Gordon Smith Should Apologize

What a difference 70,000 dead salmon make.

And a congressional investigation.

In 2002, U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) campaigned on his ability to coordinate with the White House to divert Klamath River water to farmers - a move that killed more than 70,000 salmon, countless fishing businesses and local economies and earned him an election victory.

Now, with the House Natural Resources Committee hearings looming on “the alarming role Vice President Dick Cheney may have played in Klamath River Basin decisions,” Smith is silent on the issue.
(Chairman Nick J. Rahall II Press Release, 6-28-07)

That’s why DPO Chair Meredith Wood Smith has called on Smith to use the hearings to apologize for coordinating with the White House in the largest adult salmon kill in the history of the West.

“As the committee meets tomorrow to investigate Vice President Dick Cheney’s move to open the Klamath River irrigation system to earn Gordon Smith votes, Smith can finally apologize to Oregonians for abusing an environmental and commercial resource for political gain,” Wood Smith said. “In 2002, Gordon Smith couldn’t stop boasting about turning on the water. Now that 70,000 salmon are dead, countless fishermen have lost their livelihood and the U.S. House is looking into his actions, he’s suddenly media shy. Gordon Smith should take responsibility for his actions. If Gordon Smith can open an irrigation system to release thousands of gallons of water, surely he can open his mouth and apologize to Oregonians.”

SMITH BOASTED IN TV ADS AND TO REPORTERS HOW HE COORDINATED WITH THE WHITE HOUSE TO TURN ON WATER

During his 2002 campaign, Smith boasted about his ability to convince the White House to turn on the water.

This is Smith's old campaign ad on restoring the water:

Smith also frequently touted his ability to get the White House to intervene to the Herald and News newspaper in Klamath Falls.

“Sen. Gordon Smith has asked President Bush to step into the debate over what should be done with Klamath Basin water. In a letter to Bush Thursday, Smith outlined the situation which pits the needs of irrigators against the needs of endangered species.

‘I have been working for several months to try to head off the crisis that the farmers I represent are currently facing,’ Smith wrote. He requested Bush to make emergency funds available for farmers this summer.

‘I respectfully request that your domestic policy team become involved in this issue today,’ he wrote.”
(Herald and News, 3-30-01)

“‘Dick Cheney stopped that order from coming down,’ Smith said. ‘He ordered the biologists back to Washington’ to see if there were some way to get around the conclusion that all available water must go to protect endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon in the lower Klamath River.”
(Herald and News, 4-9-01)

SMITH, ROVE AND CHENEY OPEN ABOUT THEIR COORDINATION

The White House’s move to help Smith is well documented:

“In January 2002, at a retreat in West Virginia, Karl Rove gave a PowerPoint presentation to at least 50 managers at the Department of the Interior to discuss polling data, and emphasized the importance of getting Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican, reelected that year.

The way to get Smith reelected to another term, Rove reportedly told the Interior Department officials, would come via the agency's support of a highly controversial measure: diverting water from the Klamath River Basin to farms in the area that were experiencing unusually dry conditions, thereby supporting the GOP's agricultural base.”
(Truthout, 6-20-07)

“The 10-year water diversion plan went into effect in 2002 with then Interior Secretary Gale Norton and then Agriculture Secretary, Anne Veneman, joined by Senator Gordon Smith, presiding over a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the headgates of the main water diversion canal in the upper Klamath basin. The ribbon cutting marked the commencement of the new Cheney water plan that tipped the balance towards irrigators and eventually robbed salmon-dependent communities of their bread and butter. The Cheney plan resulted in a 2002 salmon kill of about 70,000 salmon, the worst human-induced fish kill ever recorded on the West Coast.”
(Earth Justice, 7-3-07)

WATER ON, MOUTH OFF

Now that reporters and congressmen are uncovering the politics of the Klamath River decisions, Smith is reluctant to take credit. No more TV ads. No more ribbon cuttings with administration officials celebrating Cheney’s water plan. No more interviews on the subject he campaigned on in 2002.

“Gordon Smith should use this opportunity to apologize to Oregonians for coordinating with the White House to earn votes by releasing the water that killed those fish and destroyed local economies,” Wood Smith said. “And he should pledge to never again abuse environmental resources for political gain.”

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