Opinion: Gaia don’t want me for a moonbeam
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This week’s online dust-up in the Opinion factory is between California Republican Assembly President Mike Spence and Ventura City Manager Rick Cole, debating whether Attorney General Jerry Brown is doing the right thing in fighting climate change from Sacramento. Today’s installment ponders the proper role of Brown’s office. Spence says ‘A.G.’ stands for ‘aspiring governor,’ and suggests Jerry’s aggressiveness toward counties like San Bernardino amounts to cheap campaigning:
The phrase ‘climate change’ is brilliant; climate is always changing. This issue of ‘global warming’ has become the perfect political issue for Brown. There is no risk in fighting it. You don’t need arrests, convictions or trials. All you need are media cameras to show the world and potential voters how hard you are fighting it.
Cole counters that Californians have already made their views on global warming clear, which Republicans can deny at their peril:
There are lots of ‘feel good’ panaceas out there that may distract us from more effective actions. By denying the role of greenhouse gas emissions in the global climate crisis, you risk marginalizing yourself from the mainstream debate. That’s not only bad for your party’s political fortunes, it’s bad for California. Republicans should play a vital role in shaping sensible climate-change policy because the market and business can -- and must -- play a vital role in tackling this shared challenge.
Yesterday they debated the efficacy of citywide general plans, and Monday they marveled at the staying power of Jerry Brown.