The defeat of seven-term Republican Congressman Richard Pombo in the Central Valley is a personal triumph for former Congressman Pete McCloskey, also a Republican, of Portola Valley and Rumsey.
“The world is a better place,” Mr. McCloskey crowed in Portola Valley on Wednesday. “The man in charge of the nation’s land, water, fish and wildlife is gone forever.” Mr. Pombo is chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
In a stunning upset, wind-energy consultant Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, the Democratic candidate, defeated the entrenched incumbent 53 to 47 percent in a district that sprawls from Morgan Hill and Gilroy across the Central Valley to the Sierra foothills.
Calling himself a “traditional Republican,” Mr. McCloskey led the charge to unseat Mr. Pombo. Mr. McCloskey challenged him in the June primary; after he lost, he and a bipartisan coalition from the Bay Area threw their efforts into Mr. McNerney’s campaign. “I think I worked harder these last five months than during the primary,” Mr. McCloskey said.
Mr. McCloskey and his team challenged Mr. Pombo particularly on his environmental record and his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
As head of the top House environmental committee, Mr. Pombo has been a leader in weakening the Endangered Species Act, trying to sell off national park land, and promoting oil drilling off the coast, Mr. McCloskey claimed.
The contrast between the two Republicans is striking. A decorated Marine, Mr. McCloskey spent 14 years in Congress where he helped write the Endangered Species Act and other pioneering environmental laws. He also co-founded the first Earth Day.
