by Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett, posted to KBC 5/23/14

Last week, I attended a joint meeting, between the Klamath County Commissioners and the Siskiyou County Supervisors. The meeting was held in Dorris, California

The conversations were directly on point, throughout the three-hour meeting. The discussions were also very educational for those of us who were there just to listen.

I found it truly enjoyable to watch political leaders take informed, and principled positions, on some very difficult issues. Politically correct speech is simply not a part of the vocabulary of these eight county leaders.

Their discussions were direct, frank, and from their leadership-perspective, descriptive of what is really happening in our counties. It was apparent that no one tells these eight leaders how to think, what to say, or what conclusions to reach.

It was obvious that the Commissioners and Supervisors have studied the issues in depth. The quality of their conversations made clear that they are well read, well informed, and both qualified and ready to make their own informed-decisions.

Their discussions in Dorris were focused on the three government- brokered water-use agreements that have so divided our communities. Each elected-leader demonstrated impressive knowledge regarding each of those three agreements. They have obviously studied the documents and understand “what they do” and “what they do not do”, for the citizens of their counties.

They are particularly well educated, and vocal, regarding the lack of empirical, reproducible science that government agencies have used to justify the need for all three of these documents.

All eight elected leaders demonstrated their clear understanding that our federal and state governments are not working to save the agricultural-community. The government efforts have been, and continue to be, focused on the destruction of Klamath Basin agriculture. Their “tools of choice” are “any excuse” to reallocate irrigation water to in-stream flows.

The planned results are repeated man-made water shortages. They have enlisted the aid of a broad spectrum, of Marxist and preservationist organizations, to help them achieve their goals.

The eight Commissioners and Supervisors have most certainly not forgotten that they were elected, by the overwhelming majority of voters, who strongly oppose the destruction of the four Klamath River Hydroelectric Dams. They made clear throughout the meeting that they continue to represent those taxpayers.

In my opinion, our counties could not have elected eight more informed and principled leaders.

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