Billionaire Vinod Khosla Clams Up on Martins Beach Decisions
When Billionaires try to make public beaches private.
What is this guy but another flavor of Cliven Bundy, trying to make public property his alone through theft?
Speaking calmly with little evident emotion and dressed in black, the Silicon Valley tycoon withstood more than an hour of probing questions from attorney Joe Cotchett, whose powerful firm is representing the Surfrider Foundation in one of the most important disputes over California coastal access in recent history. Khosla repeatedly told a San Mateo County Superior Court judge he didn’t recall conversations about Martins Beach, and on many occasions invoked attorney-client privilege to avoid answering questions.
“I was dumbfounded at the lack of ability to explain and remember,” Cotchett said afterward outside the Redwood City courtroom.
For the Surfrider Foundation and environmentalists, the decision to close Martins Beach after decades of enjoyment by the public is a dangerous assault on the California Coastal Act. Cotchett claims Khosla’s attorneys have indicated they will appeal the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary, in defense of their client’s constitutional private property rights. Khosla and his attorneys declined to comment after the hearing.
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