Who does the Pomboza think it is, anyway?

Given the money at stake, it's highly suspicious that U.S. Reps. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, and other lawmakers are urging FEMA to delay the release of preliminary maps. FEMA had planned to release the maps in October, weeks before the November election. -- Sacramento Bee editorial, July 2, 2006
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That Pomboza is up and galloping through the countryside again, all four legs working together as it tries to stomp those new FEMA flood maps somewhere far beyond the sunshine of timely public review. But as the ugly beast runs along the levees of the Delta, note well the rigging that control its coordinated movements. You are watching political corruption in action right before your very eyes, selling out public health and safety to developers.

The Pomboza's mumbled protests of innocence are unintelligible absurdities. All that happened here was that the Pomboza got caught. All we hear is the sound of wind whistling through the rigging, the clop-clop-clop of the Pomboza's hoofs upon the levee road, and the plop-plop-plop of one more sell-out of the public to special interests.

Who does the Pomboza think it is, anyway? The public better pay attention to this beast because it means no good to anyone but itself, it has expensive tastes, and it does not believe the public has a sense of smell.

Bill Hatch
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7-3-06
Sacramento Bee
Reality bites...Editorial...7-2-06
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/v-print/story/14273956p-15083900c....
Delaying release of FEMA maps would help politicians, not communities at risk. Egged on by developers and local politicians seeking re-election, several Central Valley congressmen are urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to delay the release of updated maps that will provide homeowners and businesses a more accurate picture of flood risks. FEMA should resist this pressure. The government hasn't updated most of these maps for 20 years, despite several damaging -- and revealing -- floods during that period. The problem is that new maps frighten local officials... Given the money at stake, it's highly suspicious that U.S. Reps. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, and other lawmakers are urging FEMA to delay the release of preliminary maps. As Cardoza notes, these FEMA maps are preliminary. The reason for releasing them is so communities can review them, debate them and understand how they might affect insurance and land-use plans before any final versions are approved. FEMA recently bowed to pressure in remapping flood plains in New Orleans, putting thousands at risk. It shouldn't do the same here -- especially not for a handful of politicians who would rather enhance their re-election chances than face the realities of floods.
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Tracy Press
Delaying the inevitable?...Phil Hayworth
http://www.tracypress.com/local/2006-07-03-Delay.php
Many people living along California's 1,600-mile levee system are living in a flood plain, but government maps often don't designate the area as such...new federal flood insurance maps coming out in October could put many more businesses and homes in the designated flood plain, forcing cities to spend millions on repairing local levees and homeowners to spend roughly $1,200 a year on mandatory flood insurance. A group of California lawmakers led by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, is hoping to stall the release of the new maps - some think at least until the November election. "This information is critical and must be calculated correctly," Pombo said...along with 17 other California congressional representatives... Jeffrey Mount, a U.C. Davis geology professor and former state reclamation board member..."Don't you want to let the people who live behind the levees know what the level of risk is?" Mount and others think the lawmakers are trying to stall the release of the maps because they will bring more -- perhaps many more -- areas into the flood plain that weren't in it on the old maps. That scenario will certainly cost people and the building industry -- and possibly cost the lawmakers at the polls in November. Mount figures new development will get the lion's share because that's where the money is.