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"Subpoena These Guys"
The day is drawing nigh when the limits of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson's chutzpah will be tested.
Late last year, Johnson, over the unanimous objection of his staff, arbitrarily denied California's petition to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. He was even told that the EPA would lose the case if California sued -- which they did, as expected, along with fifteen other states.
But even before that fore-ordained court fight takes place, Johnson will have to face Congress. First up is the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, of which Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) the chair. A hearing is set for January 24th, when Johnson will get to explain his rationale in person. Here's his two page denial letter as a preview -- which Cali Attorney General Jerry Brown called "shocking in its incoherence and utter failure to provide legal justification for the administrator's unprecedented action."
In a committee hearing in California yesterday, Brown urged Boxer to not be subpoena-shy, since Johnson has still not provided the requisite supporting legal and technical documents for the decision (after reviewing California's petition for more than two years, Johnson only issued that two page denial). From The Los Angeles Times:
"Subpoena these guys," he urged Boxer. "Send the marshals out. Get them to tell us under oath. They are not going to get away with this. Sooner or later, we are going to uncover real corruption . . . that is dangerous to California and to the whole world."Brown said that the Bush administration may be able to delay court action a year, until the president's term is over, but that Congress may be able to speed the process. "What you have is a bunch of scofflaws in the White House," he said. "This fellow Johnson is becoming a stooge in a really pathetic drama that hopefully will not play out much longer."
Comments (19)
PrgrsvArchitect wrote on January 11, 2008 3:37 PM:Another arguement for impeaching Bush/Cheney. Just think how much more damage those two incompentent fools and their puppets can inflict on our nation in the next year.
Utopia wrote on January 11, 2008 4:01 PM:Why doesn't California just do what it wants? If Bush can delay the suit brought against it surely CA can delay any legal action against it until Bush is gone.
It doesn't take a genius to realize the same tactics the GOP has used can be used against them.
U
moondancer wrote on January 11, 2008 4:11 PM:Utopia
Great idea. Maybe if a few governors refused to let their state militias to be used in Iraq.. who knows?
Martin wrote on January 11, 2008 4:12 PM:Well, with "stooges" like this by your side, of course I can understand why the White House is anticipating Bush's approval rating to bounch to 45% this year.
Sully18 wrote on January 11, 2008 5:01 PM:Bush`s approval rating will indeed bounch,but to 45%? 45% of what?
GMFORD wrote on January 11, 2008 5:05 PM:Follow the bounching ball to the Bushies,and lol.
That letter! He just filled it up with stuff that didn't support his refusal to grant the waver...his argument, although vague, supports a case FOR the waiver.
As near as I could decipher he says that CA can't have stricter emissions restrictions because they are trying to do too much to solve the problem which conflicts with the WH plan to do less.
I think his synapses are mis-firing.
I'm Fenster, HE'S Dickens! wrote on January 11, 2008 7:06 PM:Ol' Moonbeam is on a roll! If he can pry the wineglass out of Boxer's hand and get her vertical, maybe she'll actually do something.
Crandell wrote on January 11, 2008 8:30 PM:Jerry for A.G.!!!
Anonymous wrote on January 11, 2008 8:57 PM:Barbara Boxer and every other Democratic "leader" in Congress is full of hot air. They make big pronouncements and DO NOTHING. There is no difference between Democrats and Repubblicans in Congress, they are ALL corporate owned. Re-elect NO INCUMBENTS in 2008, not one dishonest, corporate-serving one of them. Period!
KucinichSpeaks wrote on January 11, 2008 9:17 PM:RETURN NO INCUMBENT needs to be our constant shout. The dems made chenyco and ziocons crimes possible.
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/1 ...
Who Vetted Mukasey?
by emptywheel
Here's an interesting question from Dick Durbin to Mukasey. It addresses whom the Administration felt it needed to give buy-in before nominating Judge Mukasey:
11. According to the Washington Post, before you were confirmed you "spent part of the weekend meeting with leading figures in the conservative world, seeking to allay their concerns about philosophy and suitability for running Justice Department."
a. With whom did you meet?
Federalist Society at work.
Addington: “We’re going to push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop.”
Mojotron wrote on January 12, 2008 12:08 AM:You will creak, you little clown
Helena Montana wrote on January 12, 2008 7:42 AM:When you mess with California Attorney General Jerry Brown
The congressional dems will never ever stand up to bush.
Billy Pilgrim wrote on January 12, 2008 6:36 PM:Addington: “We’re going to push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop.”
Is that the attitude this crowd also uses with their wives? It's hard to envision that it would not be so.
Bert wrote on January 14, 2008 1:11 AM:Carbon credits=BIG BUXX.
Vladimir Khudenko wrote on January 14, 2008 1:16 AM:Mojotron wrote:
"You will creak, you little clown
When you mess with California Attorney General Jerry Brown"
Stephen Johnson is a clown
Let's see Jerry take him down
Truly, this man should be removed from office. He is in there with Rita LaVelle, Anne Gorsuch, and "governor" Christie Whitman (the air is clean at Ground Zero) as the worst administrators of the Agency. Corruption, cronyism, paybacks, and intimidation are rife in the US EPA.
donviti wrote on January 14, 2008 10:18 AM:Politics and money is the name of the game. DOJ isn't the only rotten apple
in the basket.
funny how states don't have rights when it comes to the automobile industry. There is No problem with state rights when it comes to voting though
Anonymous wrote on January 14, 2008 3:58 PM:KucinichSpeaks wrote on January 11, 2008 9:17 PM:
RETURN NO INCUMBENT needs to be our constant shout.
right, like that bum kucinich!
Anonymous wrote on January 14, 2008 4:36 PM:>>>Corruption, cronyism, paybacks, and intimidation are rife in the US EPA.
Ditto that for Dept of Interior (former Sec. Gale Norton, Stephen J. Griles, Italia Federicci, Abramoff Native American casino scams, etc etc)... Another of our many corrupted offices thanks to CheneyCo.
bunny99 wrote on January 21, 2008 1:35 PM:They should do it anyway. The EPA was created to protect the public, not corporations and big business. This is another mind boggler that no other administration would dare to try.
If the majority of people in a state decide they need to do something good, but the federal gov't isn't giving them a damn good reason they can't do it, I say screw them. Just do it. Why should state government's have to follow laws when the federal gov't and the WH go around breaking laws every single day.
Do what they do. Besides, what can he do? It's not like Bush and Congress is flooding states (other than the state of Iraq) with cash; quite the contrary, Bush is basically leaving states to fend for themselves anyway, which is sending our taxes through the roof. The Minneapolis bridge that collapsed last year comes to mind.
Seriously, states need to start taking care of themselves. It's the only way to slow these madmen down.