Gordon Smith is a bad bad man, Furthermore he is a disapointment to us all. i personal love how it is always those who so loudly spout the purity of thier integreity that sell it out as soon as it becomes in convient to thier success. This Salmon business tells a powerful story about Old Gordo and who he is a person. It is not a story about what he is willing to do for the good of Oregon or america but a story about what he is willing to do for the good of himself and the Republican elite. Like most if not all elected republicans Gordo sold out the citizens of this state and country for his own benifit and the benifit of his elected republican bortherhood. he doesn't represent this state, our citizens, or this country, he simply represents himself and srews the rest of us. Maybe that is why he opposes oregons minimum wage while driving around in a Ferrari. what do you all think???

Didn't Loaded Orygun already get this story.

I'm excited the National Blogs are picking this up, but Carla and Torrid should be getting serious credit for breaking this story first.

I posted this - hat trick to Loaded O - just looked like a further nuance/information from the original story felt people might like to know it made it to Daily Kos.

Willamette Week did their "Rogue of the Week" column on this.

This is an excerpt from an article I copied. Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of the source. The Oregonian had a series on the Klamath Basin Crisis about the same time, so I may have gotten it there.

Senator loses bid to release water for parched farms

Friday, July 13, 2001

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Thursday narrowly turned back an effort by Sen. Gordon Smith to force water releases for farmers in the drought-stricken Klamath Basin by overriding federal biological opinions.

California Democrat Barbara Boxer charged that Smith's plan could lead to the extinction of two species of sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake that are protected under the Endangered Species Act and significant to basin tribes.

The 52-48 vote came when Boxer successfully moved to table a Smith amendment to an $18.6 billion Interior Department spending bill for 2002.

...

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., voted against Boxer's motion but said he's hopeful the hearing could lead to a bipartisan solution for the basin. Wyden also sits on Jeffords' committee.

Smith's maneuver is his second recent bid to draw national attention to the Klamath Basin drought and win help for farmers. Two weeks ago, he threatened to filibuster another appropriations bill unless $20 million was added for drought relief.

The tactic worked. Final action on that bill is pending.

This is an excerpt from another article on the Klamath Basin Crisis. I believe this was from an editorial in The Oregonian:

A way out for the Klamath Basin

Gov. Kitzhaber proposes a compromise that could save farms, fish and face in southern Oregon water fight

Thursday, July 19, 2001

The water crisis in the Klamath Basin has led to so much overheated rhetoric that Gov. John Kitzhaber's proposal to unravel the mess is a welcome relief.

He suggested a settlement Wednesday that none of the parties to the fight over Klamath water will like completely, but that all should consider carefully.

...

The governor's approach strikes us as more useful than the all-or-nothing stance taken by some of the participants in the dispute. And it is more practical than Sen. Gordon Smith's non-starting effort in Congress to change the rules of the Endangered Species Act.

Interesting that the ESA was used by the enviro side as a club to undue previous federal commitments to irrigate farmland going back over 60 years. The Act was used to save a bunch of sucker fish.

This is not an indengenious species and is considered a trash fish. Interesting when those same tactics got turned around by Cheney and used against the enviros.

Actually Gov K had a great idea. It would have allowed all sides some water while a lasting bipartisan approach was worked on. Neither side would budge and now the farmers, the fish and the region all suffer.

Howdy Torrid. I just posted about this on my shiny brand new blog, which I've called Oregon Country. It's a long post, but I think you may find some of the links useful. Also, please feel free to correct my assessment of the partisan nature of this new found interest in water politics.

Anyhow, I took a long hard look at the 2002 NRC interim report last week. I was particularly interested in this report because I know and respect one of the members of the committee. As you know, this report gave Cheney et al. scientific cover to divert water from fish to farms in 2002. Here's what the Willy Week says about the NRC interim report:

As reported in the Post, Cheney reached far down the chain of command at the Interior Department to twist the arms of low-ranking bureaucrats, who in turn prodded the National Academy of Sciences to reverse course. And, voilà, a month later, the academy issued a new report finding "no substantial scientific foundation" for cutting off water to the farms.

I think WW's implications are not only wrong, but unfair to the people on the NRC committee. I think the main problem was a lack of time. As far as I can tell, the committee really only worked on the issue for a couple of months. They backed up almost all the FWS/NMFS BiOp's findings with one major exception: water levels in Upper Klamath Lake. Here they found "no sound scientific basis" for the FWS/NMFS recommendation. Notably, this most certainly does NOT mean that they therefore found scientific justification to give that water to the farmers instead. All it means is that, using the very conservative standards of academic science, they could not find a statistically significant relationship between water levels and fish survival. Oregon State University fisheries biologists Michael Cooperman and Douglas Markle addressed this finding in their article in Fisheries (unfortunately I only have access to this draft version, but based on Lewis's reply, I wouldn't be surprised if the published version was a bit more critical).

Anyhow, this is a super complex story, but also very important. I do actually appreciate that you and Blue Oregon are covering it, though I'm sure I come off as a right-wing anti-progressive (I prefer 'independent,' but whatever floats your boat).

Wrong Smith, though.

But they had the correct Cheney - the ole' straight shooter himself.

I think I have thought of a really good way to drive home the point of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and Gordon Smith’s complicity in the devastating salmon kill that occurred on the Klamath River in Oregon. If you want to grab the media’s attention and project a long lasting (there is a possibility of iconistict potential) impression on the general populace I believe I have the answer.

My vision is of 5 to 10 people dressed up in salmon costumes staging die- ins at any local events that the any of the three stooges have the termetity to attend.  Other appropriate venues could be Gordon Smiths Office local or DC, Karl’s office, or the vice president residence.  The possibilities are endless and this is just the kind of imagery that would probably capturing the attention of the mainstream media because the spectacle footage would be compelling to watch and only a short segement would be all that’s needed to drive the point home.  I’d like to make the three stooges name synomonus to dead salmon

. OK that’s my idea! My resources are limited but if I can raise the support needed to help me carry out here is what I’ll bring to the table.

• I will dedicate all four weeks of my vacation between now and Nov ‘08’ • I will dedicate 34 weekends to being Scott Salmon between now and Nov “08” • I will do my best to promote this strategy ie; press releases talk show appearances, standing on the street corner w/signs, appearing at whatever event that will have me. • Lastly I pledge to make no money off this idea with one exception, I would keep a diary of events and maybe write a book at the end of this of the adventures of Scott the Salmon.

Here is the afore mentioned support that I need to pull this off.

1. I need help to fabricate the actual salmon costumes or if somebody knows of a place to buy such a costume please email me the specfics.
2. Any appearances that are a 100 miles or more from I will need help with travel & lodging expenses, ie; will ride in back of a pickup truck, sleep on the floor of somebody’s house and subsist on bologna sandwiches if that’s what it takes.
3. I need a few spawning partners to complete the spectacle, ( I’m a BBMS who likes long walks just off the beach and sitting at home watching the National Geographic Channel on rainy days).

4. A lawyer and help with legal defense costs such as fines and travel expenses to distant jurisdictions. There is a good chance I’ll be arrested a few times for civil disobedience of the non-violent sort.

   Well that is the short of it, I just had this epiphany today at work (7/6/07). I’ll be fleshing out the details over the coming days commensurate with the support I will receive. I love this idea and believe totally that it’s a worthy effort. Any ideas, corroboration, inspiration and/or perspiration please email me at [email protected] Thank you for your time and consideration.

Scott the Salmon

P.S. I’m really not spawning around here.

Cheney directed that science reports be falsified, to change the water policy, to get the votes. That is wrong. Period.

Bush and Cheney couldn't afford to anger thousands of solidly Republican farmers and ranchers during the midterm elections and beyond. ... When the lead biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service team critiqued the science academy's report in a draft opinion objecting to the plan, the critique was edited out by superiors and his objections were overruled, he said. The biologist, Michael Kelly, who has since quit the federal agency, said in a whistle-blower claim that it was clear to him that "someone at a higher level" had ordered his agency to endorse the proposal regardless of the consequences to the fish. Months later, the first of an estimated 77,000 dead salmon began washing up on the banks of the warm, slow-moving river. Not only were threatened coho dying -- so were chinook salmon, the staple of commercial fishing in Oregon and Northern California. State and federal biologists soon concluded that the diversion of water to farms was at least partly responsible.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/chapters/leaving_no_tracks/

Kari,

What do you make of the fact that Smith's staffers told you he wasn't going to make public appearance until August, and then he had this town hall in Brookings last week?

Here's how whistelblower Mike Kelly describes Rove's PowerPoint presentation to 50 Dept. of Interior Managers:

Apparently, Rove’s PowerPoint presentation included polling data related to Oregon Senator Gordon Smith’s re-election bid. And Rove reminded the Interior officials of the President’s desire to support Smith’s political base by supporting farmers in Oregon’s Klamath River basin. Rove indicated that the President wanted the Klamath Project ESA consultation to have a specific result – give the water to the farmers.

Of course it included polling data. What in the heck do Rove or Cheney know about salmon or water rights? Nothing. So what in the heck are they doing setting water policy that affects salmon?

link

For those continuing to research this matter, great analysis here:

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/klamath.html

link

<h2>Does Gordon really drive a Ferrari? In Oregon? I saw someone driving a flossy new ferrari on Agate street through the UO campus about a month ago, and he looked so out-of-context that I almost drove into a tree because I was staring so hard.</h2>