Sunday, August 18, 2013

Conservation District Watch: The Series - Installment #4

Another day ... another letter from a local tribe to County staffers and the State regarding our County's policy and funding ... with no cc to our Council. Some commenters have wondered, "Was everyone deliberately keeping the Council out of the loop, or was it just an oversight?"

With the email and letter below, we see the Swinomish sending their draft letter to Rosenkotter and Linda Lyshall of the Conservation District for pre-approval. The Swinomish are asking Rosenkotter and Lyshall, "Hey, does this look okay to you?" The Swinomish cc the other two tribes who have sent letters to the State already ... the Lummi and the Tulalip. The Swinomish even cc Ron Zee.

But they don't copy our County Council, which was apparently just the way Rosenkotter and Lyshall wanted it.
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Click to enlarge. Right click to download.

Click to enlarge. Right click to download.

33 comments:

  1. Follow the money. Federal and state funding are being cut. Fish lady sez so.

    What is the last source for near-by replenishing revenues to ensure this anti-science, anti-human so called "Action Agenda" of the corrupt Puget Sound Patronage is mainlined into what is left of our rural character in the name of what Ron Zee and his ilk cynically call the "Stewardship Ethic?" Tommy hot and hog wash.

    Tribal casino money of course. Follow the money. Who crafted the state legislation that allowed these hulking monstrosities to destroy delicate tidelands with impunity?
    Who develops the casinos? Who are the real managers out there? Where do big casinos come from?

    You know, I keep hearing words like racket, eco-mobsters, shake-downs, bullies, protection insurance by contributions to the FOSJ widows and orphans fund.

    Oh come on. See this for what it is. It is exactly what it looks like.

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  2. I don't know why people think federal $ are diminishing. Sen Murray just got 65 million dollars for Washington Salmon recovery efforts.

    This has nothing to do with trying to save 7k in overhead, instead, it is positioning the machine to fully reap all the profit they possibly can by being a "fiscal agent" for the regional share of salmon dollars that will come gushing in.
    They lost the election and have good reason to suspect that the grant process is going to get much more scrutiny. No more nonsense grants like the tac grant to spy on shoreline owners and then shame them into removing bulkheads that pale in comparison to Jamie Stephens beachfront armoring.
    This isn't s about lack of money, it is about control over vast amounts of it.
    This whole party line bullshit about "saving overhead" and "allowing for additional staff" is really nauseating. That's there story and they are sticking to it. It is so deliberately contrived that only a simpleton or an edhale would be unable to grasp.
    Council should pony up the 7 or 8k and put that nonsense to rest.
    Rosenkotter needs to be investigated for her subversive activities.
    This wasn't some spur of the moment thing, it has been an ongoing reaction to losing the election. All the money spent trying to get L&L in place didn't work, we are witnessing Plan B.
    #stop county employee subversion
    #demand transparency
    #they work for us

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  3. The fact is that they are so naturally sneaky and duplicitous, Rosenkotter, Lyshall (does anyone else see her name as Lie-Shall), and Zee would try to scam us over a crust of bread. We don't have any idea whether they are scamming us because there is a big payoff of federal money coming or because that's just how they act 24/7. We do know, however, that the CD could handle millions, and they certainly expanded and built capacity for the purpose of managing a bumper crop of money. I can only conclude that this is about getting money, not saving it.

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  4. @11:23

    Re Lie-Shall - I cannot read "Rosenkotter's" name in the context of all this nefariousness without thinking of Hamlet's back-stabbing friend "Rosencrantz."

    Take me for a sponge, my lord?

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  5. We should follow Hamlet's advice about Rosencrantz and Guilderstern (Rosenkotter and Lie-Shall).

    I trust them as adders fang'd!

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  6. OK, so oceans of money coming by way of Sen. Murray. So, nobody needs tribal casino money, no one is desperate for cash, just positioning for when Helicopter Patty passes over.

    I would like the Council to invite all tribal officials involved in this recent correspondence to paddle on over to Friday Harbor for a nice open transparent public chat.

    Maybe lots of money is coming by way of Murray. That just says to be that the Zees of the world will be calling upon the tribes to match it, which will bring tribal politics that much further into the game. Can't get away from it.

    Disclaimer. I've worked in Indian country. I get it. I know treaty rights are important and I understand what sovereignty means.

    Here's what the Hopi tribal council finally did in 2009 when they couldn't take it anymore:

    By a resolution approved 12-0, the council said ... The council wants the Sierra Club and other environmental groups and on-reservation organizations affiliated with these groups to know they are not welcome on the Hopi Reservation, declaring them persona non grata - no longer favored or welcome. Environmental groups have manufactured and spread misinformation concerning the water and energy resources of the Hopi Tribe in an effort to instill unfounded fears into the hearts and minds of the Hopi public. They have acted, the council alleges, with no regard for the tribe's right to determine how best to develop and manage its natural resources. Nor, the council said, has any concern been shown for the future welfare of the tribe.

    http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=11876

    This is the Hopi, mind you.

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  7. @2:17

    That's incredible (incredibly good) news about the Hopi.

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  8. It all reminds me of the political book “This Town” (Leibovich).

    What we have is obviously the perceived island’s ruling elite who participate in ruthless networking, fake friendships combined with grandstanding "scientists" and the sometimes sensationalist media. The CD, LIO, MRC, and others are depressing and they clearly demonstrate corruption and dysfunction with public dollars.

    It appears the island government works so badly for the rest of us because the county is not run by the people for the people but by a comfortably encamped group of publicly funded employees and committee members saving their own.

    Why do the islands attract the worst of the political game players? We must cut off the funding and support.

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  9. Send the Shall Lie (nee Slaughter) back to the land of South Sound, a year is enough.

    Lieing is not leadership.

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  10. To extend the Shakespearean motif a bit further, there is something about an island seems like a stage for narcissists. Some folks get a bit full of themselves because we're on an island ... The Bard has it nailed, you could call this the Song of the Machine, courtesy of Macbeth which is apropos:

    To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
    Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
    To the last syllable of recorded time;
    And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
    The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
    Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
    And then is heard no more. It is a tale
    Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
    Signifying nothing.




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  11. The Swin guy even says explicitly, "Let me know if I have anything wrong in it or if there is anything else that should be included."

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  12. So, the 30 million or whatever the story about Sen. Murray boils down to this:

    This is very likely FAR from a done deal. On Aug. 1 Murray's office was doing some August Dog Day drum pounding over putting a bunch of money to implement the PSP Action Agenda, in the Fiscal Year 2014 Senate Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

    Congress is on vacation and will come back after Labor Day for months of partisan political pie fights over the federal budget, threats of government shutdowns, default, sequestration, and so forth.

    Do you believe Murray's PROPOSAL for special pork to fund the PSP Action Agenda will survive the budget knives?

    Not if I can help it. I don't believe this will come through and if it does, it will be watered down a lot.

    Stay tuned, and keep your eye on this. The Action Agenda could have been a solid, science based product. It is not. It is crap and should not be funded at all.

    http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/newsreleases?ContentRecord_id=cd5e3587-7d55-4217-9e77-3ec1d867f602

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  13. Geographic Programs.—The bill provides $428,929,000 for Geographic
    Programs. Funding levels for the specific geographic programs
    are as follows:

    —$300,000,000 for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
    —$72,982,000 for the Chesapeake Bay program.
    —$5,826,000 for the San Francisco Bay program.
    —$29,892,000 for the Puget Sound program.
    —$2,054,000 for the South Florida program.
    —$3,948,000 for the Long Island Sound program.
    —$5,444,000 for the Gulf of Mexico program.
    —$2,390,000 for the Lake Champlain program.
    —$3,000,000 for the Southern New England Estuaries program.
    —$1,948,000 for the Lake Pontchartrain program.

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  14. @10:03pm

    You are linking to some other 30 million dollar scheme that I wasn't even aware of. That is some sort of clean up effort.

    here is the 65mil for salmon
    http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/7/salmon-senator-murray-secures-millions-in-federal-funding-for-pacific-salmon-restoration

    She asked for 30, clowns gave her 65.
    That's a lot of money. I guess someone has to skim money off being a fiscal agent to support money losing ventures like hobby farming.
    You would think the 1,000,000 dollar brickworks subsidy for 6 dollar heads of lettuce would have been enough. Hell no, tip of the iceberg.

    Anyone see the link on Sharon's blog about "micropreneurs" or whatever some new invented buzzword is. Basically, they need fiscal agents to arrange local loans to small business. Some grant money too.
    It's crazy. I might apply. See what kind of hogwash I can bleat out and see if that gets me some money. Would be interesting to test the system.

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  15. That is a lot a money; it is spread across west coast states, Idaho and Nevada, where there are historically huge salmon runs and casinos. The program has been around since 2000. In Washington the money runs through the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, which in turn doles out grants to ... you guessed it.

    So, this is the Pacific Coast Salmon Restoration Fund (PCSRF). This is different from the proposed earmark for 30 million to plump up the PSP Action Agenda Traveling Medicine Show and Flea Circus.

    Take the $30M Action Agenda pot along with the Wash. State portion of the PCSRF of maybe 10-15M who knows, and we now have a lot of money for microprenuers, AKA cottage enterprises.

    I want to start up a new firm, called Eco-Scolds. I will stand in the middle of the Friday Harbor rain garden and shriek at passersby. I will wear a black oil tanker hat on my head and smear my face with coal dust.

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  16. Hey @6:46
    Keep me posted. I would love to come work for Eco scolds.
    I love the irony of the people protesting coal using a massive sheet of petroleum product to do it.

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  17. @2:17

    Thank you for the Hopi quote!

    It occurred to me, as I read it, that Zee and Barbara R are luring in the tribes for their own gain. And most certainly bribing them w/promises of $.

    I pray the tribes tap into their ancient wisdom and see through this manipulation.

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  18. The Hopi are truly remarkable, the oldest continually occupied human settlement in North America pretty much.

    They are a warm hearted and welcoming people but leave their culture alone or beware. At one point they banned photographs, especially of ritual dances because it was cultural robbery and soul thieving.

    There was a lot of concern in both Hopi and Navajo country when the internet came to town for similar reasons, not wanting to leak and dilute culture. Then the pushy trust fund hippie environmental organizations show up, doing what, trying to preach and teach the Hopi to become proactively resilient and sustainably green while moving community forward? Yech. No wonder the Hopi eventually just threw them out.

    And we are in the same pickle here. These people are truly soul thieves out to corrupt culture and destroy our communities, their keen enjoyment hid behind a Gothic mask of duty.

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  19. Just an update. It's only noon on Monday and already the Hales have grubbed $300 of taxpayer dollars.
    Hope you all feel the difference they are making in your life.
    Sleep well knowing that your utilities are being managed and your life is being "planned".
    What on God's green earth would we do without these two? Shouldn't they be getting some sort of award, promotion, recognition? Something?
    If we let these two go, I have a fear that the earth might literally stop spinning on its axis.

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  20. Dare I say "Hopi and Change" is what we need?.?!?.

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  21. I just came across this interesting tale of MRC appointment fun and games:

    http://www.islandssounder.com/news/220254201.html

    It looks like

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  22. Sounder article says:

    "Temple, who has a science background and experience producing and shipping salmon, has not been contacted since he applied."

    Oh dear ...

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  23. No way the tribes are being misled. They maintain their own enviro-bureaucracies that meet and tell us what to do with our land--usually, NOT pave it over like the casinos have.
    That group that sent the e-mail? they are the source of key parts of our Best Available Science--yup, science done by tribal employees, a whole mess of them.

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  24. I Am Curious San JuanAugust 19, 2013 at 6:28 PM

    Does Ron Zee's stewardship ethic include having unpermitted structures on his land? Does Rene BeleveAu's job description include ignoring said structures for years after they are reported? Or his he just too busy persecuting other politically unconnected folk? Just askin.

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  25. Dear Conservation District Watch:

    The Con Dist is a government agency, right? So how do they hire two people without announcing the jobs? Or were they posted and we missed them? Two people for stormwater. Why do we need stormwater people at the CD? Don't we have a stormwater "utility" run by Mr. Hale? I am confused. Also, can I be a stormwater person?

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  26. @9.27: Casinos come from the stork. The same people who run Las vegas share some of the profits with the tribes, who use those sums to house and employ their residents. Drive along Reservation Road and see the pretty little tribal built residences.

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  27. @6:28
    Go easy now, allowing Hale and Rosenkotter to run completely amok with no supervision takes more effort than you can imagine.
    You just need to be thankful we have people like Shireene. Without her, I imagine you would get up out of bed, stare at your toothbrush, and most likely starve to death or stop breathing because Shireene isn't "planning". So until you are willing to face up and acknowledge her superior intellect and her right to plan your life, well, nothing. Without Hale, the universe will likely collapse to a singularity as Hawking has predicted.

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  28. Jamie pulled a fast one on the MRC appointments of Sheitinger, Hirsch, and Green and tried to keep the scam going with the hint of reappointment of Whitman and Slocomb. Hughes and Jarman were totally outclassed and out-maneuvered by Jamie, and they never saw it coming. They got played for fools, and in this particular situation, they played their part perfectly. Jamie hit the jackpot. He installed the Chair of Kwiaht (Scheitinger) who is a controversial figure in his own right for twice bringing his Spring Street students to fill the Council chambers about controversial community issues without parental or school pre-approval. Then, Jamie installed Hirsch, who is as fanatical a Friends devotee as their ever was, and who has been caught red-handed impersonating a County official in order to gain illicit access to private property on Orcas to spy on the owners. Last, Jamie installed Green, who is a long-term Nature Conservancy employee.

    If by balance you mean re-composing the MRC to be potentially even more extreme than it has been in its own radical past, then these appointments are a dream. For the rest of us, they are a nightmare.

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  29. @7:18
    Tomorrow we will see. What happens on Shaw stays on Shaw.
    Hopefully these clowns get bounced. Durland and Slocumb need to go too. A handful of people have applied. Heck, reduce the committee size to 12 from 15 of need be.
    Oh yeah, due to recent incidents, "Spring Street" is now called "Fling Street".

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  30. @7:18
    What is this about someone impersonating a county employee to gain access to someone's property?
    I might be just a dumb hick, but that thar don't sound rite. Sounds downrite illegal?
    Is this confirmed? Recent?

    Shireene has been impersonating a planner and nothing came of that. Zee impersonates a farmer, no consequence.
    Maybe it's acceptable.

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  31. @7:36

    Oh it's confirmed alright. Perhaps the TH can obtain the documentation from the County and make it available for readers to see.

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  32. The grapevine (upon which we rely because so much of what the county staff does is off-the-record) says that one of the MRC nominees was helping out the county by visiting a property owner's land to be sure that he was doing things right. With a clipboard. Stating that s/he was a county employee. And reporting back to her friends. But that just might be a rumor and nothing else.

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  33. Anyone heard an apology from the tribes for failing to even let the County know that they were manuevering to remove the salmon grant?

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