FOIA Documents and McLerran Pt 2
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Documents received from the EPA, through a Public Disclosure request, seem to indicate the agency was fully aware the What's Upstream campaign was using taxpayer money to fund their anti-farming lobbying efforts.Save Family Farming Director Gerald Baron says former EPA Region 10 director Dennis McLerran was in charge when this questionable practice came to light ...
GERALD BARON ... "We do not believe he's an objective voice and we also don't believe he's an honest voice. And, we will show the great discrepancy there is between his statements about this and the reality of the What's Upstream situation and his role in it. So, that's something we're very disturbed about and we're concerned about the direction the Puget Sound Partnership is taking, and the loss of confidence that farmers have in the Puget Sound Partnership as a result of this unfortunate appointment and some directions that we see coming from there.
And, Baron says after McLerran's appointment to the Leadership Council, Governor Inslee bares a share of the responsibility ...
GERALD BARON ... "To put someone in that position on this state agency with this kind of track-record has, as farmers have said, this is a slap in the face of the whole farming community. And, it's not something that we're going to sit by and quietly accept. We will use all available means to make people understand that what Mr. McLerran has done to the farming community and what it looks like he is intent on continuing to do from his new position with the Puget Sound Partnership is something that we simply will not accept."
Baron says Save Family Farming is still reviewing all the information contained in the documents and will decide how to move forward very soon.