By Rep. Jane Harman

I traveled to Stockton, in California's Central Valley, on Columbus Day to campaign with Democratic House candidate Jerry McNerney.  

Jerry is running in California's 11th Congressional District against incumbent Republican Richard Pombo, who many consider his party's poster-boy for destructive anti-environmental policies.  Pombo and I entered Congress together in 1992, and since then he has done everything in his power to undermine 40 years of federal environmental protections.  

As Chair of the House Resources Committee, Pombo has used his perch to gut the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air and Water Acts, and other environmental laws.  Jerry McNerney is an engineer in clean and alternative energy production and a small businessman in the emerging energy technology field.  He'll protect our natural resources, and believes that a healthy environment and economy go hand-in-hand.

But I traveled to Stockton to join Jerry at the University of the Pacific's School of International Studies not to discuss the environment, but national security policy.  Here, too, on this extremely complex topic, Jerry can more than hold his own.  Even though he hasn't yet been elected to Congress, he is more informed on security issues than many of my House colleagues.

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