My, but there has been a flurry of changes in Washington. On the first day of the 115th Congress, the GOP met to cut the watchdog Ethics Committee, which was put in place to keep federal employees and elected officials honest in their relationship to corporate special interests and foreign lobbyists.
Something that struck me was that, hidden among the Republican House Rules package, was a little change that set the value of all public lands to zero. Yes, all public lands –from the Grand Canyon, to the Lincoln Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, Yellowstone, Mount Rainier, and our local and beloved Fort Vancouver –now are considered an asset of $0.
Should we ask our own Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, why the value of Fort Vancouver, which brings in around 1 million visitors annually, is now set at nothing? A place that brings, according to the Vancouver Business Journal in April 2016, an estimated $46.9 million into local economy?
Voting to end our insurance, devaluing our public lands and assets, and trying to rid Congress of its ethics watchdogs on a single day seems like heavy lifting. Should we give Rep. Herrera Beutler a hand for her great work in supporting Clark County’s best interests?
