Richard Pombo
Richard William Pombo, GOIH is an American lobbyist for mining and water-management companies and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, having represented California's 11th congressional district from 1993 to 2007. Pombo lost a reelection bid to Democratic challenger Jerry McNerney on November 7, 2006.
On January 4, 2010, Pombo announced his candidacy for Congress in California's 19th congressional district to succeed retiring fellow Republican George Radanovich, although he did not live in the district. Pombo came in third in that four-way GOP race, with 20.8 percent of the votes.
Early life and career
Pombo was born in Tracy, California, 18 miles south of Stockton. He attended Cal Poly, Pomona, for three years before dropping out to work for his family's cattle and dairy business. He is a descendant of Portuguese immigrants. Pombo is married to the former Annette Cole and has three children. Even after being elected to Congress, he returned to his 500-acre ranch near Tracy every week. Pombo is a Roman Catholic.From 1990 to 1992, Pombo served on the Tracy City Council.
House of Representatives
1992 election
In 1992, Pombo won the Republican primary by defeating several candidates in a race for an open seat in a district newly created by redistricting. California had added seven seats in the House after the 1990 census. Pombo's strongest opponent in the Republican primary was moderate Republican Sandra Smoley, a Sacramento County Supervisor.In November, although the district had a Democratic majority and was carried by Bill Clinton, Pombo nonetheless defeated Democrat Patti Garamendi.
1994–2000 elections
Pombo was reelected from this district in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000.2002–2004 elections
For his first five terms, Pombo represented a district covering almost all of San Joaquin County and a large slice of Sacramento County. However, Pombo's district was significantly altered as a result of the 2000 round of redistricting. He lost his share of Sacramento County to the 3rd district, and lost most of Stockton to the 18th District. The district was pushed westward into the San Francisco Bay Area when it picked up some of the more Republican-leaning portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, which had previously been part of the East Bay–based 10th district. Pombo was reelected in 2002 and 2004 after the redistricting.Political positions
In Congress, Pombo had a conservative track record. In 1994, during the Republican Revolution, he was one of the signatories of the Contract with America. He was a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee. He was given the nickname "The Marlboro Man" by President George W. Bush.Private property rights
Pombo co-wrote a book in 1996 with Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily about private property issues, entitled This Land is Our Land: How to End the War on Private Property. The San Joaquin County Citizen's Land Alliance, founded in July 1997, has been described as a group, co-founded by Pombo, that included farmers and other landowners advocating for private property rights and opposing government encroachment on these rights. As of March 2018 it was being led by Gary Barton as CEO Michael Petz as CFO, with Nanette Martin serving as corporation secretary, and as of that date it was listed as terminated.Pombo's association with the defense of private property rights was spurred by the Southern Pacific Railroad's abandonment of the Altamont Pass route through Tracy. Pombo owned land adjacent to the abandoned railroad line, and argued that the abandoned easement should legally revert to the adjacent property owners rather than to the local park district. He further argued that as the easement was granted based on a promise that the land would be used for railroad purposes only, that the easements ended entirely when they were abandoned.
Pombo's case resulted in Congress passing the Rails to Trails Act. In a New York Times editorial, Pombo was called "an outspoken product of the extreme property rights movement." In 2005, he proposed legislation that would allow mining companies to buy lands on which they have staked claims, even if there is no evidence of valuable minerals on that land; according to the editorial, "This has nothing to do with mining, and everything to do with stealing land that is owned by the American people."
Iraq
Pombo supported the Iraq War. In August 2006, anti-Iraq War activists criticized him, citing an estimate that taxpayers in the 11th congressional district paid $974 million for the war by that time.Warrantless wiretapping
In a 2006 debate, Pombo said that "intelligence agents should obtain surveillance warrants before monitoring phone calls", but "less than five months later, he voted to allow warrantless wiretapping." He told the Tracy Press that his vote was consistent with his statement, and that although the bill allows a delay in obtaining a warrant, it requires that Congressional Intelligence Committees and the FISA Court be notified, this maintaining separation of powers among the branches of government. An advocate for the Center for Democracy and Technology said the bill went further than Pombo acknowledged insofar as it allowed for the warrantless collection of large amounts of data as long as no specific individual was being targeted. Pombo's opponent in 2006, Jerry McNerney, who went on to defeat Pombo, opposed the bill.Committee and caucuses
Committee assignments
From 2003 to 2007, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, and was the Chairman of the House Resources Committee, which has oversight and sets policy on matters involving natural resources, Indian Country and Indian gaming. Pombo was also a co-chair of the House Energy Action Team, whose stated goal was to find alternative energy solutions.Caucuses
Pombo was an early member of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, a Republican caucus that promotes the interest of Hispanic and Portuguese Americans. He was also a member and former Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, which is made up of Western State members of Congress concerned about Endangered Species Act reform, water rights, private property rights, and other issues affecting the western states. He was also, as of 2007, co-chair of the Portuguese Caucus, a coalition of Members of Congress who promote positive Portuguese-American relations, and a group he is said to have founded. In that role, he hosted prominent visitors from Portugal to the United States, and the Portuguese government bestowed Pombo with the Grand Order of Infante D. Henrique, Portugal's highest civilian honor, in recognition of his efforts to improve Portuguese-American relations.Controversies and criticisms
In 2006, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchgroup founded in 2005 by liberal and Democratic Party activists released a report naming Pombo as one of the 13 most corrupt members of Congress. Pombo issued a statement where he denied the allegations and described the group as "a liberal-activist organization masquerading as a government watchdog group."Corruption allegations
Pombo and his political action committee RICH PAC was among a dozen leaders in the House of Representatives reportedly under investigation as part of the corruption and influence-peddling scandal centered around disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and his policy issues, including Indian gaming. Pombo had accepted more money from Abramoff than had any other member of Congress. Fundraisers organized by Indian gaming interests and tied to the 2005 MLB All-Star Game are among those activities under scrutiny.On January 8, 2006, the Los Angeles Times alleged that Pombo helped one of Abramoff's clients, the Mashpee Indians in Massachusetts, gain federal recognition as a tribe. In return, Pombo received campaign contributions from both the tribe and Abramoff.
In the 2006 cycle, Abramoff was one of the top donors to Pombo's political action committee. Several of Pombo's top five donors are political influence brokers from Detroit, who hosted several $5,000-per-person fundraisers for Pombo in their owners box at Comerica Park during the 2005 MLB All-Star Game. News reports indicated contributions from the two-day fundraising event would go to RICH Political Action Committee. However, Federal Election Commission reports filed by RICH PAC show only one such contribution. Apparently contributions were diverted to some other entity making it difficult to track who attended and contributed.
The Ilitch family, owners of the MLB Detroit Tigers and Detroit's MotorCity Casino, are also financial backers of various Indian tribes, including the Shinnecock Indian Nation, which is seeking to build a gaming casino on its reservation near Southampton, New York. Various issues and tribal disputes involving the Shinnecock were before the House Resources Committee chaired by Pombo just days after the fundraiser.
On October 11, 2006, it was reported that Pombo "says he never worked with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in his fourteen years in Congress, but billing records suggest at least two interactions between the two in 1996".
Freeways that could enhance owned real estate
Various members of the Pombo family individually own more than undeveloped near two proposed freeways. If even one of the proposed freeways is eventually built, the value of the property owned by Pombo's relatives and located near the proposed freeway will be worth far more than its currently assessed value.Pombo led an effort to build a multilane freeway through the mostly uninhabited Diablo Range to facilitate Bay Area-bound commuting from the greater Tracy area.