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T he C oast News
OCT. 20, 2017
Opinion & Editorial
Views expressed in Opinion & Editorial do not reflect the views of The Coast News
Age a big factor as younger Democrats circle Feinstein California Focus By Thomas D. Elias
Lawsuits benefit water ratepayers By Mark Muir
The California Supreme Court announced on Sept. 27 that it has not accepted our petition to review a Court of Appeal decision that allows the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to include its State Water Project costs in the rates it charges to transport the Water Authority’s independent Colorado River supplies through MWD’s aqueduct. While we hoped the court would strike down all of MWD’s monopolistic rates, our lawsuits have produced noteworthy victories for San Diego County residents — rights to significantly more MWD water, a determination that MWD breached its contract with the Water Authority, and a ruling that MWD illegally collected tens of millions of dollars in overcharges from our region through the imposition of its so-called “water stewardship” rate. MWD must repay the Water Authority approximately $51 million in illegal water stewardship charges
Please weigh in on district voting Encinitas residents, I don’t know how many of you have noticed in detail the issue that is in front of our City Council regarding a threatened lawsuit to force our beloved city into a minimum of four voting districts. Currently, we elect our 4 councilmembers “at large,” meaning they can live anywhere within our city limits and represent all of us; in addition, we have a separately elected mayor (our choice by city vote in 2012.) This current threat, if we decide to comply and not
Ad Hoc panel just for show No surprise that “Most speakers at the Sept. 28 meeting were in strong support of allowing marijuana cultivation, testing, distribution and storefront sales” in Oceanside (“Medical marijuana committee found most in support of efforts,” Oct. 6). Economic conflicts of interest will have that effect — marijuana attorneys, people al-
from 2011-2014. And, the decision prevents MWD from imposing more than $20 million in illegal charges annually going forward. Through 2047, those unlawful charges would have amounted to approximately $1.1 billion. As part of the litigation, the Water Authority also secured the single-greatest water rights victory in San Diego County history. Under the Metropolitan Water District Act, each of its member agencies has a statutory right to a certain percentage of MWD’s available water supplies. The trial court and Court of Appeal both ruled that MWD illegally under-calculated the Water Authority’s water right since 2003. Properly calculated, the Water Authority’s water right at MWD will be about 100,000 acre-feet per year greater than MWD had calculated. To put that in perspective, that’s about twice the annual production of the $1 billion Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. The state Supreme Court ••• to challenge, will forever change the way we elect our representatives. Our council has been generally in favor of not fighting this because, so far, no city in this state that has been sued has succeeded in winning. But it’s still possible to fight this if you tell our council that’s what you want. Currently, the City of Poway is indeed challenging this intrusion into how cities decide their elected representatives. But the opportunity to still fight this very concerning attack on our city is quickly closing. It’s not a done deal, and you can still tell our council that you want to see what happens in Poway ••• ready engaged in marijuana operations, and people who plan on becoming marijuana entrepreneurs. Deputy Mayor Lowery’s intended outcome for his Ad Hoc Marijuana Committee was established before the first meeting, and anyone with opposing views was made to feel dismissed and unwelcome (myself included). It was clear that input from anyone from public health, public safety, law enforcement or substance abuse
sets a high bar for the cases it accepts for review, agreeing to review only 5 percent of all cases presented to it. We are thankful to our staff and legal team for the extraordinary effort required to advance our cause — and we are thankful for the legions of business associations, civic groups, elected officials and other stakeholders for continued support of the Water Authority’s efforts to protect the interests of San Diego County ratepayers. The Water Authority has two additional cases challenging MWD’s rates from 20152018 that have been stayed in Superior Court while the appellate proceedings were ongoing and are now expected to move forward again. We expect to recover approximately $39 million in illegal MWD charges in those two cases. To learn more, go to www. sdcwa.org/mwdrate-challenge. Mark Muir chairs the Board of Directors of the San Diego County Water Authority before making any decisions. And, at the same time, you can also instruct our City Council and mayor how you might want voting districts to look like if we are forced down this path. Do you want to maintain a separately elected mayor? Do you want 4 or 5 districts? Where should their borders be? Please e-mail, text, send to the city ASAP your feelings about this. Oct. 30 is the last public meeting there will be to express your feelings about this issue. It’s so very important to the future of our unique and precious beach town. Cindy Beck Encinitas
They see her as road-kill, the younger California Democrats hovering over longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein this month just before and just after she announced her bid for election to a sixth term. “She no longer reflects the experiences or core values of Californians…and she isn’t willing to step up and lead on resisting (President) Trump…” went one endorsing statement approved by state Senate President Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles, who will be termed out of his current job next year. Would he OK anything similar if Feinstein were 64, not 84? The relative youngsters (aged 60 and under) might be surprised when Feinstein turns out Feinstein to be as fierce as a mother bear whose young have been threatened once her reelection campaign gets going. Her cubs: the things she says still need doing – ending gun violence, combating climate change and ensuring access to healthcare. Feinstein is anything but new to challenge. Once a little-known San Francisco supervisor, she witnessed the 1978 City Hall assassinations of then-Mayor George Moscone and fellow Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights icon, by another supervisor, Dan White. Under horrendous circumstances, Feinstein assumed the mayor’s office by virtue of being the county board president. Her career in major office has lasted almost 40 years. She’s done it with achievement, from stabilizing the traumatized San Francisco to sponsoring new women’s rights, championing environmental and gun controls and crusading against government-sponsored torture. Past achievement apparently means little to de Leon and others in her party; earlier this year, they almost handed its state chairmanship to a community organizer from Richmond who’s done little to make the party the dominant force it is today in California. Feinstein, those folks claim, is a “DINO,” Democrat in name only, the abbreviation itself imitating Republicans who deride the few moderates in their own party as RINOs, Republicans in name only.
Kathleen Lippitt San Diegans for Safe Neighborhoods
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.
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treatment was overruled by heart-wrenching anecdotal stories and testimonials. Prop 64 allows any city (or county) to prohibit all commercial marijuana operations through their land-use powers. This is the option Poway has chosen, whose mayor stated, “Poway is the safest city in the County, and we intend to keep it that way!”
“On the big issues of our time, she’s been on the wrong side…,” griped Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna before Feinstein formally declared, failing to name a single objectionable vote in her last two terms. Neither did de Leon. Translation: Feinstein is too old for them. Khanna, of course, won his seat two years ago largely by making and issue of the age (75) of veteran Rep. Mike Honda. The younger Democrats forget Feinstein pioneered women’s rights, that she stood almost alone against torture during the George W. Bush administration, protected abortion rights and large swaths of the California desert with equal fervor, while helping create several national monuments in the state. They pooh-pooh her decades of steadfast fighting for gun control, saying she hasn’t been tough enough. Plus they forget how strongly she’s fought climate change. On all those issues, Feinstein has been tough enough to get things done by working with Republicans in the Senate, rather than so adamant that all GOP senators would reject anything she says – as they now do with the far younger California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris. Harris, as it happens, quickly endorsed Feinstein for reelection, just as Feinstein was one of her early 2016 endorsers. Harris also contradicted de Leon. “Since joining the Senate, I have found few better allies in our fight to stop the radical agenda of Donald Trump than Dianne,” said Harris. De Leon began his campaign by blasting Feinstein for suggesting that given some time, Trump might become reasonable. And after this month’s Las Vegas massacre, he tore into her for being soft on gun control – at virtually the same moment she introduced the first bill banning bump stocks like those used in that attack. Nor does Feinstein’s record mollify potential candidate Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund mogul who is the national Democratic Party’s biggest donor and founded the NextGen organization to combat climate change. “It is clear for all to see,” Steyer wrote a month after Feinstein’s August remarks on Trump, “there is zero reason to believe he can be a good president.” Chances are Feinstein will match up next fall against one of those two, in the second consecutive all-Democrat Senate runoff election, no major Republican having yet stepped forward. Then California voters can decide if they want bombast or achievement, a loud voice unlikely to get much done or someone who gets results even if she has some gray hairs.
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