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petition
- Thread starter fvserenity
- Start date
Oct 5, 2017 — Television Washington (TVW) is Washington State Governments Public Affairs Network. They provide video coverage of everything related to Washington State government, including live video broadcasts of the WDFW Commission meetings.
We recently had a conversation with a senior staff member of TVW and was told, as far as he knew, NO ONE has even talked with TVW about the feasibility of providing video coverage in these secret meetings. Its important to note that he went on to say that these meetings sound like something they would be “very interested in covering!”
WHY THEN ARE THEY PROHIBITED FROM THE TRIBAL /WDFW NORTH OF FALCON MEETINGS?
In TVW’s Founding and Guiding Principles is this very important line:
Open government: Government belongs to the people of Washington, who deserve complete access to the workings of their state government.
All we are asking is TVW be allowed to broadcast a live feed of the meetings. It seems like such a simple thing, and something that would be expected.
We cannot understand WHY the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission(NWIFC) is so adamantly opposed to this.
The cameras don't lie, they don't make judgments and they sure don't "mischaracterize". They simple report what is going on!
If there is truly an overriding need by NWIFC to keep secrets, they must provide a better reason to prohibit public oversight than simply stating excuses like "Someone mischaracterized us" or "These are government to government meetings."
Those excuses just don't hold up in light of Co-management and trust building.
They are making decisions on rules, policy and laws in those meetings, and we, the people are completely shut out until all the deals are done. This is not open government and our Director of WDFW and the Commission should not stand for this.
We cherish our rights in America. Where is freedom of the press in these meetings? The press is barred from attending them. Even Washington States own Public Affaires Office is prohibited from coverage! Our rights to freedom of information is being trampled by a special interest group who just says "No" without any convincing explanation. How can this be possible?
It begs the question, “What else is the NWIFC dictating to WDFW that we DON’T know about?
We recently had a conversation with a senior staff member of TVW and was told, as far as he knew, NO ONE has even talked with TVW about the feasibility of providing video coverage in these secret meetings. Its important to note that he went on to say that these meetings sound like something they would be “very interested in covering!”
WHY THEN ARE THEY PROHIBITED FROM THE TRIBAL /WDFW NORTH OF FALCON MEETINGS?
In TVW’s Founding and Guiding Principles is this very important line:
Open government: Government belongs to the people of Washington, who deserve complete access to the workings of their state government.
All we are asking is TVW be allowed to broadcast a live feed of the meetings. It seems like such a simple thing, and something that would be expected.
We cannot understand WHY the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission(NWIFC) is so adamantly opposed to this.
The cameras don't lie, they don't make judgments and they sure don't "mischaracterize". They simple report what is going on!
If there is truly an overriding need by NWIFC to keep secrets, they must provide a better reason to prohibit public oversight than simply stating excuses like "Someone mischaracterized us" or "These are government to government meetings."
Those excuses just don't hold up in light of Co-management and trust building.
They are making decisions on rules, policy and laws in those meetings, and we, the people are completely shut out until all the deals are done. This is not open government and our Director of WDFW and the Commission should not stand for this.
We cherish our rights in America. Where is freedom of the press in these meetings? The press is barred from attending them. Even Washington States own Public Affaires Office is prohibited from coverage! Our rights to freedom of information is being trampled by a special interest group who just says "No" without any convincing explanation. How can this be possible?
It begs the question, “What else is the NWIFC dictating to WDFW that we DON’T know about?
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Elkfins
Ungrateful Prick
- Aug 8, 2008
- 4,589
- 3,970
- Name
- Steve
- Boat Name
- "Cleanup Required" '99 Grady White 232 Gulfstream
Simple answer...
It would make very clear the "co-manager's" true colors and intentions to the public which is very different than the propaganda they pay the media and our elected officials to portray.
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im sure we can guess how this will work out:
We recently had a conversation with a senior staff member of TVW and was told, as far as he knew, NO ONE has even talked with TVW about the feasibility of providing video coverage in these secret meetings. Its important to note that he went on to say that these meetings sound like something they would be “very interested in covering!”
We recently had a conversation with a senior staff member of TVW and was told, as far as he knew, NO ONE has even talked with TVW about the feasibility of providing video coverage in these secret meetings. Its important to note that he went on to say that these meetings sound like something they would be “very interested in covering!”
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Wdfw does what the nwifc dictates because the state is using their federal permit for us to fish!!
The state 2 years ago said that they were going to get our own federal permit....you all see how far that went...
The state 2 years ago said that they were going to get our own federal permit....you all see how far that went...
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The state never tried to get a permit. As usual, they relied on the "good faith" (their words, not mine) of the tribes during negotiation. WDFW doesn't want to get their own permit, they don't want to litigate with the tribes, and WDFW doesn't want those talks open any more than the tribes do. It's much easier to make deals out of public view and trade impacts here for impacts there. Crabs here for ESA fish there. It's the path of least resistance and it's going to continue until someone other the WDFW or the tribes are deciding how the process works.
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Salmonater
Member
- Oct 10, 2008
- 854
- 650
- Name
- Jeff Norwood
- Boat Name
- 31' North River Walkaround, Salmonater
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