Wally Herger rides to rescue Ridge
Wally Herger rides to rescue Ridge
06/28/2008 By: Jaime Oneil
WALLY HERGER was Johnny-on-the-spot with his words to the readers of the Post last Thursday, doing the empty pandering usually done by slimy politicians who show up at a disaster to try to claim a portion of credit for the work of firefighters and other first responders, and to praise the people who actually deserve praise. This is meant to make us all think the polls are doing something, these overpaid scoundrels who neglect the needs of constituents for years on end, but then turn up to take advantage of a quick photo-op at the disaster sites to show the folks that they’re on the case. It’s kind of like George W. Bush’s flyover during the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, which was something less than a band-aid on that hemorrhage those people were suffering because of governmental neglect and ineptitude. If those levees had been shored up as had been recommended, those people down in the Big Easy might have had an easier time of it. If action had been taken BEFORE the emergency occurred, people in New Orleans might not have been in the vulnerable position of having to depend upon people like Michael (”Heckuva Job, Brownie”) Brown and other incompetent and corrupt Bush appointees.
Wally also managed to slip in a few self-serving paragraphs about his tireless efforts to get additional evacuation routes out of here, having spent 22 years representing this district during which time precisely nothing has been done to provide the desperately needed evacuation routes necessary to protect the lives and safety of the thousands who live on Paradise ridge. Senator Ted Stevens, Republican creep from Alaska, got a hundred million for a bridge to nowhere in his state, but Congressman Herger, who has surely been aware of the dangers to his constituents, has done nothing to provide leadership that could have gotten a bridge built from Magalia (on Ponderosa) to Highway 32, a much more efficient evacuation route than the much-discussed back door to Butte Meadows.
Herger has done nothing because he has defined his function as being a mere water-bearer for the Republican agenda in Washington, trotting around doing the bidding of higher-ups in his party, proselytizing for privatizing Social Security, signing off on an unnecessary and disastrous war, working against environmental protections and serving the interests of the powerful people who bankroll him. He hasn’t had to do anything for the working people of this district because this congressional district was carved up to be secure for whatever Republican hack held the seat, no matter how uninspiring, corrupt, or inadequate he or she might be. Just as he did with the firefighters, Wally also basks in the glory of “the troops” and “our brave soldiers” in Iraq, though he has voted with Bush to deny those military men and women the benefits their service should earn for them - from proper medical care to educational benefits. When Herger says he “supports” something, it tends not to mean very much. So, when he says he has “supported the escape route through Sterling (sic) City, and Inskip out to Butte Meadows out to Highway 32, there is no evidence of what that “support” has meant. Did he take a leadership position, or did he just kind of agree with the general notion?
Did he do anything substantive in those 22 years? In his piece in the Post, he claims to have been instrumental in getting the $12 million that has been allocated to the project of building a new road out, but Kim Yamaguchi, pictured with Governor Schwarzenegger on the front page of Thursday’s Post, also claims credit for having secured that money, but it’s also a bit unclear just what efforts he has expended to further those escape routes. What is clear is that after the disaster has struck, guys like Wally and Kim are right there where the pictures are being taken, applauding one another, patting each other on the back, and issuing those “heckuva job” accolades back and forth for benefit of the media.
Ol’ Wally, who lives in an expensive gated community in Chico, has done nothing in 22 years to address a threat everyone knew was present. He has, during that time, enjoyed pay and medical benefits most people will never know, and he has enjoyed the company and the privileges that attend his association with the country club elite, all while ignoring the vital needs of the people who pay his salary.
The Skyway was resurfaced in a matter of hours after the Humboldt fire melted the asphalt, but Wally Herger can’t get a road put in here that is a vital matter of public safety - not in 22 years. And, in the aftermath of the fire that swept through foothill scrub, his answer is to argue, euphemistically, for more logging. Wally calls it an “aggressive program of strategic forest management,” but I think we all know the interests he’s working for when he says that, and what “aggressive forest management” really means. In Wally World, logging the big trees is the best he can do to provide a safer environment for his constituents. Because our politicians have proven so indifferent to the safety of ridge dwellers, some citizens have begun circulating a petition calling for immediate action to secure emergency escape routes out of here. If you see that petition, you’d be well advised to sign it.
Sitting around in this haze of smoke over the past week should have given most everyone time to think about how poorly we’ve been served by these scoundrels, who draw salaries for representing our interests while busily representing their own. Wally Herger hasn’t earned a return to Congress. His time in office has been characterized by nonfeasance when it comes to doing the work of the majority of people whose misguided votes put him in office.
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