Richard Pombo: “H.R. 4128, the ``Private Property Rights Protection Act'' is a timely response to the horrendous Kelo decision. I am…”

“H.R. 4128, the ``Private Property Rights Protection Act'' is a timely response to the horrendous Kelo decision. I am supportive of this bill and call for its expedited passage. I want to thank Chairman Sensenbrenner for his leadership on this issue and look forward to working with him and others to see this bill as it moves through the House and Senate. Property rights are the heart of the individual freedom and the foundation for all other civil rights guaranteed to Americans by the Constitution. Without the freedom to acquire, possess and defend property, all other guaranteed rights are merely words on a page. The Fifth Amendment holds that private property shall not be taken by the government for public use without compensation. These safeguards have been under assault for decades and until now, the typical victims were family farmers and ranchers in the West. The Supreme Court's decision in the Kelo v. City of New London case to allow local governments to declare eminent domain in this case goes beyond compensation; it wholly perverts the intent of public use, and in so doing, may turn the American dream of home ownership into a nightmare. It has delivered the property rights assault from rural America right to the doorsteps of suburbia. In New London, Connecticut, city planners essentially decided that evicting 15 homeowners from their homes was in the ``greater good'' as a ``public use'' for an office park and new condos.…”