Can Anyone Explain This?

Sacramento -- I doubt I could sell this movie script to Hollywood. Shortly after hurricane Katrina destroys the Gulf Coast and floods New Orleans, data emerges to show that the capital of California is likely to be the next American city flooded out. Its levee system is at risk of catastrophic failure. A bipartisan Congressional delegation writes to Governor Schwarzenegger to ask his help in obtaining federal funding to ensure that Sacramento is not the next New Orleans. They wrote, in part:

"The City of Sacramento has the highest risk of flooding of any major city in the country and has suffered serious floods twice in the last ten years. The proposal below will, in the next year, reinforce Sacramento's levee system to give it 100-year flood protection and advance work on Folsom Dam that will provide 200-year protection. It also addresses the risk to areas around Sacramento -- like Yuba-Sutter -- that have suffered major floods."

At the same time, the California Reclamation Board, which oversees flood control in the state, votes to review urban development plans proposed for flood plains along the major rivers. It questioned whether in areas subject to repeated flooding, rebuilding without adding new protection makes sense. Here we have a combination of prevention and protection -- government at its best.

What happens? The Governor, who claims to be an independent populist who ran on a platform of freedom from special interests, fires the entire Reclamation Board, without explanation or warning, and puts in its place a new panel, drawn heavily from the very economic interests whose plans the Board is supposed to regulate. What was the Board's sin? In the words of one fired member, "we were adamant about not putting people in harm's way."

Hollywood might not believe it. But Governor Schwarzenegger did it. I'm baffled. Even if you think so poorly of the Governor that he would act so recklessly, why would he do so promptly on the heels of Katrina and Rita, while public memories are, frankly, rather fresh?

Any readers have a theory about why the Reclamation Board was fired, and why it was done this week?