Richard Roos-Collins, one of Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointees to the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC), has resigned. Roos-Collins, an attorney for the Natural Heritage Institute, had previously served on the BDCP steering committee. Restore the Delta and other groups thought that this constituted a conflict of interest, since one function of the DSC is to evaluate the BDCP.
Roos-Collins had not yet been confirmed by the Senate. The Governor’s other three appointees – Phil Isenberg, Randy Fiorini, and Hank Nordhoff – also have not been confirmed. California law allows a Governor’s appointees to serve for one year pending confirmation.
The DSC will have a Delta Plan long before that. So confirmation is kind of a moot point: so much for legislative oversight and accountability.
And think what the newly-reactivated Water Commission could do with water bond money before they are formally confirmed in their positions? Newly condemned land in the Delta for new conveyance? New dams?