Dissecting a county Board Supervisor.
When the Newberry CSD's appeal of the county's approval of the
Daggett Solar Power project went before the Board of Supervisors, I was shocked
at the cruel distortion of what I heard coming from the 1-year appointed
3rd District supervisor, Dawn Rowe.
She voted with the other Supervisors for a 5-0 rejection
of the CSD's appeal. Rowe's vote stands out because she explained it.
Rowe's logic for voting against the Newberry
CSD's appeal was asinine.
For some background on Rowe, she was appointed through a
"secret process"
orchestrated by the then Board of Supervisors' morally corrupt chairman,
Robert Lovingood, when Supervisor James Ramos vacated his 3rd District
seat on December 3, 2018, by being sworn-in for a seat in the State
Assembly.
The 3rd District comprises of over 400,000 residents in
the "Hi-Desert" areas of Lucerne Valley, Johnson Valley, Yucca Valley,
Joshua Tree, Twenty-nine Palms, and the mountain communities.
The San Bernardino Superior Court subsequently voided
Dawn Rowe's appointment as violating the state's Ralph M. Brown Act. The
county Supervisors then set aside $500,000 for legal fees to appeal the court's
decision, which they did.
On January 8, 2020, the lower court's ruling was upheld and
the Supervisors ordered to rescind Rowe's appointment (at the next Board meeting
on January 28th). The Board may yet appeal the Appellate decision.
If the Supervisors don't appeal, Gov. Newsom may appoint a
Democrat successor. In short, Rowe is likely to continue to retain
her seat while the issue is being litigated at taxpayers' great expense.
Steve Brown, editor of the Mojave Watch, apparently also
picked-up on Supervisor Rowe's asinine logic. He has published her comments
given at the Newberry CSD's appeal hearing.
Revisiting Rowe's words in Brown's Mojave Watch has once again got my blood boiling,
so let me vent by sharing Rowe's comments:
"I just had one quick
comment, and I know that when we passed the Renewable Energy Conservation
Element, the Section 4.10, we all knew that there were some of these projects
that would move forward that were grandfathered in, regardless of how frustrated
that may have made us.
However, having said that, you cannot change the rules on anybody midway.
It's the fault perhaps, or the lack of foresight that the county had not to see
that this was coming in some of our areas that would affect our residents, but
that doesn't mean you change the goalposts on the developer, and that's these
companies have a tremendous amount invested hopefully to mitigate all of the
impacts that were mentioned today and to make our neighborhoods better.
And, I understand that those negative impacts that will be had
on those Newberry Springs residents, but I just wanted to point out that it is
also not fair to the development community to make those changes mid-project.
They have a lot invested in their project in our community and our county, so I
wanted to balance that."
In-office for only a short time, Supervisor Rowe has already
gone to the dark side and has qualified as a candidate for the poster image
of San Bernardino County's out-of-control corruption.
Appointed to supposedly represent the people, her moral bankruptcy
is directed to benefit the foreign corporations coming in and killing existing
communities.
In her narrative above, Rowe's concern isn't for the families
who have lived in the county for decades, it is for the profit of outside corporations
who are coming-in and raping the county's citizens of their health, commandeering their
home investments, and the county's natural resources.
It is Rowe's horrific corruption that is "changing the
goalposts" on the residential citizens.
These solar corporations came into the county knowing of the
development of Policy 4.10 beforehand. It was a corporate risk they undertook
that the county's corrupt Land Use Services Department, headed by Terri Rahhal, would
support them. And that Rahhal has.
Terri Rahhal, a non-elected official,
is the sole person responsible for the county's Land Use Services endorsement of
the "grandfather" policy that the morally corrupt Planning Commission and
the Supervisors relied upon in difference to the residents pleas.
The County could have simply taken the reasonable position of
taking solar applications subject to the upcoming Code. The incoming solar
developers could have waited for the Code or take a risk. It is what Moratoriums
are about.
Rowe further states that the county lacked the foresight.
This is B S! The county received several early letters directed to
Land Use Services and county officials forecasting the grandfather conflict.
The corrupt county chose to ignore the letters and follow the path of cuddling the
solar industry by continuing to accept applications, ignoring the county and state
restrictions and laws, and issuing permits in favor of the solar developers.
Incredibly, Supervisor Rowe pronounced, "...that's these companies
have a tremendous amount invested, hopefully, to mitigate all of the impacts that were
mentioned today and to make our neighborhoods better."
Is this woman on Crack? Unmitigable damages were just
documented by public testimony before her for an hour and she has the audacity to
state that hopefully, the solar developers will mitigate everything and "make
our neighborhoods better." Is this lady spaced in another world?
What about the "tremendous amount invested"
by the residents? Why doesn't Rowe recognize that? Why does she support
the corporate figureheads that don't even live in this county?
At least this Supervisor was stupid enough to open her mouth
to explain herself and display her intellect. She has demonstrated a
lack of empathy for the residents and her incapability to protect the lives of the
citizens of this county.
The fact that the Supervisors are spending huge amounts of taxpayer
money to keep this woman in office displays the fraternal Board corruption.
She is expected to run for the seat in the 2020 election.
In this crazy county, she will likely win.
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