Governor's Relationship with Ag Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Governor Jay Inslee says he believes he “gets farmers” better than most because of the time he spent living in Selah in a community of ag producers.
But, Pam Lewison, Initiative on Agriculture Director at the Washington Policy Center, says his views are not shared by a skeptical ag community …
LEWISON … “I think the pervasive sense in the ag community is that we have lawmakers and a Governor who don’t care about us, who don’t know us, and who have no interest in caring about us or knowing us.”
But, Lewison says his declaration in a recent Capital Press story bears consideration…
LEWISON … “You know, there’s a clip in there that the Governor would like to “crack a cold one” with anybody that’s willing. And I would urge the office to do so because there are certainly people who would do that as long as everybody’s coming to the table with an open mind.”
However, Lewison says it’s a two-way street …
LEWISON … “We, as an ag community, need to be open to having those discussions too. You know, I think certainly there’s some of us in the ag community who would say, “no way no how, I’m not sitting down with the Governor.” So, I think it goes both ways.”
So that means, Lewison says finding some common ground …
LEWISON … “I think there’s going to have to be some bridge building and some trust creation that goes along with that conversation. It can’t be a one-sided conversation.”
Lewison says farmers are optimistic, realists so you have to hope that there’s always a chance that things will get better.
