Okanogan Co. letter to CG

[Ghost Hunter]

http://www.omakchronicle.com/nws/n120106a.shtml
Letter from Okanogan County Commissioners opposing Jay Kehne's appointment to the state Fish and Wildlife Comission 
January 3, 2012
Senator Brian Hatfield, Chair
Agriculture, Water & Rural Economic Development Committee
411 J. A. Cherberg Bldg
P.O. Box 40466
Olympia, WA 98504-0466
Honorable Senator Hatfield,

     The purpose of this letter is to express the opposition of the Okanogan Board of County Commissioners to the appointment of Jay Kehne to the Fish and Wildlife Commission. In our letter, we will explain our opposition as a board and further explain why Commissioner Lampe has reconsidered the letter of support he issued in June of this year.
     We cannot support Mr. Kehne's appointment for two reasons. The first is the approach used by Mr. Kehne as he opposed our petition requesting the Director of Fish and Wildlife consider delisting the gray wolf as endangered in the State of Washington, and second is what is the appearance of, if not actual, conflict of interest between Mr. Kehne's paid position with Conservation Northwest and his duties as a Game Commission member.
     This Board considers a person's right to disagree with the decisions of an elected board or official to be sacred. Mr. Kehne had the right to disagree with our decision to submit the petition to delist the wolf. The manner in which he chose to disagree revealed an arrogant and self-righteous Jay Kehne that frankly none of us had seen before. This Board followed a legitimate legal process and made a lawful decision after conducting a public hearing to afford our citizens the opportunity to express their views. The questions posed in our petition were of concern to our citizens and timely offered since the wolf management plan was under consideration by the Game Commission. In fact, many of the issues we, and others, raised were taken up by the Game Commission and resulted in changes to the management plan. The effective public process we utilized was dismissed by Mr. Kehne as a "waste of taxpayer time and money" and "based in ignorance". What is more disturbing is his remarks simply parroted the viewpoint offered by his employer. We see no value in putting a closed minded person who is evidently capable of spewing this sort of vitriolic rhetoric in defense of his paycheck on the Game Commission under the guise of being a hunter from Eastern Washington.
     We believe a conflict of interest does exist between Mr. Kehne's employment and his proposed appointment. Whether Conservation Northwest is supported by direct contributions from the Department of Fish and Wildlife is irrelevant. Conservation Northwest is supported for the sole and express purpose of buying private land for the conversion to public ownership or alternatively purchasing the development rights on land. The education programs they sponsor are to create support for this primary activity. To succeed Conservation Northwest must have a buyer or holding agency for their acquisitions. As a result a partnership has developed between Fish and Wildlife and Conservation Northwest which provides a de-facto conduit to public funds. We believe an actual conflict exists but at any rate Mr. Kehne's appointment would certainly violate the appearance of fairness which is as important.
     In light of his recent demeanor regarding the public review of the wolf management plan we do not believe Mr. Kehne possesses the open mind necessary to serve on the Game Commission. He is apparently more interested in serving the interests of his employer rather than listening too and effectively evaluating the concerns expressed by the citizens he has asked to represent. We absolutely oppose his appointment to the Fish and Game Commission.

Sincerely

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OKANOGAN, WASHINGTON

Jim DeTro, Chairman
Andrew Lampe, Member
Don (Bud) Hover, Member

Cc: Governor Christine Gregoire, PO Box 40002, Olympia, WA 98504- 0002
Lt. Governor Brad Owen, PO Box 40400, Olympia WA 98504- 0400
7th & 12th District Legislatures
 

[bearpaw]

The word is getting out about Kehne, he is not someone who will be good for our game herds. 

[DoubleJ]

The word is getting out about Kehne, he is not someone who will be good for our game herds. 

But will anyone do anything about him now that he's in?

[KillBilly]

The word is getting out about Kehne, he is not someone who will be good for our game herds. 

And which one of our current Commissioners do we believe did us right on the Wolf Plan? Science could not have been a viable excuse because we as well as the Commission pointed out many instances where their Science was tainted... when the fat lady sang, who would have suspected that there would be a unanimous decision to adopt. They didn't all have to vote yes but they caved in.
I am not necessarily for Jay Kehne, but I would point out that he probably couldn't be any more unreliable than our current 5 Commissioners. 

[bearpaw]

I think he still has to be confirmed by the legislature.

I will say this about the current commissioners, they attached several important amendments to the wolf plan that they didn't have to. The entire plan was created with poor outdated science by the WDFW, but for the commission to decline the plan or signifiantly change it, they would likely have been taken to court. I guess you could say they might have been between a rock and a hard spot.

I'm not saying I agree with their decision, but I don't think they are all our enemies. I would think the smart thing to do is study each commissioner and determine which ones are actually our enemies. To classify them all the same with one blanket statement across the board doesn't resonate with me. I am sure there are many differences between each of them, we would be wise to determine which ones are friends of our herds and which ones are not.