DeSaulnier 2 Mark Rep
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see ca sen for older
co sponsor hjt 48 5/19
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FF ceo: chevron HQ in his district, 5 funerals
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https://www.congress.gov/member/mark-desaulnier/D000623
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AMY GOODMAN: The bombshell news of Exxon’s climate deception is now sparking calls for a federal investigation. On Tuesday, presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch urging a Department of Justice probe of Exxon. Another Democratic hopeful, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, tweeted, quote, "We held tobacco companies responsible for lying about cancer. Let’s do the same for oil companies & climate change." Two House Democrats from California, Ted Lieu and Mark DeSaulnier, also want a DOJ probe. In a letter to Lynch, they write, quote, "If these allegations against Exxon are true, then Exxon’s actions were immoral. We request the DOJ investigate whether ExxonMobil’s actions were also illegal."
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over the past year, the battle lines formed along partisan lines on the question of whether the Justice Department should launch a probe intoExxonMobil's stance on climate change.
The designated referee in that battle was to have been U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who received the formal letters staking out each side's position on an investigation.
One of those letters, sent by five Republican senators sympathetic to Exxon, carried the signature of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, who isDonald Trump's choice to succeed Lynch as the next attorney general.
That letter argued that a federal investigation of Exxon would suppress debate on the validity of climate change and amounted to prosecutorial misconduct. Any investigation of the oil giant must be stopped immediately and no future probes initiated, Sessions and the other senators told Lynch.
If he is confirmed by the Senate to replace Lynch, Sessions will become the nation's top law enforcement officer and would hold ultimate authority on the future of any federal investigations of Exxon, making it highly unlikely that any investigation underway would proceed any further. Sessions did not respond to an interview request.
Sessions would have a seat at Trump's cabinet table alongside like-minded climate denialists tapped to run the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Departments of Commerce, Interior and Energy. And even if Rex Tillerson, Trump's choice for secretary of state, has acknowledged the scientific consensus that the risks of climate change are real and need to be dealt with, he has been the chief executive of Exxon for the past 10 years.
In other words, Sessions will fit comfortably into an administration loaded with supporters of the fossil fuel industry. That leaves little hope federal authorities will take action on Exxon, said Joel Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor who worked on the prosecution of the tobacco industry.
"If they don't see climate change as causing a problem then there is no crime to prevent; there is no wrong to right," Schwartz said. "Under their argument there can be no bad actors—just scientists with honest differences of opinion."
California Reps. Ted Lieu and Mark DeSaulnier were among the first to call for Lynch to open a probe of Exxon. The two Democrats asked the attorney general to determine whether Exxon had violated federal law by "organizing a sustained deception campaign disputing climate science" and "failing to disclose truthful information" about climate change.
The request came in the wake of an investigative series ofstories published by InsideClimate News that reveals Exxon scientists were warning of potentially catastrophic effects of a buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide from fossil fuels as early as 1977. (The Los Angeles Times laterpublished stories researched by the Columbia School of Journalism.)
The Justice Department confirmed in January that it had referred the request to the FBI for an initial inquiry, but no details were ever disclosed.
In May, Sessions was one of five Republican senators who demanded Lynch halt that preliminary investigation.
"We write today to demand that the Department of Justice (DOJ) immediately cease its ongoing use of law enforcement resources to stifle private debate on one of the most controversial public issues of our time—climate change," according to the letter.
Sessions was joined by Sens. Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, David Perdue and David Vitter in signing the letter that suggested a prosecution of Exxon would amount to prosecutorial misconduct.
"As you well know, initiating criminal prosecution for a private entity's opinions on climate change is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and an abuse of power that rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct," they told Lynch.
David Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and former director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission, said the position staked out by Sessions and the others in the letter to Lynch is a signal Exxon will get a free pass at the federal level.
"That means it will be left to the state attorneys general to pick up the cudgel if there is going to be any holding Exxon accountable," he said.
But given Exxon's resources, its powerful allies in Congress and the ferocity it has shown in attacking the investigations being undertaken by New York and Massachusetts, other attorneys general may be reluctant to engage in litigation.
"They may believe it's the right thing to do, but they know they can't sustain the fight they will surely encounter," Vladeck said. "So Exxon...will go on about its business without being held accountable for its conduct."
Lieu and DeSaulnier, both Democrats from Southern California, are grudgingly accepting what lies ahead.
"It's not looking very encouraging," DeSaulnier said.
Lieu said he hopes the FBI will turn up enough evidence that cannot be ignored, but said, "I am pessimistic about the attorney general's office."
Exxon may also find a more agreeable Securities and Exchange Commission under the Trump administration. The SEC reportedly launched an investigation into how Exxon accounts for climate change impacts when it values its assets. Exxon has confirmed the SEC investigation and pledged its cooperation.
In the wake of the probe, Exxon announced in October that it was revising the estimated value of its Canadian tar sands reserves to conform to SEC guidelines.
On Wednesday, Trump announced lawyer Jay Clayton as his choice to replace Mary Jo White as SEC chair. Clayton has represented a number of Wall Street giants and could be instrumental in helping implement Trump's promise to scale back on financial regulation.
In addition to designating a chair, the new president likely will be making three other appointments this year to the five-member commission.
The commission is designed as a non-partisan body, and no more than three commissioners may belong to the same political party. Appointees are subject to confirmation by the Senate.
Yet Trump will shape the commission with conservative appointees who will be industry-friendly and lenient enforcers of regulatory rules, according to experts.
It's unlikely Trump will appoint commissioners explicitly opposed to investigating Exxon, saidAndrew Vollmer, a law professor at the University of Virginia and former deputy general counsel at the SEC. New Republican commissioners, however, are likely to share the president's ideological policy preferences, he said.
"The kind of people he will pick can influence and affect investigations," Vollmer said. "There is nothing improper about that as long as a commissioner does not have a conflict of interest."
Trump's appointee to head the SEC, for instance, could instruct the SEC's enforcement division to stop a particular investigation, he said. But that carries the risk of alienating staff and exposing the commission to public criticism, making the power more theoretical than real, he said.
Still, he said, "the chair has the power."
If allegations of wrongdoing came from a whistleblower, then the SEC would be mandated to conduct a summary investigation of Exxon, according to according toBevis Longstreth, a former SEC commissioner who was appointed by Ronald Reagan. But even then, it need only be a cursory look to satisfy the statutory requirements that the credibility of whistleblower complaints be weighed, Longstreth said.
"I don't think you can look to the SEC—given what will be its be makeup—to do very much in the way of an Exxon investigation," he said.
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Mark James DeSaulnier (born March 31, 1952) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, serving California's 11th Congressional District since 2015. Previously, he served in the California Legislature representing California's 7th State Senate district from 2008 to 2015. From 2006 to 2008, DeSaulnier represented California's 11th State Assembly district. He also served as a Contra Costa County supervisor (district 4, 1994–2006) and on the Concord City Council (1991–1994).
In March 2009, DeSaulnier announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in the special election for the 10th congressional district after the resignation of the incumbent Ellen Tauscher. DeSaulnier received endorsements from Congresswoman Tauscher and Congressman George Miller for the seat. In the September 1 primary election, DeSaulnier came in second, after John Garamendi.
Contents
Background
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, DeSaulnier earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from the College of the Holy Cross. He traveled cross-country to California in the early 1970s and eventually settled in Concord. As a young man, DeSaulnier worked as a probation officer, a truck driver and a hotel services employee. DeSaulnier was a member of both the Teamsters International Union and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. His jobs allowed his early exposure to the challenges of working families and the power of organized labor to create equity among employers and employees. A small businessman, DeSaulnier owned and operated several restaurants in the greater Bay Area before taking office in the Legislature in 2006. He is a member of the Concord Chamber of Commerce and the Contra Costa Council. DeSaulnier lives in Concord where he raised his two adult sons, Tristan and Tucker. He is an avid runner and has completed twenty-one marathons.[citation needed]
Local government
DeSaulnier was appointed to the Concord Planning Commission in 1988. In 1991, he was elected to the Concord City Council and served as mayor of Concord in 1993. He was also a member of the University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program Advisory Committee.
In early 1994, Republican Governor Pete Wilson appointed DeSaulnier, then a fellow Republican, to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors district 4, filling a vacancy caused by the resignation of Supervisor Sunne McPeak.[2] DeSaulnier served on the Board of Supervisors until 2006. He was elected in 1994 and re-elected in 1998 and 2002. In June 1998, he received 98.4 percent of the vote against write-in candidates.[3] In March 2002, he retained his seat with 79 percent of the vote against challenger Dione Mustard.[4]
Although the Board of Supervisors is a non-partisan office, DeSaulnier was active in Republican party affairs during much of his tenure as county supervisor. In September 1998, for example, he donated $200.00 to the United Republican Finance Committee of the Contra Costa County Republican Central Committee, thereby aiding Dan Lungren (R) in the gubernatorial race against Gray Davis (D), Matt Fong (R) in his U.S. Senate race against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), Charles Ball (R) in his congressional race against Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D), and Allen Payton (R) in his Assembly race against Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D).[5] Many of the candidates that DeSaulnier aided supported the anti-union Proposition 226 on the June 1998 statewide ballot.
During DeSaulnier's tenure on the Board of Supervisors, he sponsored the Industrial Safety Ordinance and the Refinery Flare Rule for local refineries and chemical facilities. DeSaulnier served on the executive boards of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. He was appointed to represent the Bay Area on the California Air Resources Board by the Air District (1997–2006).
As a member of the Air Resources Board, DeSaulnier supported strong environmental regulations, including cleaner-burning gasoline, lower-emission vehicles (LEVs), the identification of diesel exhaust as a toxic air contaminant, dioxin monitoring in the Bay Area, the banning of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) in gasoline, the identification of secondhand smoke as a carcinogen, the reduction of emissions from dairy farms, the phase-out of rice straw in the central valley and the reduction of emissions from cruise ships.
On a county level, DeSaulnier introduced a Women's Health Program to serve the health-care needs of all women in Contra Costa County. He also established the annual Children and Families' Budget, a separate County budget that reviews and measures the effectiveness of County programs in these areas. His other projects for children include AfterSchool4All, the Future Fund and the Children and Families Committee of the Board of Supervisors.
The Contra Costa Times editorial board was critical of DeSaulnier's record as county supervisor. An editorial published in 2009 stated, "Many of the financial problems that afflict Contra Costa County today stem directly from decisions DeSaulnier championed while he was supervisor. Most notably, in 2002, at a time when the county faced a $31.5 million shortfall, was already laying off workers and was already experiencing increased public employee pension costs, DeSaulnier supported unsustainable pension increases that hiked benefits for public safety workers by as much as 50 percent. The plan allowed public safety workers to retire at age 50 with a pension worth 3 percent of their salary for each year served. Such excessive public employee union benefits have strained some local jurisdictions to the brink of bankruptcy."[6]
State Assembly
In the June 2006 Democratic primary, DeSaulnier carried 52% of the vote against Laura Canciamilla and two other opponents.[7] DeSaulnier was endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Contra Costa Times,[8] US Senator Barbara Boxer and California Senator Tom Torlakson. DeSaulnier won a decisive victory in the 2006 general election against Republican Arne Simonsen and Libertarian Cory Nott with 66% of all votes cast.[9]
In the Assembly, DeSaulnier chaired the Committee on Transportation and the Select Committees on Growth Management and Air Quality. He was also a member of the Assembly Committees on Appropriations, Human Services, Rules and Labor and Employment.
DeSaulnier authored or co-authored over 40 bills during the 2007-2008 legislative session. His bills addressed truancy among school children, preschool access, suicide prevention, childhood obesity, reducing air pollution, smoke-free workplaces, and the creation of opportunities for at-risk youth.
One bill introduced by DeSaulnier, AB 1617, would have restricted tobacco smokers from purchasing tobacco products via the internet.[10] The bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.[11] Another DeSaulnier bill, AB 2235, which would require that a biometric feature be incorporated into all new handguns sold in California to keep guns out of the hands of thieves and children.[12] For this, DeSaulnier received an F rating from the National Rifle Association.[citation needed]
For the Live Earth concert in July 2007, DeSaulnier delivered the Democratic weekly radio address on steps people can take to reduce their carbon footprint.[13]
State Senate
DeSaulnier was elected to the California State Senate in November 2008, representing the 7th Senate district which includes most of Contra Costa County. DeSaulnier received early support from the Contra Costa Central Labor Council, the Contra Costa Building Trades Council and the California League of Conservation Voters. He received 98% of the vote in the June 2008 Democratic primary election against write-in candidates; former Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla initially was to challenge DeSaulnier for the Senate seat, but dropped out of the race. In the 2008 general election, DeSaulnier received 66.6% of the vote against Republican Christian Amsberry.
In the Senate, DeSaulnier is the chair of the Labor and Industrial Relations committee, and a member of the Health, Transportation and Housing, and Appropriations committees. He is also the chair of the select committees on Constitutional Reform and Growth Management.[14]
DeSaulnier has authored over 20 bills that address the ability of workers to designate their treating physician prior to an injury, providing for greater prescription drug safety, supporting increased funding for alcohol-abuse programs, expanding electronic recycling and funding for climate protection. DeSaulnier also supports Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR)3 to propose to California voters the question of whether to call a convention to reform the state constitution.[15]
In September 2009, DeSaulnier amended SB 88 to attempt to restrict the ability of local governments to shed pension programs through bankruptcy protection.[16]
In 2012, DeSaulnier proposed a bill, SB1366, that would require gun owners whose guns are stolen or lost report the fact to police within 48 hours.[17][18] Failure to comply would result in fines on the first and second offenses, with higher fines and possible jail on the third.[17] The bill is endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the California Police Chiefs Association,[19] and opposed by the California Rifle and Pistol Association.[17]
In November 2014, DeSaulnier was elected to represent California's 11th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. As a result, DeSaulnier resigned his state senate seat in order to elevate to Congress.[20]
U.S. House of Representatives
2014 election
In 2014 after George Miller announced his retirement, DeSaulnier announced his candidacy for California's 11th congressional district.[21] He won the general election in a landslide victory. DeSaulnier took office on January 3, 2015.
Committee assignments
Special programs
Fellow, Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government Leadership Program and Symposium on Affordable Housing (2003). Speaker, Japanese Automotive Research Institute in Tokyo, Japan
Co-chair, World Fuel Cell Conference in Lucerne, Switzerland (2002).
Study tours: Participated in two transportation-land use study tours sponsored by the German Marshall Fund to promote trans-Atlantic dialogue around the issues of smart growth, regional planning, air pollution and transportation.
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