Urban Vs Rural in Olympia Pt 3

Urban Vs Rural in Olympia Pt 3

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I’m Bob Larson. Rural Washington would love to see some love, any love for that matter, from legislators in Olympia.

Washington Farm Bureau Government Relations Director, Tom Davis says the urban mentality is getting far more representation …

DAVIS … “So, I sat on the Governor’s Orca Recovery Task Force and a year ago, a year and a half ago, they were in this group and I was vastly outnumbered. I was the only ag representative of the 49 people sitting around the table, and they were calling for the removal of the lower Snake River dams.”

That seemed, Davis says, a bit short-sighted …

DAVIS … “Finally, I said, look we would agree to that IF all along Puget Sound you put in 150 foot buffers, setbacks, all the way around the Sound, including downtown Seattle, you restore all of that to prime fish habitat, then we’ll have a conversation about removing the dams. And, one of the environmentalists looked at me and said, well that’s ridiculous! And I said, exactly! You don’t want that put on you, but you don’t mind taking out the four dams. So, we need to have a grownup conversation here and, so far, it’s just been kind of one-sided.”

That, Davis says means it’s time we all wake up and communicate more than ever with our legislators …

DAVIS … “I mean really bombarding offices with emails and phone messages so that these urban legislators realize that there is a large group of people out there that aren’t happy with what’s going on.”

Davis says he understands we’re all busy, but RIGHT NOW while the legislators are in session is the time to speak up.

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