaks, politicians listen. He is among the 600 richest people in the world, with a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine as $2.3 billion. He makes his money in real estate and owns a piece of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings, as well as a stake in the Staples Center.

Assembly Member Isadore Hall III, a Compton Democrat, said loudly that lawmakers should exempt the stadium from the environmental act and also make it bulletproof against lawsuits: "If you want to not put food on the table of 18,000 families ... shame on you."

The Assembly passed its made-for-Roski bill 55-15. It stalled in the Senate after President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, called for negotiations instead.

The Senate leader, however, made it clear that he wants something quickly done to accommodate Roski and Los Angeles, which desperately wants to have an NFL team once again.

Writing to fellow senators, he promised to put "the full force of my office" into settling environmental litigation over the the project -- and vowed to bring the Roski bill before the Senate later this month if no deal can be reached.

Now, I get as tired as anyone of hearing farmers complain about the hardships they face and how their contributions are overlooked or dismissed by the public. But it's hard to overlook the hypocrisy of Democratic legislators on this one.

Sure, football is America's biggest sport. But the NFL is small potatoes compared to agriculture.

The league will gross about $8 billion this year. In comparison, California farms, dairies and ranches accounted for $36.6 billion in 2007, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. In fact, California's farm economy is bigger than the NFL, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League combined.

The Assembly, including the majority Democrats, sent a big message last week during the desperate final hours of this year's session. It is willing to suspend environmental oversight and craft special legislation to put Californians to work during tough times.

I hope that lawmakers work as diligently on behalf of unemployed farmworkers and water-starved farmers. But I'm not counting on it. Roski likely will get help on his stadium -- which doesn't even have an NFL team -- before the Assembly and Senate put together a water-delivery package crucial to a nearly $37 billion enterprise.