Bandera de San Francisco
If you thought that fake put by the Oregon Ducks was a pretty cool move, you'll love what Oregon gov. Retread and his Washington counterpart are up to:
The governors of California, Oregon, Washington and the environment minister of British Columbia, Mary Polak, gathered in San Francisco to commit to working together to coordinate efforts with the hope of stimulating a clean-energy economy in a region with a combined gross domestic product of $2.8 trillion.
California and British Columbia already have placed a price on greenhouse gas emissions — through cap-and-trade and a carbon tax, respectively — and have also already adopted clean fuel standards.
If this sounds bad, it is actually worse. The governors of Oregon and Washington are making promises for the state in opposition to the current laws of those states.
Under terms of the agreement announced Monday, Oregon and Washington's governors are committing their states to move forward with similar policies, even though the legislatures of both states have denied previous attempts to adopt cap-and-trade.
Is it really legal for governors to make “agreements” with foreign entities regarding the future of their states when the legislatures have rejected that future?
Now that's just a silly question. These are Democratics, so legalities don't apply. After all, the former Clackamas County Commission employed the same tactic to ram light rail into the County against the wishes of the voters: they signed an agreement, and courts held that since they were acting as "elected representatives", the agreement is binding. The same applies in this case; it doesn't matter what voters or legislators have to say, because the governors are acting as "elected representatives".
