CORNFUSED?
(The following quick political
appraisal for bill supporters was posted yesterday evening on
Facebook)
So what the heck happened at the end
(see the 9:58:00 mark) of today's
Kaua`i County Council Committee meeting on Bill 2491 related to
pesticides and GMOs?
Well for those who didn't get what they saw it was a semi blood bath. JoAnn Yukimura left early so Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa were able to get the bill deferred for a full month in order to try to kill it. Nadine Nakamura was no help either.
Essentially Ross and Mel- yes, Mel is definitely not ...a friend of the bill or its purpose (although he may protest he hasn't made up his mind)- are hoping the attorney general will come up with some BS reason why the law is preempted by either the state or feds, either stated or implied even though it's obviously not (which Mel knows damn well but he will play politics to the end) since the Pioneer attorneys couldn't cite any example while the Earth Justice lawyer cited case after case showing no preemption (meaning the county is able to enact the law regulating pesticides and GMOs).
Ross and Mel (and maybe Nadine) are trying to kill the bill through infinite deferral. Gary Hooser (here's his far more staid "first draft of history") tried to fend them off but didn't have even a second vote or anyone to make a motion for a two week deferral because JoAnn left early and Tim Bynum and Jay Furfaro are not on the committee. And as I said Nadine is scared for her political life and you couldn't pry her lips apart with a crow up until she went with the four week deferral vote (i.e. she voted to defer for four weeks).
While a committee cannot kill a bill outright, they can defer it forever. Gary, as chair, said (to paraphrase) "okay then I want everyone to come with all your amendments and be ready to vote on Sept 9." Good luck.
Well for those who didn't get what they saw it was a semi blood bath. JoAnn Yukimura left early so Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa were able to get the bill deferred for a full month in order to try to kill it. Nadine Nakamura was no help either.
Essentially Ross and Mel- yes, Mel is definitely not ...a friend of the bill or its purpose (although he may protest he hasn't made up his mind)- are hoping the attorney general will come up with some BS reason why the law is preempted by either the state or feds, either stated or implied even though it's obviously not (which Mel knows damn well but he will play politics to the end) since the Pioneer attorneys couldn't cite any example while the Earth Justice lawyer cited case after case showing no preemption (meaning the county is able to enact the law regulating pesticides and GMOs).
Ross and Mel (and maybe Nadine) are trying to kill the bill through infinite deferral. Gary Hooser (here's his far more staid "first draft of history") tried to fend them off but didn't have even a second vote or anyone to make a motion for a two week deferral because JoAnn left early and Tim Bynum and Jay Furfaro are not on the committee. And as I said Nadine is scared for her political life and you couldn't pry her lips apart with a crow up until she went with the four week deferral vote (i.e. she voted to defer for four weeks).
While a committee cannot kill a bill outright, they can defer it forever. Gary, as chair, said (to paraphrase) "okay then I want everyone to come with all your amendments and be ready to vote on Sept 9." Good luck.
It's really up to Nadine at this point-
it's time to lobby the you-know-what out of her.
This means we will not be able to keep getting and giving factual testimony and keep the ball rolling as it was this afternoon when the real science became apparent during the science and medical questioning of Dr Evslin and Dr Valenzuela of UH (sp?) as well as Kyle Smith (the attorney for the Waimea lawsuit) who is an expert on these restricted use pesticides) and others.
And because they lost the legal round in the morning so badly they are hoping they can get through to the AG to provide a trump card- he will no doubt try his damnedest to make sure the governor doesn't blow his contributions from Monsanto et. al. in '14.
And who knows what the county attorney will do- any honest appraisal will find no preemption either stated or implied either state or federal. And will find SCOTUS on our side (something even Pioneer's lawyers couldn't counter that).
But if they can't get to the county attorney (CA), Mel will try to say it's too expensive for Kaua`i to pay to defend ourselves against Big Biotech. In other words we can't pass laws when deep pockets threaten to sue us back to the stone age over them... something he has said the opposite about when it comes to money to keep defending his pal disgraced former Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri Carvalho... as did Ross, even more vehemently...
So we have to wait until September 9 and keep the momentum going while they spend another bazillion dollars on cable ads calling themselves poor seed farmers and continuing to extort and provide lying talking points to their poor employees who are caught in the middle.
Well, at least I hope they get hefty raises after testifying....
Don't forget- the only ones who are saying "the community is being torn apart" are those opposed to the bill. And the only ones against the bill are employees or their relatives or paid the shills like that UC Riverside guy today who managed to slither out of a question about funding, about which he said (under his breath) he "only" got a few private research projects a year (presumably industry funded) although his department doesn't take biotech money.
The rest of us are unified like never before by the lies and threats from the chemical companies.
Imua
This means we will not be able to keep getting and giving factual testimony and keep the ball rolling as it was this afternoon when the real science became apparent during the science and medical questioning of Dr Evslin and Dr Valenzuela of UH (sp?) as well as Kyle Smith (the attorney for the Waimea lawsuit) who is an expert on these restricted use pesticides) and others.
And because they lost the legal round in the morning so badly they are hoping they can get through to the AG to provide a trump card- he will no doubt try his damnedest to make sure the governor doesn't blow his contributions from Monsanto et. al. in '14.
And who knows what the county attorney will do- any honest appraisal will find no preemption either stated or implied either state or federal. And will find SCOTUS on our side (something even Pioneer's lawyers couldn't counter that).
But if they can't get to the county attorney (CA), Mel will try to say it's too expensive for Kaua`i to pay to defend ourselves against Big Biotech. In other words we can't pass laws when deep pockets threaten to sue us back to the stone age over them... something he has said the opposite about when it comes to money to keep defending his pal disgraced former Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri Carvalho... as did Ross, even more vehemently...
So we have to wait until September 9 and keep the momentum going while they spend another bazillion dollars on cable ads calling themselves poor seed farmers and continuing to extort and provide lying talking points to their poor employees who are caught in the middle.
Well, at least I hope they get hefty raises after testifying....
Don't forget- the only ones who are saying "the community is being torn apart" are those opposed to the bill. And the only ones against the bill are employees or their relatives or paid the shills like that UC Riverside guy today who managed to slither out of a question about funding, about which he said (under his breath) he "only" got a few private research projects a year (presumably industry funded) although his department doesn't take biotech money.
The rest of us are unified like never before by the lies and threats from the chemical companies.
Imua
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