A dustup over some remarks by a Merced County supervisor about air quality may be an opening salvo in the 2010 campaign for lieutenant governor.
The supervisor, Mike Nelson, during a May meeting of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, called for inter-group cooperation on controlling air pollution in the valley, which has some of the state's dirtiest air. Then he said he tends to "tune out" when environmental activists address the board.
"Oftentime when people come up here, I don't think they're telling the truth, so that's it," Nelson said.
His remark offended air quality activists, who launched a campaign to either censure Nelson or force him to resign from the board. State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, got into the act, sending Nelson a letter saying his remark created an "unwarranted level of hostility."
Nelson apologized last week, but refused to resign. Environmentalists and farm worker groups who called for Nelson's scalp were not mollified and on Monday, Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, interceded on his behalf with a letter to the board praising him as "knowledgeable, accessible and reasonable" and labeling Florez's criticism as "self-serving."
Actually it may be self-serving for both senators. With Lt. Gov. John Garamendi running for Congress, the lieutenant governorship will likely be vacant next year. Florez and Denham are potential, even likely, candidates.
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