Flathead Commissioners should be recalled
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Editor,
I share Tim Orr’s regret that some irrigation project employees may lose their jobs because the BIA has resumed management control over the project (Valley Journal, April 2). But he is wrong when he blames the four Mission and Jocko commissioners who are subject to a recall vote. They and the Tribes signed a draft agreement to continue the Cooperative Management Entity but the Flathead Irrigation District refused.
By the way, some former CME employees may have trouble being reemployed by the BIA because they took early Federal retirement when the CME was established.
He also is wrong when he absolves the Western Montana Water Users Association of any responsibility. For over a year it has been very clear from legal documents and public statements that the WMWUA wanted to eliminate the CME. For example, I remember Jerry Laskody, the spokesman for the WMWUA, verbally attacking not only the Compact Agreement but also the CME at a Concerned Citizens meeting in Ronan in early 2013.
Recall advocate Sheila Vallejo submitted a letter to the Valley Journal (March 26) that also was wrong when she claimed that the Lake County Attorney had investigated the recall petitions and “found that these illegal violations had occurred.” I’m relieved to see that Mark Russell has publicly denied that he made such a finding.
Sheila’s statement that the “recalls have no connection to the Compact or Water Use Agreement” is incredible. The Mission and Jocko commissioners decided to take their districts out of the FJBC when they saw that the new FJBC majority was intent on delivering the WMWUA agenda. Fortunately the Compact remains alive but the FID commissioners eliminated the CME.
Since the collapse of the FJBC, the FID has failed to hold a regular board meeting. Special meetings to discuss the CME were called but with a very short notice and without email contact, as had been the practice in the past.
Most of the Flathead commissioners should be recalled, not the Jocko and Mission commissioners.
Dick Erb
Moiese
