Sludge Watch ==> California: Florez taking on the Ag Industry

[Maureen Reilly]

http://www.californianonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070705/NEWS01/707050302


Florez taking on ag industry
Some wonder what motivates Shafter lawmaker
By SUDHIN THANAWALA
The Associated Press


SACRAMENTO - State Sen. Dean Florez's fight to regulate the leafy green 
vegetable industry has all the makings of a personal crusade.

The former investment banker has challenged the powerful agriculture 
industry and even some members of his own party. He's listened to hours of 
testimony in the wake of last fall's E. coli outbreaks and lashed out at 
lawmakers who have not supported his food safety bills.

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But where some see courage in Florez's attempts to regulate the spinach and 
lettuce industry, others see a politician eager for the spotlight.

"I don't think he necessarily brought attention to the

issue," said state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, who opposed Florez's 
legislation in favor of an industry approach. "He brought attention to 
himself."

Florez, 44, blasted state and federal agencies in the wake of the outbreaks, 
saying they had ample warning but didn't do enough to prevent them.

Three people across the country died and about 200 fell sick after eating 
contaminated spinach from the the Central Coast. Contaminated Central Valley 
lettuce was blamed for another outbreak a few months later that sickened 
about 80 people.

During last week's Assembly Agriculture Committee hearing, Florez sparred 
with the chairwoman, Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, after accusing 
committee members of sending the signal that they were "willing to wait for 
another death, another injury, another sickness."

"Senator, let me warn you that is not the message that this committee is 
sending," Parra shot back. "And I know you're going to go out to the press 
and probably say that if someone else dies it's on our back. Well, don't 
blame the members of this committee, senator. Blame me if you have an 
issue."

During the hearing, the Agriculture Committee rejected a Florez bill that 
would have made it easier for officials to trace contaminated produce. It 
didn't vote on two other Florez measures that would have established an 
inspection program for leafy vegetables and introduced strict regulations to 
prevent fecal matter from contaminating produce.

Farm groups argued a voluntary agreement among leafy green processors made 
state regulations unnecessary.

Fighting words from Florez
Florez called the committee members cowards for failing to vote on two of 
the bills. Parra said she'd been called worse.

Florez, whose office is known for its press releases and news conferences, 
is not shy about using the media.

"People look at me and say, 'Dean's interested in this issue because he 
wants to get a lot of press,"' said Florez, who plans to run for lieutenant 
governor in 2010. "The only reason to get the press' attention is to get 
people to know it is an issue. There's a crisis here. Our food is no safer 
today than it was a year ago."

Florez is also not shy about breaking with his party. As chairman of the 
Joint Legislative Audit Committee in 2002, he aggressively investigated 
Democratic Gov. Gray Davis' administration for a $95 million, no-bid 
computer contract it awarded to Oracle Corp.

When he lost the chairmanship, Florez, then a member of the Assembly, 
accused the Assembly speaker at the time, fellow Democrat Herb Wesson, of 
ousting him in part because of his aggressiveness in pursuing the Oracle 
investigation.

Then-Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Boulder Creek, who replaced Florez as the 
committee's chairman, said Florez was removed because he left the Capitol 
before a vote on a key global warming bill.

Florez said he had a standing commitment to attend his son's Little League 
game and thought Wesson had enough votes lined up to approve the bill, 
although he didn't plan to vote on it.

Fellow Democrats generally applauded Wesson's decision, saying Florez needed 
to be punished for not being a team player.

Florez clashed with Wesson again in 2003 after he'd been elected to the 
Senate. Florez contended Democratic leaders prevented a bill that would have 
imposed air pollution controls on farm equipment from reaching the Assembly 
floor so a freshman Democrat would not have to vote on it. The Democrat was 
Parra.

The bill was controversial in both Parra and Florez's districts.

'Tactics' questioned
"I do commend Senator Florez for caring about air quality but do not support 
his past tactics in dealing with me and other members of the Legislature," 
Parra said at the time.

She suggested Florez was paying a political price for not maintaining good 
relationships with lawmakers. Wesson denied he had anything to do with the 
bill's defeat.

Art Torres, who heads the state Democratic Party and was Florez's boss when 
Florez served as a Senate fellow in 1987, said the senator is assertive and 
looks out for the average person.

Asked about the criticism of Florez as outspoken, Torres said "that comes 
with someone who is a passionate and visionary leader."

Florez, for his part, embraces his independence. His pushes to regulate the 
leafy green industry and impose stricter air quality standards have not 
always endeared him to farmers in his mostly rural Central Valley district.

But Florez said his background - his family has been in the valley for about 
100 years - gives him the authority to talk about the issues of air quality 
and E. coli.

With his eye on statewide office, Florez said California voters value 
"maverick, moderate members of the Legislature."

"The more powerful players in Sacramento are the ones who have no party 
affiliation," he said. "They are the people who can seize the bully pulpit 
and say, 'We're just going to do the right thing, let the chips fall where 
they may.' "