8-29-09

 
8-29-09
Merced Sun-Star
Merced's Arvin Sango will keep going for now
Company is going to assess NUMMI closing's impact...DANIELLE GAINES
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/1027937.html
For now, workers at Arvin Sango will continue business as usual, Executive Vice President Dan Baughman said Friday.
The future of the auto part maker was called into question Thursday when Toyota said it would end its production contract with New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI, in Fremont.
Arvin Sango representatives remained mum on the issue until Friday afternoon.
"As a company, Arvin Sango is in the process of evaluating this impact on all of our operations," Baughman said. "As our members have always been, we are focused on meeting NUMMI's daily requirements for delivery and quality."
The Cooper Avenue plant employs 53 people, after 15 were laid off in April. Arvin Sango opened the 63,000-square-foot Merced facility in December 1995 and produces exhaust systems for the Toyota Tacoma and Corolla vehicles.
After the end of the NUMMI contract, Tacoma pickups will be produced at Toyota's manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas, and Corollas will be made in Ontario, Canada, and Japan.
Baughman said he didn't know if the Merced plant would be tapped to continue producing parts for Tacomas, though it is the only Arvin Sango location west of the Mississippi. Arvin Sango customers listed on the company Web site include eight Toyota outfits, Subaru Indiana, Nissan North America and DMAX.
So what would be the best possible outcome about the Fremont assembly plant? "NUMMI would reopen," Baughman said. "I'm not sure there really is a best-case scenario though."
The NUMMI closure could have a widespread effect on the struggling San Joaquin Valley economy. About 1,150 people work in north Valley plants, mostly in San Joaquin County, that supply parts to NUMMI.
Sarah Lim: Honoring endangered species
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/115/v-print/story/1027949.html
Tears and sweat mixed with joy and pride as Skyhawk danced to honor the endangered buffalo, eagles and salmon during the opening reception of the "Endangered Species of the California's Central Valley" exhibit at the Courthouse Museum.
It was a typical August evening in Merced; however, the heat didn't stop people from joining Skyhawk to celebrate the conservation of wildlife.
There was once an abundance of wildlife native to the Valley. However, human settlements inevitably presented a threat to wildlife and their habitats. According to Robert Edminster, author of "Streams of the San Joaquin," the Pre-Columbian animals no longer found in the Valley floor include grizzly bears, black bears, tule elk, pronghorn antelope, San Joaquin ground squirrel, San Joaquin antelope squirrel and the gray wolf.
Naturalist John Muir spent some time in the Twenty Hill Hollow, six miles north of Snelling, as a shepherd from the summer of 1868 to the spring of 1869. During his brief stay, Muir observed the decreased number of native animals in the area. In his work, "A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf," he writes, "Since antelopes have been driven away, the hare is the swiftest animal of the Hollow." When speaking of the presence of coyotes (or California wolves), he lamented that the traps and poisons of sheep-raisers caused the decline of the coyote population.
Ironically, to the settlers, exterminating such wildlife as coyotes was a defense mechanism. Beavers, for example, had made their homes along the Merced River before the settlement in Merced Falls and Snelling began. A battle between the beavers and local people took place in 1871, as the beavers diverted the water away from the Merced Woolen Mill by cutting and destroying trees and building dams in the ditches. Major Murray of Snelling took the matter into his own hands and trapped six beavers in three days.
It's also important to note that the conservation effort began as early as the turn of the 20th century in the Central Valley. One story told by Robert Edminster in his book is how Henry Miller saved the last three dozen tule elk on one of his ranches in the Tulare Lake Basin in Kern County. Because of such efforts, the Department of Fish and Game issued more than 100 tule elk tags in the hunting season for the year 2000.
An important step in conservation is to increase awareness through education. To do so, the Courthouse Museum awarded six transportation grants to the following schools to bring their students to visit the exhibit: Charles Wright Elementary, Ada Givens Elementary, Alicia Reyes Elementary, Hopeton Elementary, Elmer Wood Elementary (Atwater) and Elim Elementary (Hilmar).
For more information about the "Endangered Species of the California's Central Valley" exhibit, please visit the Courthouse Museum on Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
Gift of UC Merced's class of 2009 comes to life...DANIELLE GAINES
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/1027950.html 
Bulldozers boomed through the basin. The yellow machines scooted along, leaving curved platforms in their wake along the gentle slope.
Construction on Little Lake Amphitheater -- the class of 2009's gift to the UC Merced campus community -- began this week and is expected to be complete as early as October.
The landscaped amphitheater will be an uncovered, 55,000-square-foot park located just outside the dining center on campus, facing Little Lake.
"I think this is going to be an amazingly wonderful addition to campus," said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jane Lawrence, peering out her office window at the ongoing construction. "I'm just pleased that it's under way and that it is generating a lot of excitement on campus."
The university said it plans to hold a dedication ceremony for the space this fall, even though it will still be a modest venue then.
Grading on the amphitheater will finish in the next few months, and other improvements will be made over time as more donations are received.
When finished, the heart of the theater's infrastructure will be the terraced grassy slope, adorned with rows of brick platforms and stairs to provide sitting space for lunch, class or club and community meetings.
The total estimated cost of the project is $50,000, to be raised mostly by the sale of engraved bricks. The fundraiser is spearheaded by the class of 2009, the first full undergraduate class to graduate from the campus.
So far, donors have bought 273 of the 5,000 bricks needed to cover the platforms with bricks for seating.
The amphitheater will provide a gathering place for up to 1,500 people.
Information on UC Merced's 2009 class gift can be found at: www.makeagift.ucmerced.edu.
Our View: Distribution center lifts our horizons
Merced City Council's approval seems likely; we need the jobs, we must get this right.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/v-print/story/1027931.html
In the 1991 gem of a movie "The Commitments," there's a scene right after the Irish soul band's first tight practice.
Joey "The Lips" Fagan, a trumpet player who'd jammed with Elvis and B.B. King, gets all the band members to stand in a circle. Then he tells them to turn to their right. Finally, he orders each one to pat the shoulder of the person in front.
That's where we are in Merced County right about now with the Wal-Mart distribution center. We can just about get ready to pat ourselves on the back.
Sure, the Merced City Council still has to approve the project. But after this week's Planning Commission green light, that seems a formality.
And a bit of back-patting would then be in order.
As we've stated before, the Sun-Star backs this project -- strongly. We've weighed the pros and cons many times, and we conclude that the pros far outweigh the cons.
We need the jobs. We need a big project to show potential investors that Merced welcomes businesses that fit our community values. We need the morale boost that such an ambitious development would generate. We need the good news.
In May of this year and in July of last year, we editorialized about our support for the distribution center. Our stand bears repeating:
We must get this one right.
As the City Council moves into the final stages of the process, both its members and Wal-Mart must bear that in mind. The proposed location is the first view that people driving north on Highway 99 see of Merced. We want that view to be a positive one. We're not urban planners or industrial engineers, but we see no reason why the area around the distribution center shouldn't be eye-catching and attractive.
In a few more years, UC Merced is expected to have an enrollment of 25,000 students. That'll be a lot of families and friends driving north on 99 to visit our city. Their first glimpse of it should be a pleasing one -- like the one at Ripon and not like the one at Delhi.
Cities, not Caltrans, are responsible for the roadside scenery along the 99, but we hope Wal-Mart will find that it's in its own interest to make the land around the distribution center look good.
While we remain sympathetic to those in our community who have opposed this project for genuine reasons of their own, we hold little or no sympathy for the professional obstructionists hired by out-of-town interests. These people are paid a salary by various anti-Wal-Mart groups, and their stay in town probably won't last beyond the council's thumbs-up on the project.
In any case, a distribution center -- even one that promises to provide some 900 jobs -- isn't the answer to all our economic problems. But it is a solid step in the right direction. One we hope projects an image of Merced County as a place that wants to cut the red tape when it serves no public purpose.
But we still need sunrise industries: small business, entrepreneurs, green enterprise and energy conservation companies. We want our elected and appointed officials at both county and city level to lead the charge to get those kinds of economic engines revved up here.
Mercedians can't put up with double-digit joblessness forever. Approval of the Wal-Mart distribution center should be just the first step in a newly committed effort to draw, keep and grow businesses we want to see here. A public/private sector partnership, headed by somebody with the moxie to take some risks, should be formed.
The new entity should pick up the pieces left by the disgraced Merced County Economic Development Corp. But the new group should be led by somebody not mired in 1980s' misconceptions about international trade and investment. Funding for MCEDCO mercifully has been slashed by the county, city and some of its private sources.
When new economic development money again becomes available, it should be channeled into an outfit with vision and imagination, which MCEDCO never once showed.
So while we can give ourselves a little pat on the back in anticipation of the council's approval of a project crucial to our future, more needs to be done. Let's use the occasion to kick-start efforts to lure other job providers here.
At the end of "The Commitments," the band breaks up just on the verge of stardom. Joey "The Lips" tells Jimmy Rabbitte, the manager: "Success of the band was irrelevant. You raised their expectations of life -- you lifted their horizons!"
That's what the Wal-Mart distribution center can do for Merced. It can lift our horizons.
That's why we must get this one right.
-----------
Editorials are the opinion of the Merced Sun-Star editorial board. Members of the editorial board include Publisher Hank Vander Veen, Executive Editor Mike Tharp, Editorial Page Editor Keith Jones, Copy Desk Chief Jesse Chenault and Online Editor Brandon Bowers.
McClatchy Washington Bureau
Challenge to Rep. Cardoza puts California GOP on the spot...Michael Doyle
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/74552.html
WASHINGTON — Mike Berryhill's fellow San Joaquin Valley Republicans confront a delicate choice with his decision to challenge Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced.
Some of those same Republicans have financially supported Cardoza in the past. Some now serve with Cardoza in the House of Representatives, where colleagues must weigh partisan gain against regional loyalty. Berryhill's political chances as well as Cardoza's future working relationships both hang in the balance.
Money makes the dilemma manifest: Which Republicans will contribute to Berryhill, or any other GOP contender, and which will not?
"It would put me in a tough spot," Rep. Devin Nunes, a Republican from Visalia, acknowledged Friday. "Dennis and I have a long history of working together ... but if it's beginning to look like a race, obviously I'd have to support the Republican."
Nunes noted that other Republicans still might enter the GOP primary for a shot against Cardoza, and he said he hadn't yet talked to Berryhill. Many political professionals likewise take a wait-and-see attitude in assessing challengers, even as the challengers themselves beat the bushes for every available dollar.
"Everybody needs to hit the seven-figure mark if you're going to run a competitive campaign against an incumbent," said Berryhill's campaign consultant, Carl Fogliani.
Cardoza is a proven fundraiser, with years of campaign experience under his belt. He reports having $376,782 in his campaign treasury as of June 30.
"We're going to gear up, and we're going to work hard," Cardoza said Friday.
Berryhill, who announced his candidacy Aug. 24, has not yet reported raising any money.
Berryhill nonetheless characterizes himself as a "top tier" candidate, seeking to distinguish his prospects from Cardoza's past long-shot GOP challengers who have never received above 35 percent of the vote. A Turlock Irrigation District director and former Ceres Unified School District trustee, Berryhill cites his well-connected family including cousins Bill and Tom Berryhill, both currently in the state Assembly. His late uncle Clare Berryhill served in the state Senate.
Family name identification and local leadership positions may help establish credibility, but the National Republican Congressional Committee does not throw money at every candidate. Instead, fundraising becomes a self-fulfilling cycle: The more money a candidate raises, the more attractive the candidate becomes to other contributors.
"You have to earn your support from the national party," Fogliani said.
Party identification alone doesn't always carry a lot of weight.
Cardoza, for instance, would not financially support Democrats running against former Republican Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy, as the two lawmakers worked together on farm and endangered species issues.
"Frankly, if we cooperated more aggressively, we would all be better off," Cardoza said in April 2005, following an unusual joint fundraiser he held with Pombo.
The Democrat who eventually beat Pombo in 2006, Rep. Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, knew enough about the political dynamic not to ask Cardoza for his support.
In recent months, Nunes has crossed swords with both Cardoza and Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno. Their increasingly public disagreements over water-related tactics and strategy have sometimes seemed to threaten the relative bipartisan comity often found among Valley lawmakers.
Still, cross-party colleagues frequently save money and avoid potential conflict by shunning challengers who they know don't have a chance. Stockton Republican John Kanno, for instance, spent $138,000 in his unsuccessful 2006 bid against Cardoza; none of it came from congressional Republicans.
Modesto Bee
Caine: No one can govern without enough cash...Caine, a Modesto resident, teaches in the humanities department at Merced College.
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/community/v-print/story/834107.html
California governors are starting to resemble the villains in western movies — they exit office just ahead of a lynch mob.
This is certainly the case with Gov. Schwarzenegger, whose approval ratings recently have been in George W. Bush territory.
Schwarzenegger rode into office on a wave of dissatisfaction with Democrat Gray Davis, who suffered the political equivalent of a lynching when he was the first California governor to be recalled (and only the second in U.S. history).
Those who predicted action-hero Schwarzenegger would prove a headline-chasing buffoon are crowing about their prescience, but until recently the "Terminator" from Austria via Hollywood hadn't done too bad a job.
California's current woes, a dismal economy and budget shortfalls, are part of a national slide featuring high unemployment, deep indebtedness and lackluster retail sales. What's easy to forget is California's huge economic output comes with huge overhead. It costs $500 million a year just to fight fires in the Golden State and the tab for crime threatens to get beyond calculation as we face the prospect of early release for thousands of convicts who will enjoy freedom as the result of an attempt to reduce prison expenditures.
Closer to home, Stanislaus County politicians have tried for years to enact a sales tax so we could improve and expand our road system, which has enough bumps, fissures and potholes to double as the moon's surface in one of Schwarzenegger's off-world movies.
More recently, we lost and regained eight police officers when the city budget was cut and then benefited from federal stimulus money.
According to conventional wisdom, none of this should have been the case after massive tax cuts and years of unprecedented growth. The financial gurus who have dictated recent economic policy have consistently argued that lower taxes and population growth would lead to burgeoning economic prosperity. Recent years featured ever lower taxes and a growth boom, but look at us now.
It's also conventional wisdom to blame needless spending for our budget woes, but if that's case, why are we cutting areas like education and law enforcement at a time when higher education and crime prevention are among our greatest needs?
We've lowered taxes and grown faster than garden weeds, but here we are raising student fees and depending on federal money just to keep an already stretched police force from being reduced even further.
There's a lesson here somewhere, and it might be drawn from the knowledge the even ultraconservative Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini voted in favor of the most recent attempt to enact a sales tax for road repairs and expansions.
DeMartini is known for his hard work and meticulous review of county services and departments. Is his endorsement of the sales tax an admission that there is no more bloat to cut? If so, voters need to stop blaming politicians and face the fact that no one can govern without enough money — not even the Terminator.
Fresno Bee
Feds to reconsider protecting mountain plovers...The Associated Press
http://www.fresnobee.com/384/v-print/story/1619378.html
DENVER Federal officials will reconsider whether a bird that breeds on the plains of Colorado and neighboring states and summers in California should be protected.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in a settlement announced Friday to review the mountain plover's status and decide by July 31, 2010, whether it should be added to the endangered species list.
The agreement settles a lawsuit by two environmental groups that claimed a 2003 finding that the bird isn't in danger of going extinct was politically motivated.
WildEarth Guardians and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance said in their 2006 lawsuit that Fish and Wildlife had prepared a rule to declare the mountain plover endangered and then abruptly decided against protecting the bird in September 2003.
At the time, federal officials said surveys showed the mountain plover's numbers weren't declining. Proponents of listing the bird disagreed.
"The mountain plover is an American bird deep in trouble mostly due to development of the areas it needs to live," said Robin Cooley, an attorney with Earthjustice who represented the environmental groups.
Lauren McCain of WildEarth Guardians said the bird's numbers have declined over 93 percent of its historic range. She said environmentalists are optimistic about the mountain plover's fate because Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has called birds the bellwether of the environment's health.
Wildlife officials estimate there are from 5,000 to 11,000 plovers left. They used to be widely distributed across the Great Plains, from Canada to Texas. Environmental groups contend they are now scarce in Nebraska and Kansas and perhaps nonexistent in North Dakota and South Dakota.
Most of the birds spend the winter in the Imperial and San Joaquin valleys of California.
McCain said conversion of land to agriculture threatens the mountain plover throughout its range. Other dangers include urban sprawl, oil and gas drilling and threats to prairie dogs, whose burrows provide shelter.
State wildlife officials say Colorado is the primary breeding ground for the mountain plover, which, despite its name, prefers short-grass prairies. The light brown bird averages 8 inches in length and looks similar to a killdeer.
Last week, Fish and Wildlife settled a lawsuit over protection of the Gunnison sage grouse by agreeing to take another look at whether the bird should be designated as endangered. The chicken-like bird with spiky tail feathers is found primarily in southwest Colorado. It is among the species getting a second chance at protection in the wake of a federal report that found improper political meddling in endangered species rulings.
The report last year by the inspector general for the Interior Department found that Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other Bush administration officials interfered with federal biologists' decision-making for multiple species.
Sacramento Bee
Wall Street is downbeat on California casinos this year...Dale Kasler
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/v-print/story/2146851.html
Wall Street sees the run of bad luck plaguing California's Indian casinos continuing for another year.
While the rest of the battered gamb-ling industry's troubles are starting to bottom out, that recovery won't begin in California until the second half of 2010, according to a report this week by New York credit-rating firm Fitch Ratings.
The Fitch report follows downsizing in recent months by two of California's largest casinos, Thunder Valley in Lincoln and Red Hawk in Shingle Springs.
While tribes don't report financial results, revenue at California's Indian casinos fell a combined 5.6 percent during the 12 months that ended last September, to $7.36 billion, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission. Revenue at all Indian casinos in the United States grew 2.3 percent during that time. The commission said it doesn't have more recent data.
The revenue figures don't cover what was probably the worst of the recession, the six months or so that began when the stock market melted down last fall.
The figures also don't include results from Red Hawk, which was opened last December by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.
The company that manages the casino, Lakes Entertainment Inc. of Minnesota, has said that revenue from Red Hawk has been disappointing, although traffic has been strong. Lakes said employment at Red Hawk has been trimmed from 1,750 full-time equivalent positions when the casino opened to fewer than 1,500.
Thunder Valley laid off nearly 100 workers in the spring.
The overall gambling industry has been in a slump. Revenue at Nevada casinos fell nearly 14 percent in June, according to the state Gaming Control Board.
Fitch said California's casinos are getting hit especially hard because the recession has affected the state more severely than most other parts of the country.
"Recovery of employment and consumer spending in these regional economies (in California) will be hindered by lingering weakness in the residential housing sector, which continues to be a significant drag," the report states.
But the report says the long-term outlook for Indian gambling in California is strong.
Megan Neuburger, a Fitch analyst who co-wrote the report, said Northern California's growth prospects are probably better than for Southern California, where the market is more heavily saturated.
"In Northern California, there's a little bit more potential to grow the market," she said in an interview.
Even as they fight the recession, Northern California's casinos are expanding.
Thunder Valley is building a hotel set for completion next year. Lakes said it is talking to developers about a hotel adjacent to Red Hawk. And Cache Creek Casino Resort in Yolo County is working on an expansion of its hotel.
Los Angeles Times
'Cash for clunkers' and taxes...Martin Zimmerman...7-27-09
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/uptospeed/2009/07/clunkers.html
The "cash for clunkers" program, which kicked into gear over the weekend, is raising a couple of taxing issues for potential car buyers.The program can lower the price of a new vehicle by $3,500 or $4,500, depending on the improvement in fuel economy versus the vehicle the buyer is trading in. Which raises the question: Are state and local sales taxes applied before or after the price reduction?
After, according to state tax officials. That would result in additional savings. For example, in Los Angeles, where the sales tax rate is 9.75%, lopping $3,500 off the purchase price of a vehicle would save a qualifying buyer $341.25 in sales tax.
The "cash for clunkers" law specifically states that the cost savings aren’t considered income for the buyer and are not subject to federal income taxes. But the situation is a less clear for dealers, who are worried that they may have to pay income tax on any money they receive under the program.
California residents, meanwhile, may face a tax bite from Sacramento. If the price reduction on the new car is greater than the amount the buyer paid for the “clunker” in the first place, the difference has to be reported as a taxable gain and the buyer may have to pay state tax on it, according to the state Franchise Tax Board.
For example, if a person trades in a vehicle that cost $3,000 and qualifies for a $3,500 price reduction, that person has to report the $500 difference as a taxable gain.
CNN Money
Bank failure tally tops 84
The number of bank closures this year continues to grow as the fallout from the housing crisis and unemployment take a toll on local financial institutions...Ben Rooney
http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/28/news/economy/bank_failure/
index.htm?postversion=2009082821
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Regional banks in Maryland, Minnesota and California were closed by regulators Friday, bringing the total number of failed banks this year to 84, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said.
Baltimore, Md.-based Bradford Bank, which operated nine branches, will reopen Monday as part of Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company.
M&T, which is based in Albany, N.Y., agreed to assume all of Bradford Bank's $383 million in deposits and will purchase "essentially all" of its $452 million in assets, the FDIC said.
In Minnesota, the eight branches of Mainstreet Bank of Forest Lake will be taken over by Stillwater-based Central Bank.
Central will pay a premium of 0.1% to the FDIC for the failed bank's $434 million in deposits and will purchase its $459 million in assets, the FDIC said.
Affinity Bank of Ventura, California, operated 10 branches which will be taken over by Pacific Western Bank.
Pacific Western will assume all of Affinity's deposits of approximately $922 million and purchase its $1 billion in assets, according to the FDIC.
The combined cost of Friday's closures to the FDIC is an estimated $446 million.
Access to funds. Customers of the failed banks will be able to access their money over the weekend by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks will continue to be processed, and borrowers should make their payments as usual, the FDIC said.
The FDIC, the federal agency that has protected bank deposits since the Great Depression, will guarantee account balances up to $250,000. Qualified depositors of the failed banks will retain their FDIC coverage.
A bad year. With Friday's closures, the number of banks shut this year is more than three times the number of banks that failed in 2008, and it's the highest tally since 1992, when 181 banks failed.
The majority of this year's failures have been small, regional banks that fell victim to losses on real estate and consumer loans as unemployment surged to a 25-year high. But there have also been a number of large institutions closed in 2009.
Last week, regulators in Texas closed Guaranty Bank, which had about $13 billion in assets and was the third-largest bank to fail this year. That came one week after Alabama-based Colonial BancGroup became the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history on Aug. 15.
The wave of failures is expected to continue, raising concerns about the size of the FDIC's insurance fund.
The FDIC said Thursday that the number of institutions on its so-called "problem bank" list reached 416 in the most recent quarter -- the highest level in 15 years.
The agency also reported that its trust fund decreased by $2.6 billion, or 20%, during the quarter to $10.4 billion.
Over the next five years, the FDIC expects roughly $70 billion in losses due to the failure of insured institutions.
Anti Corruption Republican
Shh! Don't Mention that Pete Evich worked for John Doolittle
An eagle-eyed commenter noticed that the bio at Van Scoyoc Associates has been scrubbed of any mention of Peter Evich's work for former Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.).
Old Evich bio¹ (Prior to Friday, August 28, 2009)
New Evich bio (After Friday, August 28, 2009)
For the sake of posterity, we reprint below the portions of the old Evich bio that mention Mr. Doolittle:
Mr. Evich spent five years in the office of Rep. John T. Doolittle of California, a Member of the House Republican leadership and Appropriations Committee. As Legislative Director, Mr. Evich provided advice on all legislative areas, with a special focus on appropriations. He was responsible for coordinating and managing Rep. Doolittle’s appropriations initiatives for 10 of the Committee’s 13 subcommittees, including Energy and Water Development, Transportation, VA-HUD and Independent Agencies, Labor-HHS-Education, Defense, Agriculture, Commerce-State-Justice, and Treasury-Postal Service.
Mr. Evich was closely involved in constructing and developing the Water Resources Development Acts (WRDA) of 1999 and 2002. He also worked with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee staff during consideration of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), and the Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21). Other responsibilities included serving as personal office liaison on issues related to Rep. Doolittle’s position as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water and Power and as lead staff to the House Western Caucus, a group of House Members from Western states who focus on environmental and natural resources policies. In 2002, Mr. Evich organized and executed Rep. Doolittle’s successful leadership bid for Secretary of the Republican Conference, the sixth highest-ranking position in the House Republican Leadership.
Prior to his work in Rep. Doolittle’s office, Mr. Evich served for four years in the office of Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., then Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, assisting in the development of policy positions and legislative initiatives for issues including transportation, budget, tax, health care, business and labor, and Social Security.
We are all just left to wonder why Mr. Evich isn't proud of his connection to Mr. Doolittle anymore. Any ideas?
==
¹ As of this posting on August 29, 2009, the Google Cache of the Evich bio is dated July 31, 2009. We expect that over time, the Google Cache of the old Evich bio will be replaced with the new Evich bio.