With the fall of the Iron Curtain, droves of Russian and other Communist apparatchiki found refuge and gainful employment within the bowels of California government, or so it may seem to avid watchers and participants in the Golden States’ politburo.

A prime example is the California Coastal Commission, which has been described by one noted policy analyst as combining "bureaucratic ideology of near- Stalinist zeal with corruption of the worst kind."

Despite repeated attempts to kill the Commission, it continues to operate as a kind of Central Committee, with executive director Peter Douglas as General Secretary – ruling with an iron fist and virtually no accountability to the public as it issues nyet after nyet on development matters – unless of course, the proponent happens to be on the celebrity ‘A’ list. 

The commission stands as a monument to favoritism, corruption and a situational view of property rights. Its history is built on kowtowing to the well heeled and politically connected, while stomping all over the rights of the average property owner.  Here are but a few of many examples:

Children’s TV mogul, Haim Saban, creator of the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” successfully circumvented commission policy when he built a beachfront mansion that blocked public view of the ocean . . . Yet, the commission sees fit to reject a church’s request to repave its existing parking lot. •           David Geffen gets to build a seawall and block public access to a beach near his house, yet the Commission orders a modest homeowner to rip out half of a newly built deck – even though the Commission had already approved the patio addition;

Julie Andrews and Barbra Streisand curiously move to the far right when suddenly it is THEIR property rights that must be defended. Andrews took on public access groups, while Babs gets bent of out shape because an environmental group has an aerial shot of her beachfront house.

Numerous other big wigs – ranging from actor and developer Clint Eastwood and Spanish-TV executive, Jerrold Perenchio – have pushed the envelope on issues that would have been D.O.A. had they been brought forward by the average Joe.

The examples pile up, but who on the Commission gives a hoot owl in hell about poor Joe? Apparently nobody living the coastal good life.

Pierce Brosnan, a Malibu resident who in addition to once starring as the debonair 007, is seeking to rehabilitate his fading acting career by moonlighting as an environmental policy expert along with wife Keely Shaye, Danny DeVito, Sting, Ted Danson, Martin Sheen and the usual band of NIMBY elites leads the charge against a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal 14 miles off the coast of Malibu set to come before the Commission in the next month or two.

What’s most troubling is that this project isn’t even in Malibu.  Their objection: on a clear night they can see a tiny pinprick in the distance on the horizon.  Hmmm.  What about the hundreds of ships traveling the coastline every day?  What’s next, will they ask the Commission to re-route shipping around Malibu so that their multimillion dollar views aren’t sullied.

As early as this past fall, Brosnan and some of his local celebrity pals were helping California Coastal Protection Network (CCPN) kick off the non-profit environmental group’s campaign against the LNG project.   

The Malibu event featured an outdoor screening of Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.  The Malibu Times quoted Brosnan as saying that “the film is very close to my heart. What Al Gore has done is deeply commendable, for all our sakes.”

What?

Was he referring to the former Vice President’s efforts to curb his own gluttonous appetite for energy, which reportedly is 20 times that of the average American household for his 11,000 square foot mansion?

Too bad that story broke months after the CCPN event, long after the crowd presumably flew off to vacation in Sun Valley via emission-spewing private jet or drove their gas-guzzling Hummers for a late evening bite at Dan Tana’s.  The Governor, a local, is redeemed courtesy emission tax credits for his jet and a hydrogen retrofit for his Hummer.

It all reeks a la the “Malibu Smell” – described by the Los Angeles Times as the stench of fecal matter oozing straight into the ocean from the wealthy beachfront and swank canyon homes nearby. [Insert Hyperlink] http://www.yeson84.com/media/studies/release.php?id=j6q5yl_16upnk&set=article_j3rsa7_1hyky4&done=index.php%3Fchunknum%3D%26set%3Darticle_j3rsa7_1hyky4 ]

Come on guys…why don’t you clean up your own…uh…waste, before you worry about what’s going on fifteen miles offshore. There didn’t seem to be much concern among Commissioners for Malibu mansions.  Maybe their…uh…”waste” doesn’t stink, but I bet surfers and those that had to drive in from the San Fernando Valley disagree.  Come to think of it, maybe it’s just another way to keep the beaches “locals only.”

Catering to Hollywood’s situational environmentalists is a house specialty among Commissioners. They seek to vote down any hint of a project where  proponents without celebrity status or millions of dollars stand to make a living. This is a shame because the LNG terminal and countless other projects that come before the Commission merit serious consideration and approval – not just for economic and common-sense reasons, but for environmental ones as well.

Like all Californians, I too care deeply about protecting our coast and environment. But I also care about Democracy for all – not simply a few celebrities sipping cocktails from their balconies overlooking the Pacific Ocean, while the rest of the proletariat worry about paying for $3-per-gallon gas and finding clean, affordable energy, and maybe adding a deck off their back porch.

Even Malibu celebrities should remember, that the Commission, like the most successful Communist leaders of yesteryear occasionally must make an example of those who dare question their authority since fear is the catalyst of a successful regime.  Even self-proclaimed environmentalists Geffen and Streisand became scapegoats and examples to others who dared question Commission decisions in public.

Californians deserve government that is accountable, fair and untainted by corruption. That’s why, just as the Iron Curtain fell from its own weight, so must remnants of yesterday’s failed ideologies – like the California Coastal Commission – be purged. Only then will California’s coastal residents truly be able to own their own property without fear of a knock on the door in the middle of the night.