All Michael Vick had to do was say “I’m sorry” and he would be getting out of jail sooner. But the almost two-year sentence meted out to the suspended quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons Dec. 10 by a federal judge was just.

Many animal lovers had crossed their fingers that the sentence – which could have been up to five years – would not be just a slap on the wrist.

The judge said he hadn’t taken full responsibility for his role in a dog fighting ring, including the killing of pit bulls that did not pass tests of their fighting prowess.

All he said was “I’m willing to deal with the consequences and accept responsibility for all my actions,” Vick said, but Judge Henry E. Hudson wanted to see more contrition.

Hudson, who sentenced Vick on one count of interstate conspiracy to sponsor dog fighting, said he was not convinced Vick had fully accepted “all of your responsibility for your criminal involvement in this venture.”

Vick had given conflicting statements about whether he personally took part in the killings, including some by drowning and hanging.

He admitted carrying a dog to a co-defendant who tied a rope around its neck. He said he “dropped the dog.”

He has said, he has to “make better decisions.”

Rep. Barbara Boxer

Nevertheless, the agenda will not change overnight. Many Congressional committees involved in environmental and energy legislation will change. California Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer, who favors mandatory cuts in emissions linked to global warming, will become chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, replacing the skeptical Oklahoma Republican Sen. James M. Inhofe, who called the concept “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind.”
 
In the House, Jerry McNerney, a California Democrat and wind-energy executive, will take over as chairman of the House Resources Committee, replacing Rep. Richard W. Pombo, a Republican who fought to open public lands to private interests.
 
But the narrowly held majorities are going to make it difficult to advance an environmental agenda unless Republican support moves over a few degrees, says Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico who is expected to be the new chairman of the Energy Committee.
 
Boxer says her first priority will be to hold hearings on global warming, a special interest of this magazine, by reviewing proposals from senators to slow the buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.  
 
Randy Paynter, Founder of Care2, an active Internet presence to bring attention to the environment, notes that members like me who have been working hard to elect candidates who support the environment, animals, and progressive causes have indeed wrought change.
 
“ You were a powerful force in last week’s US election: some of the worst enemies of the environment have been defeated, and some of its strongest supporters are moving into new positions of power,” he wrote me recently.
 
In California, volunteers from Care2 defeated Richard Pombo, who has one of the worst voting records in Congress on the environment, women’s rights, and progressive causes. As Chair of the House Resources Committee, Pombo proposed legislation to sell a quarter of the land managed by the National Park Service, tried to open the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, and worked to weaken the Endangered Species Act.