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Posts published in “Day: January 12, 2007”

Into the fire

Ahuge chunk of Oregon, Idaho and Washington are forest service lands, so it matters to the region, even more than to most of the country, when a new National Forest Service chief is appointed. The more so, this time, because the new chief comes from this general area.

So for that matter did the current (since April 2001) chief, Dale Bosworth, who had led the forest Northern Region based in Missoula, which included the northern Idaho national forests. In the context of the times, Bosworth, who will depart on February 2, has done a professional job, following the orders of the Bush Administration (most specifically, apparently, those of undersecretary Mark Rey) and pleasing western conservatives while maintaining a number of areas of centrism. He wasn't regarded as an ideologue, but just that concern has arisen about his apparent successor, Gail Kimbell.

Gail Kimbell
Gail Kimbell

Like Bosworth, Kimbell (who would be the first woman to run the Forest Service) is a veteran forest professional, and she has substantial ties throughout the Northwest. She was a district ranger in Kettle Falls, Washington, from 1985-88, and a district ranger in LaGrande, Oregon, from 1988-91. She's now regional forester of the Northern Region at Missoula - Bosworth's old territory - and there supervises northern Idaho forests.

She's picked up some immediate support. Idaho Senator Larry Craig jumped on: "Like Dale, I expect Gail will listen to all interest groups and work with them to address issues on the ground, not get tied up in bureaucracy. I’ve worked with Gail as the Regional Forester for North Idaho, and I know firsthand that she is a natural leader. She understands Idaho’s forests. She’s firmly rooted in her principles, and knows how to foster collaboration to get work accomplished on the ground. She has definitely earned her stripes.”

But there are also other views.

(more…)

See what it gets you

Some of the obstacles to that dearly-sought "bipartisanship" are obvious: The desire for political advantage. But it goes deeper than that, and affects human behavior in unexpected ways.

Maureen Walsh
Maureen Walsh

Consider the Washington state House, where Democrats are in solid control (62-36) and Republicans have little leverage. Now, in state legislatures, majority parties usually clean up on all the committee spoils, including committee chairmanships and vice-chairs. (The Oregon Legislature has made a practice of passing out a bunch of vice-chairs to the minority, but that's unusual.)

For whatever reason - and we could speculate about that - the Washington House Democratic leadership decided to give a couple of upper committee spots to Republicans. Representative Maureen Walsh, R-College Place, was named vice chair of the House Committee on Early Learning & Children's Services. Representative Tom Campbell, R-Roy, scored even better, being named chair of the Select Committee on Environmental Health.

Make that one Republican in committee leadership: On Thursday, Walsh opted out. She said family considerations were a factor (but we're talking about a vice chair job here, not a major time cruncher). More significantly, she said in her release on the decision, was this: “I want continued harmony in my caucus and there were some members who were uncomfortable with the Democrats appointing me to a leadership position on the ELCS committee. . . . I did not fully understand that my appointment would be an issue with some members of my caucus. I consider myself a team player and if I knew that there were folks on my team that were uncomfortable with it, I would not have accepted it."

An Associated Press piece on this added: "When it boiled right down to it, the fact that I had some folks in my caucus who would view me a little different or not see me as a team player. ... I don't need that. I don't need that at all."

So how long will Campbell last as chair?