Worthy of its own post: The Heat is off in Hockinson

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Rich Carson, the newly announced independent candidate in the 18th for Herrera's seat stopped by with this yesterday:

Good news. The BPA just announced that is abandoning the transmission line through Hockinson. This was acheived[sic] by citizen activists. Remember that it was the Republican elected officials who stood up up at the BPA meetings and told the folks they were powerless to deal with the feds. Well, that left it up to us and we succeeded.

(richcarson)

And he's right, as far as it goes.

Good news for Hockinson... bad news, most likely, for many other property owners elsewhere in the 18th District that he would seek to represent.

And what about them?

That said, there is a realistic limit to the power of anyone at the state or local level to take action beyond writing a letter that says "we don't want this here" when it comes to dealing with the Fed.

"Eminent domain," rightly or wrongly, is one of the enumerated powers in the Constitution. That people in government told Mr. Carson "they were powerless to deal with the feds" is, essentially, the truth. There was no step or steps local elected officials could have taken to stave off this effort in Hockinson, like there will be no steps they could take to stave them off anywhere else in the county. Would he have been happier if he'd been shined on, placated, or given, in the lexicon, a sincere non-response that confused motion with action?

This would rightly be a bone of contention if such a power existed at the local level, and the officials in question were choosing not to use it. But just for one example, the entire town of Bonneville was sunk when the Fed put in a dam. And there was nothing the town, the county commissioners or anyone at that level could do about it... even in court.

So, that these particular members of government happened to be one party or another has no place at this table. Nor does political opportunism or ignorance of the process.

The people HERE were victorious. And what that means is that the people somewhere else will be the victims.

Will you go fight their battles as well, Mr. Carson? Or, having achieved your goal here, does the NIMBY party representative intend to wiz on the fire and call in the dogs?

That we need additional capacity is undeniable. But unless I miss my guess, issues of costs and the impacts on others played little to no role in your actions here. And as a prospective state representative, I would venture to say that issues of cost and impacts on others should be your FIRST concern, because if they're not... if your actions were only driven by your enlightened self-interests, then you have no business being elected to anything.

I eagerly await your response to this, which I will certainly post up for all to see. You cannot simply go around and say "no" without a better plan to put into place. And by "better," I mean cheaper, more efficient and without negative impacts on anyone else.

Otherwise, your lack of faith in either party will be the least of your political problems.
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