WASHINGTON – In a move that marks a sea change in the nation's environmental politics and heightens California's profile on global warming, Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of Los Angeles on Thursday dethroned a champion of the auto industry from a top job in the House of Representatives.
Rebuking their most senior member, House Democrats voted 137-122 to oust Michigan Rep. John Dingell, 82, as head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will oversee climate change issues in the new Congress.
It means that two Californians will take leading roles in the debate. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is the head of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue.
Boxer, who wants to force industries to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, called the vote "momentous" and predicted that Waxman, who has close ties to environmentalists and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, "will be a great chairman."
"For me, as a Californian, I could not, frankly, have a better partner," said Boxer, calling the 69-year-old Waxman "a very, very, very strong" ally.
And with Barack Obama headed for the White House, Boxer said, Washington will have all of the players in place to move aggressively on reducing global warming. "It's going to be a great year," she said.
Dingell's backers were fuming that Democrats would throw out a veteran committee chairman simply because they disagreed with his political philosophy, calling it a blow to their long-established seniority system. But Dingell, the top Democrat on the committee for nearly 28 years, congratulated Waxman and promised to work with him "for a smooth transition" as he relinquishes his gavel.
"Well, this was clearly a change year," said Dingell, who came to Congress in 1955, replacing his father.
Dingell, who has resisted higher fuel standards and tighter limits on greenhouse gases, had called Waxman an "anti-manufacturing, left-wing Democrat" and said it would be a mistake to have him in charge of the committee, particularly with the auto industry struggling.
Democrats said the showdown between Waxman and Dingell was one of the most intense they've witnessed. It took place behind closed doors.
"It was sort of like Zeus and Thor, these two powerful people throwing lightning around the room," said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, who backed Waxman and urged his colleagues to do so.
Miller said the vote was "good for California" and that one of the main reasons Dingell lost was because he and President George W. Bush led the effort "to get rid of California's clean air standards."
"It sort of coalesced today in the vote," Miller said. "You saw the impact of the theme of the Obama campaign, which said we have to change the way Washington works. It's going to be exciting."
North Carolina Democratic Rep. Mel Watt, who voted for Dingell, said that House Democrats are opening the door to appointing other top positions based on issues such as friendship, political donations and ideology. And he said it could lead to "substantial problems going forward" for the majority party.
"I just thought it was a mistake, without having concrete and compelling reasons, to start disregarding the seniority system," Watt said. "We need a more concrete standard than popularity. … The best person is in the eye of the beholder, and the most senior person is not."
David Schultz, who teaches political science at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., said Dingell's departure and Obama's election make the current leadership in Washington the most pro-environment since the early 1970s.
That's when Congress teamed up with President Richard Nixon to create the Environmental Protection Agency, pass the Clean Water Act and create air quality, auto emission and anti-pollution standards. "We're looking at a new Congress that, in spite of where the economy is, the environment is going to be front and center," Schultz said.
Pelosi called Dingell "a giant of the Congress" and said the House Democratic caucus had "worked its will." With Waxman leading the committee, she said, she expects progress on "addressing the greatest challenge of our time, global warming."
House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said the vote by Democrats "sends a troubling signal from a majority that has promised to govern from the center."
"They moved away from Chairman Dingell because he is committed to approaching energy and environmental issues in a manner that protects American jobs," Boehner said. "It is a disturbing sign that the leaders of the next Congress will be making decisions based not on what is best for the country, but for well-funded special interests whose priorities are far different from those of the vast majority of Americans."
Lisa Page, a spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the GOP governor looks forward to working with Waxman and other congressional leaders "to take California's leadership on global warming to the national level."
Speaking at the Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Schwarzenegger said Americans "have been the biggest polluters in the world" and that Californians will lead the way in working with the Obama administration to fight global warming.
Call Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Washington Bureau, (202) 383-0009. Barbara Barrett of the McClatchy Washington Bureau contributed to this report.
