THE CASE FOR ROSS GALLAGHER

SHOULD CITIZENS GIVE ROSS ANOTHER CHANCE?

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Katherine Price Mason County Progressive

In reviewing the candidates who wish to replace Jerry Lingle on the Board of County Commissioners, I find myself in an awkward position politically - the position of recommending to my fellow air-breathers that we give Ross Gallagher a chance to make up for the huge mistake he made in not siding with the citizens in connection with the proposed ADAGE facility.

I did not vote for Ross in 2010, and I actively worked to have Brenda Hirschi elected to his seat. I could not support Ross because he failed to acknowledge the threat to the health of my community that an ADAGE would be, which threat Brenda grasped without any difficulty. I suspect that those folks who identify with the Democratic Party, liberals and/or progressives, who supported Laura Lewis and Brenda Hirschi, also felt that Ross missed the boat on what was to us was a clear and present danger.

Fast forward to 2012. Ross Gallagher has decided that he would like another chance to represent District 3 on the Board of County Commissioners. I am leaning towards recommending that my air-breathing friends give him that chance, after reviewing the field of candidates for this position and finding most of them wanting.

Curt Bennett is a biomass proponent, and his solution for our lack of jobs is to have us "partner" with the Chamber, the EDC, and local industry, in "marketing" Mason County. Don't we give the EDC a lot of money annually for just such a purpose? Yes, I am sure that we do. And what has that money brought to Mason County? A marriage between a French nuclear power company and Duke Energy - without question America's dirtiest energy company - and their love child ADAGE.

Terri Jeffreys is the darling of the Chamber Pot and the EDC, and denies being a Tim Sheldon protege. Was she the director of the Chamber when we citizens were not allowed to present to the Chamber our objection to ADAGE, while ADAGE representatvies were invited to present to the Chamber? Whether she was the director then or not, her loyalties clearly are not to us pesky citizens, but to business and industry.

Darrel Andrews sounded quite reasonable at the candidate forum last week on July 12th, but I have had people I respect privately tell me that he is not the solution we are looking for, and I, for one, am not appreciative of the fact that a lumber company and a race track are two of the main contributors to his campaign.

As a District 3 resident, I wish I had a Brenda Hischi, or a Jerry Lingle, or a Laura Lewis to vote for... but I don't. I have the above three, who I have personally ruled out as possibilities, and I have Ross Gallagher.

Ross Gallagher, in my opinion, betrayed his Democratic principles when he refused to align himself with the Concerned Citizens of Mason County (CCMC).

Ross should have taken a page from the Jack Miles book of representing constituents and "gone rogue", including scheduling meetings with his constituents and attending the CCMC meetings and, yes, standing with us on the street waving our SAVE OUR AIR signs. Frankly, this is what I expect from a candidate who runs as a Democrat. Tim and Lynda are exempt from such behavior because they are not Democrats by any definition of the word. Ross, on the other hand, has at least always been described as "a good Democrat". At least until ADAGE.

So, is this a rousing endorsement of Ross Gallagher as the candidate we should all get behind as the next Commissioner from District 3? No, it is not. Instead, it is a challenge. This is a challenge to Ross Gallagher to now take a stand on the health and safety of the citizens of Mason County.

If Ross Gallagher would like the citizens to give him a second chance to be a progressive County Commissioner for District 3, he had better let us know loudly and clearly before the ballots drop on Friday.

This gives him the opportunity to make a statement at the Wednesday, July 18th, candidate forum at the Oakland Bay Junior High School. Ross lost his credibility with the environmental, liberal and progressive element of Mason County when he did not separate himself from the Tim and Lynda position that "there is a process, let the process run it's course".

There may have been a process but as we air breathers learned, the process was nothing more than getting the citizens so busy chasing their tails that they would not realize that the departments we thought existed to serve and protect us, the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency and the Department of Ecology in particular, were permitting agencies for polluters. These agencies are the folks who decide how much harm the citizens can take. Once we figured this out, "there is a process" took on the proportions of the lie that it was.

There certainly is a process, but it is not citizen friendly, and it is, in fact, designed to support industry - not citizen health.

The citizens of Mason County are now being asked by Ross to give him another chance. Ross needs to take the opportunity on July 18th to convince the citizens that he deserves another chance.

The top two go forward. God help Mason County if our choices are between Terri Jeffreys and Curt Bennett!

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