Sarah Palin and the Edge: Nonsense in two different guises

What do “tea party” beauty queen Sarah Palin and U2 guitarist the Edge have in common?

Nothing, aside from the fact that I have something to say about each of them today and can’t bear to let either one off the hook. So think of this as two columns for the price of one.

Actually, Palin and David “the Edge” Evans do have something in common. Each is selling something I’m not buying. Palin would have you believe she’s the second coming of Ronald Reagan, and the Edge would have you believe his proposed mountaintop compound near Malibu is a monument to environmental sensitivity.

That’s a crock, the California Coastal Commission staff has now officially told the Edge, but let’s start with the other crock.

As you might have heard, Palin was in Santa Barbara last weekend doing what she does best — bashing President Obama and singing the praises of Reagan. She was there to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the day the former president and California governor was born.

The duty of the “next generation of common-sense conservatives” is to “keep the flame of the Reagan revolution burning bright,” Palin said in her call to end “the era of big government” and stick up for “the little guy.”

Here’s a question:

Does Palin read?

If so, has she skipped over the story of Reagan raising taxes during hard times as governor of California? Does she have any clue that the federal deficit grew astronomically while he was president?

She’s either ignorant of his record or she’s lying about it because it doesn’t fit her narrative, and the same can be said for the legions of ninnies who burst into applause every time Palin invokes Reagan.

Are those populists aware that Reagan was seen by many as someone whose economic policies primarily benefited the rich at the expense of “the little guy”? And do they get that one of his strengths was something they despise: a pragmatic ability to compromise in order to get things done?

“No, they don’t understand him,” said a gentleman whose credentials on Reagan are a little more impressive than Palin’s.

Stuart Spencer, who ran Reagan’s 1966 gubernatorial run and was his longtime political strategist, is more of a Reagan loyalist now than ever. But that doesn’t mean he was applauding Palin’s speech. He told me he didn’t watch it and couldn’t even bring himself to read news accounts of it. Why not? Because based on what he’s seen in the past, she lacks a nuanced understanding of his former boss. Spencer said that like a lot of people, “she’s jumped on the Reagan bandwagon” and massaged the rhetoric to suit her political and economic needs.

Palin said in Santa Barbara that “Reagan would be so proud of the conservative movement today.” Spencer, who lives in Palm Desert, got a good chuckle when I told him about that.

She might share some of Reagan’s ideals, Spencer said, but Reagan would be dismayed at Palin’s shrill tone and lack of political understanding.

“I’ve tuned her out,” said Spencer. “In my mind, she’s not going anywhere politically.”

And at the moment (caution: sharp turn ahead), neither is the Edge.

If you’ve followed the saga, you know the U2 band member and a group of cohorts have been fighting local foes to turn the top of an undeveloped ridgeline near Malibu into their own colony. The plan calls for five mammoth houses they insist would blend into Sweetwater Mesa. But they would range up to 12,000 square feet in size and be situated on 156 acres that are now home to nothing but native plants, animals and serenity.

The Sierra Club has called it a disastrous, habitat-devastating incursion. So have Heal the Bay, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

But the Edge and his crew hired a powerful California lobbying firm and established a slick marketing website to defend the project. The Edge himself has met with “four or five” California coastal commissioners to make his case while the commission staff prepared its long-awaited recommendation.

And?

The report landed last week with a 108-page thud, identifying multiple violations of the Coastal Act and denouncing the project on environmental, aesthetic, fire safety and geologic grounds.

“Staff recommends denial,” said the summary line.

Victory for the mountain?

Not yet.

Coastal commissioners, who are scheduled to take up the matter Thursday in Chula Vista, don’t have to agree with their own staff, and one insider told me a vote is liable to be close. That’s no surprise, given that the Edge, a wealthy international celebrity, has been chatting up commissioners while finding no time in his busy schedule to answer my questions.

“I believe we can work with staff to clarify misunderstandings,” said a statement from project manager Jim Vandenberg.

One such “misunderstanding” involves a strategy by the Edge’s group that was seen by some opponents as a shameless legal maneuver. Although the five-house project has been described by the Edge himself as part of a vision shared by his wife and business associates, each parcel was submitted for approval by a separate company.

The chance for approval might have been greater that way because of a law that allows individual projects even when there would be a negative environmental impact. But the commission staff found “evidence indicating that David Evans is the owner of all five parcels.” It also called the project “a coordinated development scheme” that might involve the selling off of some parcels “for a profit.”

“They’re trying to create a loophole and step through it, but I think they’re violating both the letter and the spirit of the law,” said Adam Keats, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

As of Tuesday, the Edge was considering pulling back and revising his application to build on the mountain, according to his lobbyists.

Who knows? Maybe, he’ll walk up there with his guitar to say goodbye, sing a love song to Sweetwater Mesa and walk away a legend.

steve.lopez@latimes.com