Lacey City Council Hears Homeless, Advocates

Above: The Lacey City Council listens to a speaker at the podium about a proposed ordinance prohibiting camping in public places on Thursday evening. Patrick and Danelle Helsper, foreground, live in a recreational vehicle in a parking lot in Lacey and spoke to the council about their current circumstance.

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

The City of Lacey just turned 50, and the city council held an appreciation ceremony at its meeting Thursday night for those who made the year long celebration a success.

The accolades, though well deserved, along with the announcement of the city's new song, “You're Never a Stranger in Lacey,” could not have been more poorly timed.

Ironically, the city also had on their agenda consideration of an ordinance related to the prohibition of camping on public property. 

Tens of community members, social workers, and advocates for street people filled the room in opposition to the ordinance. Hasty conversations between council members just prior to the start of the meeting was observed. 

When it came time to approve the agenda, Mayor Andy Ryder made a motion to table the controversial agenda item, saying he wanted people to have a chance to comment on it.

City councils typically do not allow public comment on items already on the agenda and there had been no previous public discussion about the proposed ordinance.

City attorney Dave Schneider gave a brief report, then the council unanimously put the item on the agenda for discussion at their next work session, scheduled for August 3 at 7:00 p.m., Lacey City Council chambers.

The staff report, which lists no disadvantages to the ordinance, reads, “Increasingly, people are camping in public areas in cities and towns across the country. Such camping is taking place in areas that are not designated as, nor intended or designed for camping. The allowance of camping in such areas presents health and safety concerns for the public. Other Washington cities have begun to regulate camping activities via their city codes. 

“Currently there is limited regulation on this type of camping in the City of Lacey. Recent case law suggests that regulations which prohibit camping in public areas are permissible provided adequate shelter options are available for those camping due to lack of shelter. In the Lacey-Olympia-Tumwater area there are several such shelters available, some partly funded by public means. Accordingly, the City of Lacey may legally regulate camping.”

The proposed ordinance would prohibit camping in any park, on any street, or publicly owned parking lot or publicly owned area. Violators would be subject to a $1,000 fine or by imprisonment not to exceed ninety days, or both.

A “compassionate enforcement” section states that the investigating officer shall inquire as to whether the camping is due to homelessness. If the officer learns that is the case, the officer shall determine whether any known homeless shelters within the cities of Lacey, Olympia, or Tumwater have adequate space and facilities available to accommodate the subject of the investigation. 

If the officer determines that all such shelter space is full, the officer shall not issue a citation. If the officer determines that there is shelter space available, the officer may, within his or her discretion, issue a citation, provide directions to the shelter and/or offer one-time transportation to the shelter.

Above: Community members lined up to address the Lacey City Council Thursday night.

A wide range of representatives and volunteers from area homeless support and advocacy organizations, such as Sidewalk, Interfaith Works Emergency Overnight Shelter, and Just Housing argued that there are not enough shelters in the region to house the homeless. The City of Lacey does not have a homeless shelter.

Community activists with veteran support groups, the Libertarian Party, the Thurston County Democratic Party, and various Tumwater and Lacey city council candidates all spoke in opposition to the ordinance. 

Others literally came out of the woods to speak for themselves, telling first-hand stories of their experiences with homelessness.

In all, thirty articulate, passionate speakers spoke to council members.

Just Housing arranged carpools for several people to attend the meeting. Many speakers handed out flowers to council members.

The flowers, some with names attached, signified those who have passed away on the streets or those who are surviving on the streets without shelter.

Tye Gundel, an organizer with Just Housing, said she wanted the flowers to remind council members that the ordinance represents so much more than a simple rule on paper.

“It is an ordinance that has the potential to affect the lives and survival of hundreds. We need to remind them that each one of them has the power in their vote to prevent so many more beautiful flowers from suffering and even possibly, from dying,” she said before the meeting.

Patrick and Danelle Helsper came to the meeting on their own, after hearing about the proposed ordinance on Seattle based radio stations KIRO and KOMO.

“I can’t give you an address,” Patrick Helsper started, trying to fulfill the typical requirement requested by public bodies when speakers approach the podium to speak.

He said he and his wife have been married for 34 years. Their home was foreclosed, and both have medical issues, making them unable to work. They receive Social Security, and park their motorhome in the parking lot of a Lacey business.

The couple says there aren’t enough recreational vehicle parks in the area and Capitol Forest changed its rules, allowing camping ten days in a calendar year.

“We don’t litter or leave trash. …We’re not criminals, we don’t do drugs, we’re just down on our luck! What are we supposed to do? We want to know!”

Eric Miller said that this proposed ordinance hit home for him because he and his brother grew up homeless in Lacey.

When he was about 13 years old, his single mother developed agoraphobia, a fear of leaving the house, which they eventually did not have. He did as many odd jobs as he could. Friends would let them sleep in their garage or on couches. They also lived on the streets.

Through all that, he was vice president of his student body, graduated from South Sound High School, and received a community service award.

“My childhood was not easy, but one benefit that I feel like we had was that my mom didn’t have to run from the police or worry about our RV getting towed or impounded. We did have a lot of other things to worry about, but to me, at a time that income inequality is growing further, we need to look for a way to reach out to the most vulnerable and make things easier for them instead of figuring out new ways to attack them,” he said in an interview before the meeting.

James Blair, of Yelm, is chair of the Libertarian Party of Thurston County.

“When this meeting started, each and every one of you stood up and said The Pledge of Allegiance. The last sentence is, ‘with liberty and justice for all.’ This ordinance does not promote liberty and assuredly does not promote justice,” he said. 

“I don’t tell people this very much, but for nine months, I slept in my truck….Multiple times, wherever I parked, I was told to move….Everyone in this room could end up in the same situation….This doesn’t target homeless people? That’s the only people it’s targeting….You say other cities have this similar ordinances….If someone jumps off a cliff, would you? It’s wrong, and Lacey needs to step forward and find a different solution.”

TJ LaRocque spoke as a private citizen in opposition to the ordinance. 

LaRocque works for Providence St. Peter Hospital and will serve as the manager for the Providence Community Care Center currently under construction in downtown Olympia. The center will provide wrap-around health and wellness services along with showers and restrooms.

He said that if the ordinance was enacted, it would be difficult to reverse, and that the City of Olympia’s ordinance, which is similar to the one proposed by Lacey, has caused damage to the community. 

“Even if this is with the best of intentions not meant to be coordinated around the homeless, there is no way to separate an ordinance like this from homelessness,” he said, saying that the majority of those who are car camping are families who could best be helped with rent assistance and rapid rehousing.

Since Lacey does not have a downtown, he said he does not want to see the ordinance push people out of Lacey and into a concentrated area like downtown Olympia.

“…And when people are looking at whether or not there are enough shelter beds, we fail as a community,” referring to the 200 people per night who showed up per at Interfaith Works’ temporary warming center in downtown Olympia this past winter.

Eric Franks, a man who is disabled and uses a wheelchair, said he became homeless one and a half months ago because the property owner recently sold the home he was living in. He says this is his third stint with homelessness.

He said that Tuesday was the 27^th anniversary of the American Disability Act, and learned that in the late 1800’s, there were American cities that made it illegal for persons with “ugly,” or “unsightly” disabilities to appear in public.

“This ordinance criminalizes humanity. I don’t want to go backwards,” he said.

Phoenix Wendt, who lives in the woods, is active in finding solutions. She participated in the drafting of a resolution that will be introduced to the Olympia City Council at its meeting next Tuesday. If passed, it could result in a standing committee on homelessness.

Before the meeting, Wendt was circumspect about her situation.

“I love everyone and I appreciate everyone to the point that, yeah, I may have a difficult past but this is the best I can give you right now. Why is it that evil is still in this world? Why does it still exist? It is to make us humble to have the pain and suffering to move us closer to understanding love, joy, and beautiful mercy and compassion for others. It brings us closer together,” she said.

Above: Just Housing organized a rally outside Olympia City Hall on Tuesday evening.

City, Tribal Partnership Creates a New Water Source for Olympia

Above: Tribal elder Bob Sison holds a commemorative glass given to participants of today’s dedication of the McAllister Wellfield, the site of Olympia's new water supply.

 

By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

“This is the beginning of a new journey. Father, Grandfather, hear me, Spirit of our People, hear me. We thank you, thank you for joining hands with another world. We thank you for the mountain, for it brings us the water, the water that we will share. May the mountain never run dry, or if it does, so will our lands, so will our people. Watch over and guide and protect everyone who is here. Give them your physical, mental and spiritual strength…show them the way….You’ve brought our people a long ways, you’ve left us the gift of water. Let the rivers never run dry…the pumps…keep them strong. Keep the water flowing, for this is an honor to join hands with Olympia, their people. We pray that the water will give them strength, especially to the children. Help them to remember, teach them, teach them the way, the way it was. The pure of the water, the pure of the land. We ask this, we thank you Grandfather, Creator of Heaven and Earth….Masi…masi…” Tribal Elder, chaplain Bob Sison, offering the blessing at today’s dedication of the McAllister Wellfield.

And so began an emotional ceremony today as local city and state officials and tribal representatives spoke at the dedication ceremony of Olympia's new water source at the McAllister Wellfield today.

Words such as ‘commitment,’ ‘visionary,’ and ‘challenging,’ were also used to describe the efforts that led to today’s event, which marked a unique partnership between the City of Olympia and the Nisqually Tribe.

The city’s new wellfield replaces McAllister Springs, which is located on Nisqually tribal land, as the city’s primary water source. Located about a mile away from the Springs on 20 acres of city-owned property on St. Claire Cut Off Road SE, the new site includes over 160 surrounding acres that are protected from future development.

The McAllister Wellfield water supply will provide high quality, protected drinking water to the regional community over the next 50 years and beyond.

Putting that figure into perspective, the Nisqually Tribe has been using McAllister Springs, which they call Medicine Springs, for 10,000 years.

Living in peace and prosperity in their original homeland of over two million acres, Nisqually land encompassed the present towns of Olympia, Tenino, Dupont, Yelm, Roy, and Eatonville, and extended to the top of Mount Rainier.

In her remarks, Nisqually Tribal Chairperson Cynthia Iyall said, “….Looking around, you see fir trees, you see cedar, you see cottonwoods, you see oak trees…all these different trees are living together, harmoniously, and they share the same water. I was told when I was younger that cedar loves to be near the water, near the river because they loved to dig their roots in, to get their toes wet. And that was so important to the Nisqually tribe because it was such a mainstay in our lives. It’s used for clothing, for protection, for housing, all kinds of things, so we’re glad to be a part of your forest, and you’re a part of our forest and we are so glad that all these seedlings…coming up for the next generation will have safe water….”

Iyall thanked her mentor, tribal elder and former Nisqually tribal councilmember, Larry Sanchez, for creating much of the early framework and shared vision for the project.

She later said that the Nisqually Tribe will develop a water supply at the wellfield in a future phase.

Above: Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder and Lacey Mayor Pro-Tem Cynthia Pratt cautiously peer into the drain after the Wellhouse 1 pump is turned on for show and tell. The pump uses a 700 horsepower motor, the same as a NASCAR race engine, and pumps 6,000 gallons of water per minute. The well is at a depth of 425 feet.

Rich Hoey, public works director for the City of Olympia, explained the project as a steady stream of elected officials, city staff, and those associated with the project walked through Wellhouse 1.

Seeing the infrastructure first-hand helped to visualize the process of how water from the ground manages to travel the eight and a half miles to the city of Olympia.

There are three wells, each ranging from 370 to 425 feet deep, with an initial pumping capacity of 15 million gallons of water per day. The wellfield project cost $13.7 million to design and construct, paid largely with low-interest loans from the Washington Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

Partnerships  

Aside from physical pipes and plumbing, today’s ceremony was also about partnerships. In a process that began nearly 22 years ago, the Olympia-Yelm-Lacey water supply project has involved a collaborative effort assisted by the state Department of Ecology, the state Department of Health, the cities, and the Nisqually Indian Tribe.

“It’s a spectacular piece of property,” said Hoey before the ceremony. “It’s an amazing accomplishment, knowing it’s high quality water – we’re in good shape. It’s a remarkable thing to have this level of confidence in our water….”

Ecology Water Resources Program Manager Tom Loranger was the most specific in detailing the lengthy legal process it took to get this point.

“It took persistence and partnerships and risk taking. There were discussions about mitigation and offsets. What does the law say? How do we develop projects? There were tough times and discussions….There was no template for doing it. New court decisions changed what we had to do….” Loranger credited the Smith Farm acquisition several years ago as a critical piece of the project.

According to City of Olympia records, the cities of Olympia, Lacey and Yelm jointly purchased about 200 acres of the farm because it was a critical cold water spring source. Ceasing intensive agricultural activities on the land combined with habitat restoration directly improved the summer flows to large portions of the Deschutes River.

“….It was huge…a mile of riparian habitat restored gave it the final legs that could get it done. We have not seen anything like this. I talk about it all the time around the state. There were so many partners, and a number of pieces in play. It’s the gold standard of mitigation to improve the environment….(The state department of) Fish and Wildlife has testified to that…the amount of persistence…you made the choice to take some risks and get this done.”

After the ceremony, Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder said, “The fact that all these communities came together is historic and something to be proud of…it should be used as a model for more accomplishments, like clean air. This project was a new trail, it took time. It was true regionalism.”

Andy Haub, public works planning and engineering manager for the City of Olympia, said that the city will start tapping the McAllister Wellfield in about a month.

 Above: Reese Gaer,3, and his father Ken Gaer, look over the McAllister Wellfield area after today’s ceremony. Reese's mother, Shari Gaer, is employed with the wellfield 's design consultant, Gray & Osborne, Inc.

Editor’s Note: Several Native words were used in the remarks by tribal elder Bob Sison and Nisqually Chair Cynthia Iyall. Little Hollywood apologizes for not knowing how to write those words. Asked later what “….Masi…masi….” meant, Sison said, “It means thank you. It’s a very thankful word….”

A Brief History

McAllister Springs has supplied most of Olympia’s drinking water since 1949. Studies indicated that the springs are susceptible to land use impacts, which could diminish water quality during periods of heavy demand and drought. To address these concerns, the City of Olympia decided to replace its supply source with high-capacity wells.

In the 1990s, the city identified and purchased 20 acres for a wellfield. Studies of the site showed that the wellfield site taps a large sustainable aquifer with high quality water.

In May 2008, the City of Olympia and the Nisqually Indian Tribe entered into a historic agreement - the first such agreement between a tribe and a municipality in the country - to jointly develop the new regional water source at McAllister Wellfield.

In 2012, after working together for many years to gather data, refine computer models and predict potential impacts, the state Department of Ecology presented the Olympia City Council with the final approval for transferring water rights to the new wellfield.

Subsequent construction projects included a nearly one mile of 36-inch diameter pipeline to connect the new wellfield to the city’s existing water transmission main at McAllister Springs.

Above: Participants of today’s celebration and dedication of the McAllister Wellfield include, left, public works director for the City of Olympia, Rich Hoey, local elected officials including Olympia and Lacey city council members, Nisqually Tribal members and staff, and members of the public. Olympia Mayor Stephen Buxbaum, in brown suit with blue shirt, is standing next to Nisqually Tribal Council Chairperson Cynthia Iyall.

 

One Year In: Is Congressman Heck Giving 'Em Heck?

Above: U.S. Representative Denny Heck (D-WA10) listens to remarks at a swearing-in ceremony for Thurston County officials on December 28, 2013.

 

By Janine Unsoeld
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

United States Representative Denny Heck (D-WA10) went back to the other Washington earlier this week, but during his two week Christmas break, he was home in Olympia.

Congressman Heck visited Quixote Village, Thurston County’s new permanent community for the homeless, made several speaking engagements, toured local businesses and non-profits, and relaxed with someone he calls his best friend, his wife, Paula.

The timing seemed to be right to check in with Heck after the completion of his first session of the 113^th Congress as a freshman from the newly created 10^th district. Little Hollywood requested an interview and appreciated Congressman Heck making time for this opportunity. 
 
The 10^th district, created after the 2010 census, encompasses parts or all of Thurston, Pierce and Mason Counties, with Joint Base Lewis-McChord thrown into the middle.

According to the website OpenCongress, Heck voted with fellow Democrats  93.1 percent of the time.

Accommodating a range of political and philosophical viewpoints, Heck ranked among the highest 15 percent among all representatives in joining bipartisan bills, and of the 115 bills that Heck cosponsored, 39 percent were introduced by someone other than a Democrat, according to the website GovTrack.us.

As Heck stated at a recent swearing-in ceremony of local officials in Thurston County, “Never stop looking for common ground and always be civil – you have so little control over all the rest.”

This interview was conducted on January 4 at Batdorf and Bronson coffee shop on Capitol Way in downtown Olympia, the day after Boeing machinists approved a ten year contract.

Since the interview, some of the issues we discussed have already transpired, such as the Senate’s confirmation on Monday of Janet Yellen as chair of the Federal Reserve, and yesterday’s movement by the Senate to extend federal unemployment compensation benefits.

Jumping right in, we stuck to my organized list of about 20 topics: questions about Boeing, the government shutdown, the federal minimum wage indexing bill, Syria, China’s ban on geoducks and the privatization of our shorelines for a growing shellfish industry, coal export terminals, Puget Sound cleanup efforts, his role on the House Finance Committee, and more.

I also prepared for our interview by looking over Heck’s re-election financial reports submitted so far, and, as a result, asked him about his thoughts about the movement to amend the U.S. Constitution to keep big money out of politics.

Is Heck really giving ‘em heck, as his campaign slogan promised?

Northwest Issues and 2014 Priorities

Not surprisingly, Heck was positive on the approval of the Boeing machinist’s new ten year contract.

“In the 10^th district in Fredrickson, Boeing builds composite wings, and will be one of the competitors as the 777X project develops….We now have an opportunity to create up to 4000 well-paying jobs in Fredrickson…the kind of jobs you can buy a home and take a vacation and send your kids to college, so we now have an opportunity for significant middle class jobs wage jobs to be expanded, and that’s a good thing….”  (The Boeing PAC has already given Heck $10,000 in 2013).

Asked what his priorities will be going into the 2014 Session, Heck said, without hesitation, first, to extend the unemployment compensation benefits to 1.3 million families, which were discontinued December 28, 2013, and affects 3,472 job seekers in the South Sound.  

“Letting that go was not the best thing to do economically or morally – we could be doing better by them…No single dollar that the government spends is circulated more times than unemployment benefits….”

To check in with constituents, Heck said he has held about six to eight town hall meetings and several telephone town hall meetings so far, the latter of which he prefers because thousands of people are able to call in and be part of the conversation, rather than 50 – 100 who can attend meetings in person. Heck says he’s able to answer questions over the telephone just as ably as in person. Still, he appreciates and welcomes all forums.

“(Regarding extending the unemployment benefits) I do hear several people say it’s the right thing to do, and I agree. Despite some of the flaws, the House passage of the Murray-Ryan deal mitigated sequestration….The austerity approach won’t work…”

“I’m also focused on the farm bill – that’s a great battle with serious consequences. We seem to have relative agreement on reforming the farm subsidy program – we’re essentially going to provide fewer subsidies to large corporations that are otherwise pretty profitable…but the problem is that the House Republican majority wants to devastate the program….It’s now in conference committee to work out the differences. I am cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to work it out…. If we don’t fix the farm bill, come March, April, May, anybody who is the parent of a child 12 years or younger is going to feel it big time because milk prices are going to double….”

He said he also heard from his constituents regarding to topic of Syria, because he specifically solicited their opinion when it was looking like diplomatic solutions may not work:

“….I cannot imagine any more sobering responsibility by a member of Congress than to decide whether or not to engage in an act of war which will take lives, and my family has been personally affected in this way….”

Heck, who said he lost his brother to cancer as a result of exposure to Agent Orange while serving as a Marine in Vietnam, said he reached out to constituents about Syria, and was enriched by those conversations.

In the end, he said he felt that the President has not made the case for a military intervention in Syria.

Economic and Financial Issues

Last January, Heck gave up the chance to be appointed to other committees such as the Budget and Judiciary Committees. Instead Heck jumped at a last minute opening on the House Finance Committee and feels it’s his niche.

Most notably, Heck saw his bill, HR 2167, the Reverse Mortgage Stabilization Act of 2013, pass in June - no small feat for a freshman congressman.

Regarding the Federal Reserve, Heck said he thinks the Federal Reserve is a functional institution. "I’m an unabashed fan of Chair Bernanke and I think I will be of Janet Yellin as well. Both are smart, balanced people…tasked with keeping inflation and unemployment down, and this year Chair Bernanke was clearly concerned about employment levels….”

In early December, Heck signed onto the federal minimum wage indexing bill H.R. 1010 to raise the minimum wage to $10.10.

“It won’t kick start the middle class by itself…but 1 percent of our nation’s population has 20 percent of its income and the top 1 percent has 40 percent of its net worth…and two-thirds of our economy is built on consumption…. that’s a recipe for economic disaster….”

This comment provided a perfect segue to ask his opinion about the movement to amend the U.S. Constitution. Heck said he could support it depending on what it said, adding that Citizen’s United was just “plain wrong and is bad for the country” but seemed to feel the movement was an uphill battle.

“Let’s change it as we can.”

Minty Fresh, Green Businesses

Asked what local businesses provide him with a sense of where we should be heading with a clean, green local economy, Heck said he appreciated businesses like I.P. Callison & Sons in Lacey, which provides mint related products throughout the world, Ice Chips Candy in Yelm, which was spotlighted on the television show “Shark Tank,” and Allafia, also headquartered in Lacey, whose fair trade health and beauty product production is the second largest employer in the African country of Togo.

“Allafia told me the other day that they gave 6,000 bikes to high school girls to commute to and from the village and raised high school graduation rates from nine percent to 95 percent - now that’s changing the world!”

Speaking of green businesses, I asked about the state legalization of pot. Heck says he is devoting his energy toward removing the federal barriers for marijuana related businesses so they can access the use of depository institutions.

“That’s where I’ve concentrated my efforts…I will also say that we seem to be decades beyond the point that marijuana should be a Class 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act. I don’t think that’s supported by the science.”

Local Environmental Issues

Heck was asked a variety of environmental questions that he seemed to answer in terms of being an opportunity to discuss the issues.

Asked about China’s recent ban on geoducks, Heck responded, “I spoke with Ambassador (Gary) Locke a couple times…and our repeated tests were showing something different…Given the data I’ve been presented with, I’d be comfortable consuming that product….”

About the increased privatization of South Sound shores to the shellfish aquaculture industry, Heck said he prefers to think of it in terms of what the industry is doing to help global warming and ocean acidification.

“I tend to have a different view of shellfish farming - there is no stronger proponent of doing something about global warming than shellfish farmers and the reason for that is ocean acidification and what it does to the shellfish. In fact, I think shellfish is the water quality 'canary in the mineshaft.'  But if you believe, as I do, that global warming is one of the greatest threats to civilization, then that helps us spread the word….”

When pressed that what activists are talking about is the intensity and method that the shellfish aquaculture industry uses to scour the shoreline of native species, Heck said he knows people have strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

Asked for his opinion on the coal export terminals being proposed in Washington State, Heck said, “We are proceeding exactly as we should be, with the state Department of Ecology and the Corps of Engineering determining the outcome. I always use the question about coal as an opportunity to talk about global warming. Whether or not hauling that much coal traffic through our communities is environmentally damaging will hopefully be indicated by the results to these efforts that are currently underway."

Little Hollywood: “It doesn’t sound like you’re coming out against them…”

Heck: “What should be inarguable to everybody is that global warming is real and coal is a significant contributor and if we do not recognize that, we will pay a price beyond our imagination….”

LH: “But we’re aiding and abetting China to continue what they’re doing and it’s going to come back to us in the form of ocean acidification.” 

Heck did not respond.

Bringing more global issues local, I asked Heck how we can move to a healthier economy if our own Port of Olympia stays complicit in the degradation of our environment by accepting contracts to move raw logs to China and accept ceramic proppants from China, destined to be used in fracking. Heck was unfamiliar with this issue and/or the port’s role, so I provided him with several past issues of the South Sound Green Pages.

A little frustrated, perhaps, Heck added, “I don’t want to substitute my judgment all the time, ahead of time, for people whose job it is to evaluate this stuff – I mean, before their work product comes out, the state Department of Ecology and the Corps – yea or nay….”

Lastly, Heck was questioned about the slow cleanup efforts of Puget Sound, the Puget Sound Partnership, and his role with Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA06) as co-founders in June 2013 of the Congressional Puget Sound Recovery Caucus.

Heck said, “Not too much is happening yet, and that’s fair…In part, we see ourselves as defenders and advocates of appropriations designed to help with habitat restoration and the like, but we can also play a soft power role of being the ones who can prod improved coordination between these agencies….”

Heck described a Tacoma town hall meeting devoted to the topic of Puget Sound clean-up efforts, and a Washington D.C. based meeting between the state Partnership and the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 10, at which many of the parties had not met before.

“In terms of how I spend my time, it was a whole lot more than approving a press release – we are actually poking and prodding, trying to figure out how it is we can make a difference.”

Looking Toward Re-Election

Heck is running for re-election, and no Republican has stepped forth to challenge him. The primary is August 5. His last election against Republican Richard Muri cost a little over $2 million.

Freedom Foundation executive director Tom McCabe said last week in a meeting of Republicans at Panorama that they do not yet have anyone to run against Heck, but hoped someone would step forward. He acknowledged that the 10th district would be difficult for Republicans to win.

Toward his re-election campaign, Heck has already raised $603,335, according to a federal financial report filed October 14, 2013. Over half, $332,110, is from political action committees (PACs), and $271,225 is from individuals. Heck has $494,429.16 in cash on hand. His next financial report is due January 31.

I pointed out that in this last report alone, he has received thousands of dollars from the PACs of the very banks and financial institutions, such as Bank of America, Capital One, Citigroup, American Express, Ernst and Young, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs, that he is empowered to oversee and investigate as a member of the House Finance Committee.

Other corporations reporting contributions this quarter include Verizon, Walmart, General Electric, and $10,000 each from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. 

I asked him if there is anyone he would not accept campaign monies from.

“I don’t know, really…I’d probably have a hard time if cigarette companies come knocking, and I’ve never gotten any money from Big Oil, but my record ringing the bell on global warming is well established, and my advocacy for closing some of the tax preferences Big Oil has is pretty well known, so maybe they’ll never come, I don’t know….”

Asked about his opinion on public financing, Heck said he’s conceptually supportive but if one’s position is that this is a good thing because it will impact policy in a good way, then all one has to do is look at Arizona. “They had a form of that for a while…and Maine…I’m not entirely convinced….”

When asked if accepting money from the aforementioned financial institutions doesn’t suggest a conflict of interest or leave him open to corruption, Heck said, “I am more than content to leave this up to the voters…I give thanks for being a member of Congress. I am not somebody who is going to retire post Congressional term to be a lobbyist…this is my home….I sleep pretty well at night.”

The House 113^th Congress, Second Session is in session for only 11 days in January, and 112 days total this year, for which Heck is paid $174,000.

On Wednesday, January 15, the Finance Committee will hold a hearing to examine the impact and potential unintended consequences of the recently finalized Volcker Rule.

On Tuesday, January 28, the committee will hold a hearing to receive the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau semi-annual report.

While many of the issues we discussed are far away from the minds of many South Sounders, Heck will be there, and giving ‘em heck, or at least, some pokin' and proddin'.

For more information about U.S. Congressman Denny Heck, go to his website at www.dennyheck.house.gov.

His congressional Thurston and Mason County office is located at Lacey City Hall, 420 College Street SE, Suite 3000, Lacey, Washington 98503, (360) 459-8514; Pierce County office is located at Lakewood City Hall, 6000 Main Street SW, Suite 3B, Lakewood, WA 98499, (253) 208-6172; Washington D.C. office, 425 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20215, (202) 225-9740.

Full disclosure: Janine Unsoeld is a board member of the South Puget Environmental Education Clearinghouse (SPEECH) that publishes the South Sound Green Pages, a quarterly environmental magazine. For more information, go to: www.oly-wa.us/greenpages.