Opinion

California Congressman Mark DeSaulnier And The Bridge To No Accountability

Lloyd Billingsley Policy Fellow, Independent Institute
Font Size:

Democrat Mark DeSaulnier, 62, a former California state senator, is the new U.S. Representative for California’s 11th district. Those seeking a sense of what the congressman is about might consider his experience with the new $6.5 billion eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

This bridge came in $5 billion over budget, a full 10 years late, and riddled with safety issues such as broken rods and faulty welds. In 2013, dozens of the long metal rods on the project snapped. When apprised of these problems, California governor Jerry Brown, a former presidential candidate, famously said, “I mean, look, shit happens.” DeSaulnier, then chairman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, decided to hold hearings on the matter in January 2014.

Witnesses testified that Caltrans, the massive state transportation agency, compromised public safety by ignoring problems with welds, bolts and rods. Caltrans also outsourced work to China, where workers produced cracked welds. Caltrans bridge engineer Douglas Coe noted that every one of the 750 panels had to be repaired.

The most serious charge, according to chairman DeSaulnier, a graduate of Holy Cross, was “a deliberate and willful attempt to obfuscate what is happening to the public.” Indeed, Caltrans geologist Michael Moore testified that safety problems were kept secret, ignored and covered up.

Caltrans program manager Tony Anziano, a lawyer, denied telling anyone to avoid disclosure. Chairman DeSaulnier listened carefully to Anziano and his boss, Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “I don’t believe you,” DeSaulnier said. “And I don’t believe that the public has the greatest confidence in what you’ve said.”

Whistleblower Michael Moore called for a “criminal investigation,” but none took place. Instead, Caltrans bosses called for an administrative inquiry by the California Highway Patrol. The CHP found “no illegality or retaliation against engineers who complained about construction defects.”

DeSaulnier sent a report on the bridge to California Attorney General Kamala Harris, an Obama loyalist who wants to be a U.S. Senator, but still no word of any criminal investigation. In November, DeSaulnier gained election to Congress, defeating Republican Tue Phan-Quang by a margin of 31 percentage points. The bridge safety issues, however, did not go away.

The problems first emerged through a series of investigative reports by Charles Piller of the Sacramento Bee. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asi, a professor of structural engineering at UC Berkeley, told Piller he believes the structure is unsafe and declines to use the bridge. And the professor surely knows more about bridges than Caltrans program manager Tony Anziano, who conveniently retired in February.

DeSaulnier told Piller he wished Anziano well, “but it’s frustrating that there’s never been anyone in the management of the bridge who has been held accountable.” The new congressman has that right, but taxpayers and toll payers should not be surprised.

It was DeSaulnier, after all, who failed to hold anybody accountable, despite detailed, credible testimony from experts and whistleblowers alike. In those hearings, DeSaulnier also tipped his hand.  The billions in cost overruns, the 10-year delay, and lingering safety issues, he lamented, had eroded public confidence and made Californians “adverse to taxes.”

These taxes, DeSaulnier said, were needed for other “infrastructure” projects he did not name but claimed would promote economic growth. He opposed California’s current “bullet train” project but still supports federal funding for high-speed rail.

So with new California Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, it’s not about public safety and accountability after all. It’s all about taxes and spending. The new congressman from California is going to feel right at home in Washington.

Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow with the Independent Institute and author of Hollywood Party: Stalinist Adventures in the American Movie Industry, and the new crime book, Exceptional Depravity.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel