Feinstein and Arnold have shown some rare cross-party cooperation

In almost all other states, congressional Republicans and
Democrats work together for the basic good of their constituents,
and party ideologies be hanged. But not those from California.
In almost all other states, congressional Republicans and Democrats work together for the basic good of their constituents, and party ideologies be hanged. But not those from California.

Notoriously far apart on a panoply of issues, they’ve almost never been able to work together for anything.

But there are signs of change. First came a bipartisan letter signed by 44 California House members urging that the next batch of military base closings go easy on California, which took the brunt of the last few rounds.

And now there’s rare agreement between the Republican governor and a senior Democratic U.S. senator on both base closings and another key issue – getting California a waiver of the federal Environmental Protection Administration’s minimum oxygenate requirement for gasoline.

That’s the rule now forcing refineries here to add expensive corn-based ethanol to their fuel, now that the water-fouling additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) has been banned from the state’s motor fuels. It’s one key reason gas prices here are about 50 cents per gallon higher than they are in the Midwest.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ousted Democratic predecessor, Gray Davis, spent more than two years begging the EPA to allow California refiners to make gasoline without any oxygenate additives, which supposedly make gas burn cleaner. He claimed repeatedly that refiners could make their fuels even more clean without oxygenates than with them, and without any of the environmental problems associated with MTBE and ethanol.

In all that time, not a single major California Republican chimed in to help out.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein did, so her recent call to give California the same treatment the EPA this winter allotted to tiny New Hampshire, which got a waiver from the federal rule, was no surprise.

The surprise came when Republican Schwarzenegger wrote EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt the very next day, asking the same thing. “Simply put, the (oxygenate) mandate slows environmental improvement, raises costs and is no longer required…,” he said.

Whether Leavitt heeds the Schwarzenegger letter any more than he did the repeated appeals from Davis remains to be seen. But there are already hints he may relent. Either way, the issue represents a test of the longtime actor’s claim that he can wield far more influence with President Bush than Davis ever could.

Up to now, those claims of influence appear questionable. Despite friendly talk between Schwarzenegger and Bush and despite the governor’s claim that he would become a “Collectinator” of federal cash, the president’s proposed 2005 budget would give California slightly less of the federal spending pie than this year’s. Even Schwarzenegger’s top request – more money for housing illegal alien criminals in state prisons – was completely ignored.

But that doesn’t make the governor’s cooperation with Feinstein any less significant. And on the base closure issue, they could exert considerable influence, especially since several Californians chair congressional committees and subcommittees that will be deeply involved in approving or rejecting any new base shutdowns.

Both the senator and the governor – perhaps in planned cooperation, but no one is admitting to that – call for a host of new criteria to be used in choosing which bases to shutter.

Their lists dovetail nicely: While Feinstein calls for considering the “synergy created between the military, academic and the private sector” at some

bases, Schwarzenegger asks base-closing officers to consider the ability of facilities “to accommodate contingency, surge, mobilization and future total force requirements.”

These criteria, if adopted, would pretty well end any threat to close either the engineering-oriented Los Angeles Air Force Base or Travis Air Force Base at Fairfield, for instance.

Both Feinstein and Schwarzenegger call for consideration of “the need to maintain long-term testing facilities and operation ranges,” as Feinstein put it. That criterion could exempt bases like Ft. Irwin in the Mojave Desert near Barstow, Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station in Ventura County and the China Lake Naval Weapons Center at Ridgecrest.

There’s no guarantee the joint efforts of Feinstein and Schwarzenegger will accomplish any more than the disjointed appeals made by ex-Govs. Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian in prior base-closing periods. But at least the senator and the governor are setting a precedent by crossing party lines and working together for the good of the entire state, and not merely serving partisan interests. 

Tom Elias’ syndicated column appears every Wednesday in the Free Lance. Elias is author of the current book “The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It.” He can be reached at [email protected].