Berkeley City Councilman Gordon Wozniak, who we realized recently — after he called his colleagues' welcome mat for Guantanamo detainees just a load of political grandstanding to get on Fox News — is kind of the voice of reason, and therefore considered the staunch conservative, on the Berkeley City Council, has taken another rather controversial stance that sets himself apart from the hyper-liberal majority. Wozniak says the city ought to rethink one of its most signature pieces of local legislation, the 1986 Nuclear Free Berkeley Act. Why, you ask? Is Mr. Wozniak some kind of nuclear energy cheerleader? Hardly.

The late-Cold-War-era legislation, commemorated in iconic (and now rusting) signage at the borders of the city, declared the city a Nuclear-Free Zone, where there will be no nuclear energy used, ever. That part isn't so controversial to anyone. But the law also prevents the city from purchasing products from any corporation that have connections to nuclear power, including the U.S. government. This has prevented the city from investing any of its money in U.S. Treasury bonds, which remain a stable and conservative investment, and which Wozniak thinks they should have the freedom to do now. After all, is the government's support of nuclear power worse than Goldman Sachs' damage to the economy? And Berkeley does have $20 million from its coffers at Goldman, so...

[Chron]

Photo: AnotherQ