I Think I Need A Diagram

We have frequently characterized as "dizzying" the interrelationships and incestuousness among the various people and organizations that seem to govern, influence, and fuss at us at every turn. Let's take a look at a couple of recent examples.

Sarah Crosby has a letter in the Island Guardian where she says the following about us:

The Trojan Heron, on the other hand, is an angry anonymous blog, which is my main criticism of your association with it. Someone who spews opinion without the courage of assigning his/her name to it, does not have my respect, nor should they have yours or your platform. On the TH random slinging of accusations at people as if hoping that some of it will stick smacks of self indulgence in the extreme and truly serves no useful purpose. Is this really what you want to offer to our community?

You can read her entire letter at this link. Sarah Crosby is on the Byers Campaign Committee, a member of the (nonpartisan) League of Women Voters, a PCO for the San Juan Democratic Party, a donor to the Pratt campaign, and Chair of the Advisory Council of the Madrona Institute and ex-officio member of the Madrona Institute Board.

The Madrona Institute and its founder, Ron Zee, are busy setting up (what amounts to) an alternative governmental structure here in the islands. We have already brought to light that Zee/Madrona is the local fiscal agent for the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP), taking a modest 5% to 10% off the top of all PSP grants that get distributed to our local Stewardship Network. Remember, the Stewardship Network is a group of 24 local groups who have been paid by the PSP to spread the word that Puget Sound is in trouble and that our environment is our economy. The Stewardship Network includes the Friends of the San Juans, Kwiaht, the Conservation District (of which Zee is President), and five separate County entities (ARC, MRC, Land Bank, Noxious Weed Board, Salmon Lead Entity). Theoretically (or perhaps not so theoretically), the linkage of the PSP-Madrona Institute-Stewardship Network presents an alternative funding route for County projects without the County entities having to receive Council approval.

Now we find out that Ron Zee wants to appoint Kyle Loring, the Friends staff attorney, as an associate Board member to the Conservation District (Loring's wife is already on the Madrona Institute Advisory Council). Nearly simultaneously, we learn from the February 6th meeting of the PSP's Action Agenda Oversight Group (AAOG) that their plan is to offer Ron Zee the Chairmanship of the AAOG/LIO, and part of those responsibilities may entail PSP funding of the Conservation District, of which Zee is president.

Also remember that Zee was Chair of the local Democratic Party last year, and he headed up the endorsement of candidates Byers, Pratt, and Stephens. While our attention has been focused on the elections, CAOs, and various lawsuits, the "fourth candidate" (Ron Zee) has been moving ahead with the consolidation of his power over everything subterranean in this County -- the Conservation District, the Stewardship Network, ECONet, AAOG/LIO, and grant funding going to those groups via the Madrona Institute. Each of those entities, in turn, has tentacles that reach out to state authorities, visioning events, long-range planning activities, and all manner of stomach-churning bureaucratic power levers.

We may be in the midst of Council elections, but Ron Zee, inventor of the CRC "Better Government" Zee Wheel, is already the boss.

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Historical Tammany Hall Boss Tweed political cartoon updated for life in modern San Juan County

All Things Being Equal

One of the commenters to the last post said that we have organizations in this county that look like separate entities A, B, C, and D; but when you look at them more closely, you realize that A=B=C=D=County.

How true.

Over the last few posts, we've been examining the PSP ECONet, which is the same as the Stewardship Network, which we now know receives its funding via the Madrona Institute as of last April.  According to the website of the Madrona Institute:

Program managers at the Madrona Institute include:

Karrie Cooper, Program Manager & Network Coordinator, Stewardship Network of the San Juans, joined the Madrona Institute April 1, 2012, to coordinate the operations and projects of the Madrona Institute-sponsored Stewardship Network of the San Juans.   The Stewardship Network  is a coalition of public and private conservation organizations in the San Juan Islands whose mission is to promote a stewardship ethic in the San Juan Archipelago from land to sea. [Additional biographical info on Karrie Cooper forthcoming.]

The point of our tale is that we have a Network that consists of the County and its most influential committees, the Friends and Kwiaht, the Tourist Boards, various parks and the Conservation District. The people who comprise the Network turn up time and again in all sorts of places from the Planning Commission to political campaigns. For example, consider just Linda Lyshall -- she is a County employee who serves as the coordinator for the MRC. As an MRC member, she's part of the Stewardship Network. She's listed as being on the Advisory Council of the Madrona Institute. She's the Curriculum Committee Chair of Leadership San Juans. In the past, she's also been an employee of the PSP involved with the AAOG/LIO.

The management arm of the Stewardship Network is the Madrona Institute. Its education arm is Leadership San Juans. Its funding arm (or one of its funding arms) is the PSP's ECONet. Its political arm is our local Democratic Party (more on this in a moment). Its economic development arm consists of the parks and Tourist Boards. Its housing arm consists of the various Housing/Land Trusts. The Networkers give awards to one another through various programs such as the Good Steward Awards. And most of our local news outlets, being deeply superficial, never report on the dizzying inter-connections, and so might as well be the Network's Pravda.

If you let it, the Network will tell you how to think (ECONet), educate you (Leadership San Juans), promote a certain type of economy for you (eco-tourism), house you (land/housing trusts), and tell you how to vote. It's a one-stop shop for everything in life, and if you want a job involving "coordination" and "facilitation," you're probably in luck there too. That's why it's so important for the Network to get the right people in power who will keep the grant-based economy flowing. That's why the Network shows up heavily in the campaigns of Byers, Stephens, and Pratt.

Honestly, in all this, I feel as sorry for Democrats as I do for environmentalists. I feel "environmentalism" has been stolen from real environmentalists, and environmentalist issues are simply used now as bait to get a grant and push a planning-based agenda for every facet of life -- because, as we seem to be often told, we need a vast planning infrastructure to ensure positive outcomes. Ugh!! In the same way, I feel planning and coordination Ubercrats have taken over the local Democratic Party, and the Party label is serving the self-interests of the Network leaders. I know many Democrats who feel alienated from the behavior of their local Party leaders.

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From: Nancy DeVaux [mailto:nancy@hometrust.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 11:46 AM
To: info@stewardshipsjc.org
Subject: membership in the Network

The San Juan Community Home Trust is interested in joining the Stewardship Network. We wondered how we might be able to become a  partner organizations.

We are proud of our efforts to create permanently affordable housing using Low Impact Development and Green Building techniques. One of our major goals is to become the first residential neighborhood in the State of Washington to use reclaimed (treated) wastewater, from our innovative “Living Machine” on-site sewer system,  in toilets and for landscape irrigation.

We’re interested in focusing on this at the County Fair, possibly  in the Stewardship Network area, possibly with the other Community Land Trusts on Orcas and Lopez, that also focus on sustainable development. What would the process for this be?

Thanks for your assistance!

Nancy

Nancy DeVaux

Executive Director

San Juan Community Home Trust

P.O. Box 2603

Friday Harbor, WA 98250

Phone: (360)378-5541

Fax: (360) 378-3742

nancy@hometrust.org

A Modest 5%-to-10% Proposal

We've been talking about the San Juan County ECONet and the Stewardship Network -- two names for the same thing, like aubergine and eggplant. Actually, you can think of the Stewardship Network as the main entity, and ECONet as sort of like its PSP funding arm.

But how does PSP ECONet funding actually reach the Stewardship Network. After all, the Stewardship Network doesn't truly exist as a legal entity. It's not a 501(c)(3). It's just a group of groups, albeit with a website and regular meetings, and memberships, and coordinators. Well, it turns out the County was funding the Stewardship Network for a while by dispersing the PSP ECONet funds via a Coordination Contract (see the email below). However, about a year ago, the Stewardship Network sought out a different affiliation. They sought to end their contractual association with the County and become affiliated with a new "fiscal agent," the Madrona Institute.

This would mean that PSP grant money would no longer be passed through the County to the Stewardship Network but would instead flow through the Madrona Institute to the Stewardship Network. Accordingly, a memorandum of understanding was drawn up (see emails and images below) that would memorialize the new relationship between the Madrona Institute and the Stewardship Network/ECONet. For its trouble, the Madrona Institute would earn a "modest" administrative fee of 5-10%.

What is going on here exactly? To be honest, we're not entirely certain, but it doesn't look good. The Madrona Institute was founded and is run by Ron Zee. Ron Zee, as you can see from the emails below, was instrumental in reinvigorating the Stewardship Network. Ron Zee (depending on which website you look at) is also the head of one of our local political parties. That political party decided to endorse three candidates in the upcoming local election: Byers, Stephens, Pratt. All three of those candidates are on the record as being very committed to grants, including the prospect of getting millions more in additional grants for the County.

It looks for all the world like partisan Ron Zee endorsed a voting bloc of candidates likely to support a revenue stream for Madrona-Institute Ron Zee that would earn him a "modest" 5% to 10% off the top of a grant revenue stream that potentially could be very significant. And bear in mind that Zee would be the "fiscal agent" for a Network that would be contractually obligated to put out targeted messages that just happen to be quite favorable to his political and financial position, not to mention favorable to his candidate endorsements. Bear in mind that Zee would be "fiscal agent" for a Network consisting of 24 of the most influential organizations in the islands, including 5 major County entities. And all of it would be done without a whisper of consideration by our Council, which (if things were to work out according to plan) would in short order consist of people Zee endorsed anyway. I am sure the Byers/Pratt/Stephens Council would be happy to keep the boss happy by doing everything they could to bring more grants Ron Zee's ... er, I mean, the County's ... way.

It looks like it could be a very cozy fiscal and political arrangement operating under the rubric of "environmentalism" but seeming to have a lot more going on once you peek under the hood. It's very ugly really. By the way, have a look at the email addresses in the second email below. It includes some key people involved in the campaigns of Pratt and Byers. Stalwarts of the Network.

From: Jeff Hanson [mailto:jeffh@sjcmrc.org]
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 10:21 AM
Subject: Stewardship Network Update and Meeting Notice

Dear Members of the Stewardship Network of the San Juans,

Our next meeting is Wednesday, January 18, from 12:30 until 2:00 and will be held at the Friends of the San Juans conference room above the National Park office on Mullis Street, Friday Harbor. 

ON THE AGENDA:

• Katie Fleming of RE-Sources in Bellingham will present information about upcoming workshops on the "Power Past Coal" efforts to inform people about the potential coal exports through Washington. She will be looking for both advice on holding effective workshops on the islands, and assistance with the effort. 
• Evaluation Criteria for the Capacity Building Grant projects. The projects proposed in the Capacity Building Grant include the Good Steward Awards, a series of outreach events in May of this year, and upgrading our website and linking it to the myPugetSound website. We will briefly review the project components and then conduct a process to develop evaluation criteria, which must be in place prior to the awarding of the grant. 
• Practical considerations for the grant projects. One of the decisions is to select the coordinator for these efforts. We have about 80 hours of work in the grant for this. Ron Zee, of the Madrona Institute, has expressed interest in doing this work, but it could be done by another, or a combination of people. We will work toward this decision at the meeting. 

We also have some urgent staffing decisions to consider:

At the December meeting, I let it be known that I will be resigning from the ECONet Coordinator position at the end of January. I am currently discussing the contract with my County supervisors, since the Coordination contract is through the County.  Once the direction is clear, I am hoping the result of those conversations results in a next step that has the Network members  selecting a new Coordinator to finish out the contract from then until June 30. I will notify the Network when the direction is clear. In the meantime, though, please consider how we might move forward. Ron Zee, who was instrumental with rejuvenating the Network in early 2008, has indicated that he would be interested in filling out the contract, but the Network should allow others to express interest and complete a selection process, should the County decision permit that (as I think it will). 

So, plenty to consider. If you cannot attend the meeting and have thoughts on any of the meeting topics, please let me know!

The next e-mail will be a forward of a variety of interesting  information for EcoNet members

I look forward to seeing many of you next week,

Cheers,

Jeff 

Jeff Hanson

EcoNet Coordinator

Stewardship Network of the San Juans

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From: Karrie Cooper [mailto:karriedcooper@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 1:37 PM
To: Aileen Murphy; Amanda Azous; Andrea Wieland; Barbara Marrett; Barbara Rosenkotter; Brian Rader; Cindy Hansen; David Loyd; Debbie Ruggles; Doug McCutchen; Ed Hale; Erin Corra; Fiona Norris; Helen Venada; Jana Marks; Janna Nichols; Jeff Hanson; Jenny Atkinson; Jenny Roberts; Jerald Weaver; John Aschoff; Joseph Gaydos; Judy Cumming; Julie Knight; Kari Koski; Kathleen Foley; Katie Fleming; Kristen Cooley; Laura Arnold; Lincoln Bormann; Linda Lyshall; Liz Illg; Marilyn OConner; Mike Kaill; Noreen Ignelzi; Patos Light Keepers; Phil Green; Richard Lee; Robin Jacobsen; Ron Zee; Russel Barsh; Scott Williamson; Shann Weston; Shireene Hale; Shona Aitken; Soundwatch; Stephanie Buffum; Susan Key; Ted Schlund; Tina Whitman; Tom Cowan; Mindy Kayl
Subject: March 21 Agenda Stewardship Network - ECO Net

Dear Stewardship Network Members,

Our upcoming March 21st meeting we will be welcoming Tom Reeves to inform us on the proposed San Juan Islands National Conservation Area.  Attached you will find a draft letter of support to Salazar that we will discuss following his presentation. 

Also, please note the MOU from Ron Zee which details the cooperative relationship and operations between the Madrona Institute and the Stewardship Network. This item requires action in our upcoming meeting, so please review carefully. 

We will continue to begin our meetings with breif updates from everyone.  In order to make this time effective and efficient, please come prepared with a couple of priority items to share.  Also, if you are willing to write down and hand in your updates, I can easily add them into our meeting notes. 

Thanks for all you do!
--

Karrie

Karrie D. Cooper
Stewardship Network of the San Juan Islands

 - ECO Net Coordinator
karriedcooper@gmail.com
812-322-0453 work cell

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