February 21st, 2007

Pombo Finds a New Home

It looks like environmental groups are going to have Richard Pombo to kick around again. The former Tracy congressman, who lost the seat he held for 14 years when he was upset by Democrat Jerry McNerney last November, has signed on with an Oregon-based public relations company.

It's not just any PR firm, either. Pac/West Communications was a major player in efforts to put together public - and industry -support for the 2003 Healthy Forests Act, which allowed more logging in national forests, and in efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act.

As chair of the House Resources Committee, Pombo pushed hard for trimming a number of environmental restraints, bumping heads regularly with conservation groups across the nation.

Tim Wigley, executive vice president of Pac/West and former head of the Oregon Forest Industries Council, put together Project Protect, a coalition of industry groups that pushed for more logging as a cure for western wildfires. He also is campaign director for the Save Our Species Alliance, which backed Pombo's unsuccessful efforts to change the Endangered Species Act.

Pombo and Pac/West have worked closely over the years. In 2005, Pombo credited Wigley for his help in getting the Healthy Forests Act passed and recommended him for the National Outstanding Forestry Activist Award, given by the Forest Resources Association, a timber industry group.
Pac/West hosted a 2005 fund-raiser for Pombo in Wilsonville, Ore., where it's headquartered, and company CEO Paul Phillips gave him a $1,000 contribution.

Last month, Pac/West hired Steve Ding, Pombo's longtime chief of staff, to head its new Sacramento office. Pombo joins the company as a senior partner, but will do no lobbying.

''The addition of Richard Pombo to the Pac/West team strengthens our ability to serve clients on a variety of issues," Phillips said in a news release. ''Richard's vast knowledge of the political process, his high-level experience in Washington, D.C., and extensive contacts make for a powerful combination." It's also a combination that environmental groups thought they had seen the last of in November.