A CAUSE for celebration
Garamendi delivers keynote at community group luncheon
By Bill Lascher 09/13/2007
The lunch may have been about the future of Ventura County and the nation, but it was a past victory that brought out the crowds
Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, who, as chair of the California State Lands Commission helped deliver the death knell to BHP Billiton's plan to build a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility off the Oxnard coast, headlined a Sept. 7 community building lunch hosted by the Coastal Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE). The event filled a ballroom at Oxnard's Courtyard by Marriott Hotel with activists, community organizers, fundraisers, politicians, professionals and ordinary citizens interested in CAUSE's mission to improve the quality of life of low- and moderate- income people in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Although not all of those in attendance were opponents of BHP's plans, the event appeared as much a celebration of the port's defeat as it was an opportunity to network and plan future action. As much was evident when Master of Ceremonies Dr. Manuel Pastor introduced Garamendi, noting his past service in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and reform efforts he launched in the legislature, as California’s first insurance commissioner, and as a deputy secretary of the interior under President Bill Clinton
“The record he’s had in the last year in Ventura County is a record of public service,” Pastor said of Garamendi. “Many you of you saw him put his values into action.”
It wasn’t just the decision to deny permits for the port that was celebrated, however. A film documenting CAUSE’s work in the community also recognized the Centro Mujer, a South Oxnard-based organization of low-wage working women who — among other neighborhood activism — helped organize Oxnard residents against the LNG plan.
Garamendi himself thanked those activists and other community members who flooded the lands commission with letters and attended its April 9 public hearing in Oxnard.
“Thak you all very much for informing me on the LNG issue,” Garamendi said. “What came of that hearing could not have happened without you. You took the time, you took the energy. That’s how it ought to work and I thank you so much for doing so.”
The luncheon may have been an opportunity to celebrate community involvement with the machinations of government, but Garamendi’s speech looked to the future and grave threats that California and the United States must overcome. Sounding much like a veteran politician gearing up for another run (Garamendi’s term does not expire until 2010), he pointed to the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as a tragic reminder of the catastrophe as well as the isolation the U.S. response has caused.
In addition to international insecurity, Garamendi said another threat is a carbon-based energy policy that makes the U.S. dependent upon resources from chaotic regimes and dangerous locales.
“We need to set out on a different path,” he said. “The LNG issue gave us an opportunity to say there is a different path. It’s up to us at the county and state level to make sure the rubber meets the road.”
If California can shift to a renewable-fuel-based economy, Garamendi said, 83,000 jobs can be created in the state.
Garamendi also highlighted California’s decaying public education system and its bloated healthcare system as other “national security” threats that will doom the state and the country if not addressed.
“We simply must move on these issues,” he said. “We should talk about these things as investments in our future.”
After Garamendi’s speech, the luncheon featured a presentation from Gloria Roman, a 40-year Oxnard resident who came to the United States as a child and now is a CAUSE community activist. Roman described her experience as a migrant farmworker to frame an explanation of how she got involved with CAUSE.
“When I found CAUSE, I immediately became involved because I found there was an organization involved with issues that were part of my life,” Roman said. “I have not been afraid anymore to stand up for issues that affect my community and my life.”
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