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<h1 id="story_headline">Editorial: By working for Westlands,
Wanger puts legacy in doubt</h1>
<h3 id="story_creditline"> </h3>
<h4 class="date">Published Thursday, Dec. 01, 2011</h4>
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<p> Of all the federal judges who have recently presided in
California, none has had more impact on California water issues
than just-retired U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger of
Fresno. </p>
<p>Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, Wanger was at
the center of highly contentious rulings on federal water
contracts, endangered species protections and disputes over toxic
drainage. </p>
<p>On numerous occasions, the Westlands Water District – the
nation's largest agricultural district by value of crops – was a
party in those cases, and several times Wanger issued rulings
favorable to this powerful water agency. </p>
<p> Last December, for instance, Wanger invalidated a federal
biological opinion intended to protect Delta smelt but opposed by
Westlands and other contractors because of its proposed limits on
water pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Westlands
praised Wanger in a press release, saying his "balanced and
carefully articulated ruling marks another impact victory for good
science and public interest." </p>
<p>Wanger retired at the end of September, but not before verbally
blasting federal scientists from the bench, calling one a "zealot"
and suggesting that the other distorted the truth. His ruling in
that case, which threw out a biological opinion intended to
protect salmon, delighted water contractors, with Westlands
General Manager Thomas Birmingham stating, "the court got it right
again." </p>
<p>Now we learn that Wanger, two months after stepping down from the
bench, is going to work for Westlands. He will serve as the water
district's lawyer in a case where environmental groups are
claiming that interim water contracts for Westlands and other
contractors violate state environmental law. </p>
<p>Technically, Wanger does not appear to be in violation of ethics
rules for ex-judges by agreeing to take this case. That's because
the lawsuit doesn't involve a case he previously ruled upon. It
involves alleged violations of a state statute, as opposed to the
federal statutes that were heard in Wanger's court. Nonetheless,
his decision to work for Westlands throws into question his past
impartiality, since he was at the center of so many cases
involving this water district and previously ruled on similar
lawsuits involving federal statutes. </p>
<p>It also doesn't help that on Oct. 3, just three days after Wanger
left the bench, a major Westlands landowner emailed an invitation
to growers announcing that Wanger would be the guest speaker at a
political event for a local supervisor who used to clerk for
Wanger. "Judge Oliver Wanger has been key in supporting Valley
agriculture and its lawful access to essential water!," said the
flier sent by Westlands grower Mark Borba. </p>
<p>To be sure, in his 20-year career, Wanger issued rulings that
went against Westlands, particularly one in late 2007 that
determined that federal agencies had failed to adequately protect
Delta smelt. That ruling resulted in a reduction of water pumping
from the Delta during an already dry year, creating hardship and
protests in the San Joaquin Valley and new rounds of litigation. </p>
<p>Still, if he were truly interested in protecting his legacy as a
judge, Wanger would have shied away from work with Westlands,
environmental advocates or any group that previously appeared
regularly before him. By taking a case for this water district,
which already has several other former federal employees on its
payroll, he has undermined the credibility of many of his past
court decisions. </p>
<p>Given that credibility was already in short supply as state and
federal officials try to resolve water conflicts in the Delta,
Wanger hasn't done Californians any favors. </p>
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