WN & Todd,
I'm with you on this 'forgone opportunity tragedy of the commons' phenomenon.....so my next (perhaps logical?) series of questions to follow would be;

Why would other district's reps (this senator's peers) support him?

Is it simply a 'you scratch my back on this one' reciprocity thing?
Are they not aware of the prospective (REI) losses that they incur from potential decisions like this in their districts (from sources you cited; recreationally purchased gas, bait, lodging, food, and tackle both down the I-5 corridor & in neighboring districts)?

Additionally; The reference to 'gas, bait, lodging, food, and tackle' got me wondering if the sportsfishing community writ large could (with or without CCA-type broad-level advocacy) find ways to exert more voice through those (I would think)somewhat weighty interest groups who's opportunity cost is lost (perhaps without them knowing it.) e.g. What has & will the further decline & loss of sports $'s mean for the lodging, fuel, boat, food, & tackle stores? & how much more revenue could it create were more opportunities made available?

Just picking one of those; tackle stores - I would think that between Cabelas, sportsmans warehouse, sportco, etc, etc there could be some significant leverage exerted. I'm not a wal-mart fan & I know they don't have much of rec.fishing presence, but I know they've got clout, & aren't they in support of recreation angling as a rule?

Are these groups even aware of the (current & potential future) economic opportunities lost.

Perhaps it’s farfetched, but one would think that letters from some big boxes, fuel distributors, hotel chains, etc, (assuming they could be solicited) may carry a little more weight in Oly than most of us combined.

Awfully frustrating.....The fact that ANY non-tribal (non-selective/discriminatory) commercial fishery still remains in our state seems criminal at this point. It's 2008!

(feel free to critique me on this....as I could be way off here.....am not nearly as informed as many of you, besides, it's late & I haven't had any pints or coffee.)

Thanks for your efforts!