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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>What's
next for the water bond?</span></b><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Sacramento
Bee-7/5/10<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>By Dan
Walters<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Commentary<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>It appears
certain that the $11.1 billion water bond, the centerpiece of a historic water
policy agreement championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, will be removed from
the November ballot.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Concerned that
the bond measure would be rejected by angry, recession-battered voters,
Schwarzenegger and the Legislature's water policy leaders agreed last week that
it should be postponed at least until the 2012 election – much as an
earlier high-speed rail bond issue was postponed until it could win passage.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>It is, however,
not quite that simple. The effect of postponement would be to take
Schwarzenegger out of the equation since his stint as governor will end in six
months. And the water deal's critics are already demanding that postponement
should include a rewrite, which could mean prolonged wrangling or utter
collapse. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>As written now,
the bond measure is a typical product of legislative deal-making, which means it
forgoes logic and equity in favor of political expediency.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>It's loaded with
unconscionable pork – such as a quarter-billion dollars for
Schwarzenegger's pal, billionaire Warren Buffett, to underwrite removal of dams
on the Klamath River that have absolutely no connection to California's water
supply.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Even more
importantly, it would use general obligation bonds to finance water projects
that should be financed with revenue bonds repaid by those who receive the
benefits, not by a deficit-riddled state budget.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>It is another
test – not unlike the budget, in fact – of Capitol politicians'
ability to deal with serious issues without resorting to trickery and payoffs.
Would it be possible for Schwarzenegger or his successor, plus the Legislature,
to write a water measure that addresses the state's very real water problems
but also does so equitably and logically?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The answer,
unfortunately, may be no. One reason is that California's decades-long water
debate is not really over water but over controlling land use, pitting
development advocates against those who want to stop, slow or change
development patterns.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>That's why
there's been a deep split among environmental groups over the current deal,
between those truly interested in the water supply and the environmental health
of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and those who see land-use policy as the
chief issue.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>If a do-over on
the bond issue is politically impossible, however, where does that leave the
elements of the water deal that have already been enacted, such as a vast
change in the governance structure of the Delta?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Perhaps, as it
were, up the creek without a paddle, unable to move without bond money to
lubricate the process.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>This may be
another of those made-in-California political knots that cannot be untangled
because the political structure demands a level of trust and accord that the
issue itself, by its nature, renders impossible.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>Byron Leydecker, JcT<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>Chair, Friends of Trinity River<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>PO Box 2327<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>415 383 4810 land/fax<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>415 519 4810 mobile<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#4F81BD'>bwl3@comcast.net <o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#4F81BD'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org <o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#4F81BD'>http://www.fotr.org<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>

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