We have been requested to a meeting in Olympia with representatives from WDFW, the Attorney Generals Office and the Commission. We will, of course, post an update for all of you with the results of this meeting at it’s conclusion. As we prepare for our meeting with the WDFW Staff and more importantly the Chairman of the WDFW Commission, it is important to remember WHO IS REALLY RESPONSIBLE to represent the citizens and insure we are treated fairly. Here is an excerpt from the WDFW Commissions own web site! "Fish and Wildlife Commission The Commission receives its authority from the passage of Referendum 45 by the 1995 Legislature and public at the 1995 general election. The Commission is the supervising authority for the Department. With the 1994 merger of the former Departments of Fisheries and Wildlife, the Commission has comprehensive species authority as well. Through formal public meetings and informal hearings held around the state, the Commission provides an opportunity for citizens to actively participate in management of Washington's fish and wildlife." The COMMISSION IS RESPONSIBLE for what takes place in the Secret Meetings, and ultimately, it appears, are violating the Open Public Meetings Law by allowing the Department (Which it supervises) to prohibit the public from any form of open government! The Commission delegates it's authority to hold these meetings to the Department. It does not relinquish any responsibility tho. It is still the "responsible party" and therefore continues to be responsible for adhering to the Open Public Meetings Law, and to the Citizens, to whom they represent! WHY THEN, is the Commission letting the Department get away with locking the citizens out of these meetings? That is a very good question. One in which their only answer is to blame the Tribes. As if the Tribes are the Supervisors of the Department! Really??? There is something fundamentally wrong here, plain as day! There must be something going on in these meetings that the Department DOES NOT WANT the citizens to know! We think it goes WAY BEYOND simply disrespecting a bunch of sport fishermen, Citizens, Stakeholders. The only way we will find out is to get into these meetings. The Commission NEEDS to STEP UP and do the right thing. They need to tell the Department that these meetings WILL include at a minimum a live video broadcast, un-edited so the citizens are once again fully represented! The Tribes can opt out if they so choose, but what kind of message will that send? How can they justify prohibiting a neutral video feed? It is our hope that the Commission Chairman will announce the inclusion of at least a live video feed in all Department meetings.