Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
Despite the massive public outcry for some immediate action to fix the disaster that is gutting sport fishing in this state, Commission Chair, Larry Carpenter is once again trying to pull the wool over your eye’s. During the last Fish Committee meeting, he teamed up, once again with Ron Warren to continue the illusion that they are doing everything they can to fix the broken co-management process we know as North of Falcon (NOF).
In order to put this all into perspective, let’s recap where we started and where we are:
Back in 2016, we had "Coho gate". The tribes refused to give an inch in the NOF. Unsworth was brand new, and (good for him) stood up and refused to give in. There was no LOAF signed and everyone turned to NOAA. Unsworth and Lorraine Loomis received a letter from Bob Turner, Assistant Regional Admin, NOAA, outlining the section 7 process, and how, without Tribal agreement, the state could not receive the same expedited process since the Tribes have the Bureau of Indian Affaires which is a federal agency that passes the tribal requests to NOAA. It was clear, the policy gave the tribes a huge advantage over the state, as they could get their fishing approved and going, while non-tribal fishermen sat on the bank not being able to fish at all!
The complexity of the fisheries and the pitfalls of not having an agreement signified by the LOAF are clearly spelled out in that letter. So, it is incomprehensible that the Commission and leadership of the Department were not made aware of the issue and have done nothing for the last 5 years to fix it!
Unsworth was prepared to hold his ground, until certain members of the Commercial and Recreational community realized that a fight over this could potentially end all salmon fishing for non-tribal citizens. Under a great deal of pressure from those groups, Unsworth relented and gave in to the Tribal demands. THIS SET THE PRECEDENCE!
Each succeeding NOF has seen an increase in the tribes unwillingness to negotiate, and the use of the leverage they see provided them under the current NOAA policy and directives.
Unsworth, still feeling burnt by Coho gate, and the publics lack of support in his willingness to fight, entered into the (first) Puget Sound Ten Year Chinook Harvest Management plan (RMP), giving Ron Warren and Mike Grossmann immense leeway and authority. This was the rendition of the RMP that was crafted and signed by Unsworth without the Commission even knowing anything about it. The RMP was heavily influenced in favor of the tribes, and if approved, would have cut they guts out of Recreational fishing. Fortunately, it wasn't approved, and Unsworth was asked to resign over his part in it.
It is interesting to note, Ron Warren went unscathed for his part..but more on that later.
The new edition of the RMP is currently being negotiated and is being held as the fix for the annual NOF process. But it’s being negotiated with the same tribal leverage and all the advantages place. The tribes have no incentive to compromise, since the fall back is to go through yet another annual NOF where they hold all the cards!
When the "Secret RMP" scandal was exposed, Larry Carpenter was due to have his seat on the Commission expire, and though he was going to be re-appointed, he was fearful that if he did not get senate confirmation quickly, any move he made to challenge Unsworth could result in the Governor pulling him off the Commission. So, Larry asked us to put all our efforts into getting his confirmation pushed through. He told us " I'm working on some big changes to NOF, and I need to be protected. I can't go into details right now, but big changes are coming soon." This was FOUR YEARS AGO.
OF COURSE, WE TRUSTED HIM, and put every effort to his confirmation, which went through.
Five years ago, we started our campaign to remove the leverage that allows the tribes to walk out of negotiations, leaving the non-tribal citizens with nothing. We've spent thousands of hours in conversations with the Commissioners, and Department leadership. Hundreds of letters and emails. We even had a face to face meeting with all of them, Larry, Unsworth, Warren, Grossmann, clearly outlining the issues and pleading for them to intervene.
Originally, we thought having the Tribal/WDFW negotiations made public (live video broadcast) would, perhaps, reduce the bad behavior. The Commission absolutely refused to take up that fight. We even petitioned them to change the NOF delegation "policy" to a rule, and put language in it to make the negotiations public. Every single Commissioner voted that down without even any public input allowed.
So, here we are today.
Larry Carpenter is now the Chairmen of the Commission. Ron Warren is in a new position with even greater influence in the North of Falcon and Susewind is in the role of Puppet spokesperson for Ron Warren.
Larry has been involved in the dirty underbelly of NOF of a very long time. In fact, he was one of the three people that Phil Anderson asked to be "observers" back in 2010. Larry was asked because he has a long standing relationship with Lorraine Loomis. Anderson knew that holding "secret negotiations" might not pass the Open Public Meetings Bar, so he asked Lorraine to allow "observers" in. The stipulations were, the observers were not allowed in the Harvest discussions, only the planning meetings, and they had to sign non-discloser agreements. THEY COULD NOT TALK ABOUT ANYTHING THAT TOOK PLACE, even though the only thing they were allowed to "observe" was fram timing meetings anyway.
From what we understand, Lorraine trusted Larry, so she asked him to sit in on a meeting between the state and a couple of northern tribes. Which he did. What we can gather, LARRY came out of the meeting and made some public statements about what took place, and essentially burned Lorraine's credibility with the other tribes. The "observer" program was cancelled.
From that moment on, there has been no public oversight in the negotiations.
Now, back to Ron Warren.
Ron is a lifelong employee of WDFW..Coming up through the ranks. He has been intimately involved in the North of Falcon for years. He is in fact, the lead negotiator, so he is very familiar with how the tribes are using leverage. It goes without saying then, that something smells really bad here.
Every year, the results of NOF are getting worse. Every year, we hear Warren say, "Any deal is better than no deal" and yet, Warren is NEVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE for the poor performance! Warren has made himself indispensable. Susewind practically gives him public kisses! Hell, he's even given him more influence and authority over the decisions. I dare say now, that HE IS RUNNING WDFW!
So, to hear Carpenter ask Warren about getting a state stand alone permit during the last Fish Committee Meeting would be amusing if it were not so pathetic! Carpenter and Warren are about as dirty as they come when talking about scheming and skullduggery. Both are so deep in the muck that asking them to "Fix" the broken co-management process is like asking a thief to house sit for you. They roll in the chit of tribal and state confrontations.
No, Larry, you're not fooling us this time. We are not falling for the "I'm working on something big” line any more. YOU PROVED YOU'RE NOT TRUSTWORTHY. You're not working on anything except your own self interests, just like the rest of the cronies in leadership at WDFW.
Maybe it will be a good thing when the tribes ultimately take control of all the fisheries. At least then we know without a doubt where we stand.