What do you get when you combine: 1) a political radical who has been arrested and charged with conspiracy after causing civil disruptions including riots and 2) bureaucratic agencies in California with a record of environmental extremism that are focused on putting in place regulations on businesses that far exceed those set by the federal government?

The answer is massive job loss and industry displacement that satisfies ideologues on the far left and hurts both Americans and the economy.

And that’s exactly what California is confronting concerning the Scientific Review Committee (SRC), which was appointed by the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to focus on reviewing new pesticides, which also happens to have significant overlap with the Scientific Review Panel (SRP), which is charged with evaluating the risk assessments of substances proposed for identification as toxic air contaminants by the Air Resources Board (ARB), the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and the DPR.

You got that? And folks wonder why there is uncertainly in the marketplace and businesses are packing up and heading overseas due to the weight of government.

In California, the SRC is now focused on overturning the state’s decision to approve a new chemical called methyl iodide, which is harmless and does not pose a threat when deployed correctly.

Long story short, methyl iodide is used as a soil disinfectant, and naturally emitted by rice plantations.

The decision to not use methyl iodide seriously threatens a $2 billion dollar a year strawberry industry that employs over 10,000 people alone in California.

The kicker is that the regulations California wants to impose concerning methyl iodide far exceed regulations set by the federal government even after the director of Department of Pesticide Regulation said methyl iodide could be used safely with precautions like respirators, impermeable tarps and extra restrictions on use around schools, businesses and homes.

And the individuals who would bear the burden of these new regulations should they be put in place are family farmers who would be forced to permanently transfer their operations to Mexico and shut down altogether, which wouldn’t be a good thing for California’s economy that is already in free fall.

And that’s where the radical with a history of inciting political unrest comes into the picture.

You see, all one has to do is conduct a quick search of the names of the individuals making up the Scientific Review Committee and Scientific Review Panel and they come across John Froines.

So, who is Mr. Froines?

John Froines is a former member of the “Chicago 7.” Along with his group, Froines disrupted the 1968 Democratic National Convention and was charged with conspiracy for allegedly starting the riots that took place. After his acquittal, Froines gave up his academic career writing, “this resignation is an ultimatum: end this monster or we shall walk over you.”

He decided to dedicate his time to revolutionary causes including “link[ing] up with the Black Panther Party … to build a revolutionary movement to end American imperialism.”

But Froines’ best hits don’t stop there…

Froines protested the Vietnam War aligning himself with those “who will be part of the anti-imperialist struggle” comparing the government and corporations to Nazis.

And Froines later found himself – once again – running afoul of the law. He was arrested in March 1971, while marching on Washington and participating in protests that included dangerous acts of vandalism like cutting the fuel lines on buses. And Froines wasn’t just an average Joe civilly expressing his dissatisfaction with government. In fact, authorities allege that Froines was responsible for the disruptions in Washington, organized and planned the protests, including picking “targets for disruption.”

And recently Froines continued to promote his radical views and associate with extremists joining other former “Chicago 7” members – including Black Panther founder Bobby Seale – in 1996 at a reunion in Chicago.

Froines has not taken even one step back from promoting his leftist agenda and controversial past saying, “what happened [in Chicago 1968] had to happen.”

Today, the political extremist with violent tendencies and a penchant for embracing radical orthodoxy is making decisions that affect businesses, which he previously compared to Nazis. Froines’ perch allows him to argue what companies can and cannot do concerning the usage of pesticides in California irrespective if the federal government has already found them to be safe when used appropriately.

The case of John Froines and the Scientific Review Committee and Scientific Review Panel is a case study in how government has a stranglehold on job creation. People like Froines – who are better suited for a jail cell than a government agency – are making decisions that negatively impact all of us by driving business out of the country and impeding any economic recovery both in America and California, which is currently drowning in debt and on the brink of bankruptcy.