First Lady Calls Pombo the Environment’s “Enthusiastic Steward”

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As promised, Laura Bush stumped for Richard Pombo today and instead of touting his strengths, as, say, a force to be reckoned with for private property rights, she chose to focus on his environmental track record, calling him “an enthusiastic steward of our country’s natural resources.”

Uh, that’s a bit like calling Mel Gibson a steward for religious harmony. “Because of his leadership,” she went on, “wildlife, property and people will be protected from dangerous flooding.” It’s as if he were the captain of Noah’s Ark!

Richard Pombo has used his position as chair of the House Resources Committee to try to overhaul the Endangered Species Act to eliminate habitat protection, and to weaken laws protecting the oceans.

The first lady, who’s on a first name basis with the 14-year California state representative (her husband calls him The Marlboro Man) insists that Pombo “is committed to safeguarding local ecosystems. Richard promotes responsible conservation initiatives, programs that protect wildlife while also improving the lives of his constituents.”

Read this week’s interview with Pombo’s opponent, wind-energy engineer Jerry McNerney, who currently holds a 2-point lead, here.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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