This is from the latest newsletter by the Recreational Fishing Alliance:

WASHINGTON GUBERNATIONAL CANDIDATE, CHRISTINE GREGOIRE'S STATEMENT ON RECREATIONAL FISHING
"Protecting our state's fish and wildlife is good economics- and it's the right thing to do", said Ms. Gregoire.

Hunters, fishers, and those who simply enjoy watchig our state's fish and wildlife contribute over a billion dollars to Washington's economy each year. Tourists from across the country come to Washington and take part in these activities.

"As Governor, I will not only protect and enhance our fish and wildlife treasures, I will also seek to increase the economic benefit to the communities and businesses who depend on fish and wildife."

"One of the greatest opportunities for achieving this goal is recreational salmon fishing. The economic value to those communities that are invovled with recreational salmon fishing is obvious. The direct economic benefit to hotels, motels, restaurants, the boating industry and the businesses that sell fishing equipment and supplies runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars."

"There is no reason why people who want to catch a salmon need to go to Canada or Alaska. As Governor, I will lead an effort to promote and expand recreational salmon fishing in the state of Washington."

Those are certainly the right words, expressing the right thoughts. I think either candidate will be facing some serious economic constraints and lack of federal cooperation that will make the goal tough to achieve.

How about a show on OLN dedicated to fishing in washington? I would think that would draw in some dollars.

"A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT I SAY!!!!!"

She has the "tell em what they wanna hear" instruction down pat. I wonder if she has any idea what it will take to follow through?

In my mind Gregoire's job has been to crush any entity or individual who would cost the State money, with no regard as to whether or not the State was wrong. (Sounds like a government defender to me.) The twist is that the "public interest" and the "State" are used synonymously. Hmmmmm

They always tell you what you want to hear and then seem to forget about you after they are in office. Dave I know you are a hard-core Democrat there is no doubt about it. And being in a Labor union, Democracy is all I hear every day all day long.
But I vote for who I want to vote for. Don't take this personally I think you are a great Outdoor writer and I do have respect for that But (uh oh here it comes) Politics and fishing go together like water and oil they don.t mix well.
Why is it that (it seems to me anyway) that every gay and Lesbian group are Democrats? Why do the Democrats want to take away and or redefine our right to keep and bear arms?
Why is it that Our job losses today are blamed on good old George W. When it was Clinton Who brought in nafta you know the North American free trade agreement Where every call center in the good old U. S. of A. is now in B** F*** Egypt where if you call an MSN or any other help line you get someone named Habib who can't speak English and who makes a whopping 16 cents an hour?.
Why is it that our President who is doing everything in his power to make sure that 911 never happens again on U.S. soil is getting so much s*** for the soldiers who died protecting our country?
I tend to read between the lines and make my own decisions as we all should. I am not happy 100% with any political party but I try to at least make my own decisions and not let anyone make them for me.
Grandpa and Dave I am now off my soap box Which should be reserved for politicians.
Ramprat

RR: Yes I am unabashedly a democrat. But in this race I am still undecided. As Grandpa suggested we need to vote will full information. We had a chance to see Rossi at a fish forum and we will soon have the same chance with Gregoire. (Ya know I'm tempted to vote against her just cuz I have such a hard time spelling her name!)

Unfortunately fishing and politics MUST mix. That's why both Grandpa and I agree that the RFA is vital. If we don't get some political clout the sport fishermen will continue to lose opportunities.

gregoir?
rossi?
kerry?
bush?
democrat?
republican?
republicrat?
same stank
different odor

if you really want a change?
vote for somebody else

I watched a debate between Rossi and Gregoire on the gooberment channel. Didn't really have a predetermined favorite in this contest, but was very impressed with Gregoire's answers and her poise in this format. Either candidate might say they're the sportsmen's friend, but which one is going to replace the current Director of Fisheries with a sports-friendly director? Rossi's answers were too right wing Republican for my taste. I don't blindly subscribe to the notion that whatever is good for business is good for my family, or the citizens of Washington. He wrote the budget that neutered two voter passed initiatives. He was evasive when asked if he would advocate for increased stem cell research, and the establishment of a stem cell research institute in this state.

Recent independent polls showed Gregoire to have an 11% lead over Rossi. I think I'll join the crowd and cast my vote for her. It would be good for Washington state to have a Democratic governor to work with President Kerry .

Dave is right again (argh)...We don't see eye to eye on politics usually but we see the nonpartisan RFA as a viable organization that can bring the politicians to the table for sports fishing causes. We have already done so. We also have raised some money to help out the new Washington Sport Fishing PAC so that entity can keep our causes in the politician's face...I attended the Rossi forum and met the man in person. I hope to do the same at the Gregoire forum.

I do believe that the business climate here in Washington is important to the budgets of our agencies including WDFW so , in my opinion, being for fishing issues for sports fishing is not enough. The politicians atleast now know that we sports fishers are a force to be reckoned with and that is very good news.

GP: Two questions:

If Gregoire were a republican would her platform be one you could get behind?

How will improving the business climate in Washington improve our fishing?

This is an interesting race; while I'm inclined to vote for Rossi because he hasn't been part of the executive/administrative branch and is willing to fire the directors of all state agencies, on the other hand, I think Gregoire would make a fairly good governor as well. The only two things against her is that she IS and has been part of the Locke team and her department screwed up by not appealing a case and cost the state something like $17 million.

Like Aunty, I'm thrilled to see both gubernatorial candidates address and court the recreational fishermen in this state. However, neither has mentioned the one big stumbling block in rectifying some of the imbalance between commercial and recreational fisheries: there is a legislative mandate that says the department must divide the allowable catch between commercial and recreational fishermen. Without that mandate being changed, all the campaign rhetoric is pretty weak.

Somewhere I read that Gregoire was skirting (no pun intended) around that issue by taking into account the economic realities of fishing. If she does that and makes that part of her program, then she's got my vote.

Keith

KJ: This sounds like what you are looking for. To me there is no question that Christine says the best stuff. Now the question is how the heck can we trust a politician to do what they say? I have no answer for that.

I do intend to attend her forum on sport fishing issue. I will try to get her to answer the same tough questions that I posed to Rossi. He did not answer my questions and I do not expect much better from Chris. They are both master politicians and can skirt - pun intended-questions with ease.

I do fond it amusing that Rossi, a career politician says he wants to get rid of the establishment that he has been part of for a decade.

This is a Gregoire quote from the RFA newsletter:


"One of the greatest opportunities for achieving this goal is recreational salmon fishing. The economic value to those communities that are involved with recreational salmon fishing is obvious. The direct economic benefit to hotels, motels, restaurants, the boating industry and the businesses that sells fishing equipment and supplies runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars."