Letter to the Editor: Commissioner 'buys in' to consensus group

The Monitor

To the Editor:

My goodness! County Commissioner, Martha Ireland, writes in the Monitor that she and her old supporters really have the same goals. Only, political reality and poor communication have given some people a false impression. Her long hours in behalf of the citizenry has caused laxness in mingling with the folks. She encourages constituents to fax, e-mail, or write their opinions and suggestions.

Last time Commissioner Ireland asked for the benefit of my opinion, she received several pages. The effort, evidently, was not worthy of response. Policies remain unaltered. My time would have been better spent going fishing.

Of concern are federal reports calling for a "new" form of governance. For example, the Western Water Review Advisory Commission report says "We propose reorganization of the function and approach of the Federal resource agencies into a nested governance structure...design a new approach to governance based on hydrological systems linking basins and watersheds...a river basin commission comprised of leaders of Federal, Tribal, State and local..."

Sound familiar? The President’s Council on Sustainable Development harbors similar ideas. Unfortunately, the Constitution and body of law to which Americans have agreed is ignored.

Troubling is the thought that the watershed committees currently being established by the legislature will become the structure whose authorities are to be increased until the "new governance" has been created. Representative republican government is diminished or extinguished.

The Dungeness River Management Team (DRMT) is a prototype model of this new governance. These "stakeholder councils" will be the mechanism by which authority and control is wrested from local elected officials and placed in the hands of unelected management councils.

Martha Ireland presented herself as a rabid constitutionalist to get elected. She even had a piece of the pledge of allegiance on her campaign signs. Now she’s chairman of the DRMT, and tinkering to make the consensus process work. Reform means changing a few faces and leaving the process in tact. She’s even agreed to bring a facilitator on board while disagreeing with a fellow Commissioner’s suggestion at a recent workshop to disband the DRMT.

Perhaps Commissioner Ireland would share a few words in her new column on how this watershed process fits into her vision of government. Why the "new governance" described in federal government documents? Where’s our champion of the Constitution?