OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Water: Umatilla County
approves deal with NOWA
Continued from Page A1
Shrinking water lev-
els in the area’s basalt
aquifers have taken farm-
land out of production
or moved it to less prof-
itable dryland crops.
NOWA was launched
with a grand vision of a
water recharge project
that would build three
pipes from the Columbia
River and allow farms to
use that water instead of
groundwater, giving the
aquifers time to recharge.
The water pulled from the
river would be mitigated
by municipal water rights
transferred and left in the
river.
Factors ranging from
government bureaucracy
to a lawsuit against West-
land Irrigation District
have slowed the proj-
ect, however. The coun-
ty’s purchase of the inter-
est discussed Wednesday
would help preserve the
central arm of the proj-
ect by keeping the option
open to pipe water to the
depot area.
Once the final deal
goes through, the county
will be guaranteed intake
capacity of 30 csf year-
round and will have first
right to an additional
15 csf except for July
15-Sept. 30. It will also
obtain an easement to
build a pipeline to pump
the water to the former
depot.
The depot is in the final
stages of being transferred
from the U.S. Army to the
locally-controlled Colum-
bia Development Author-
ity. The CDA plans to
market portions of the
depot for industrial devel-
opment, and water avail-
ability will improve the
land’s marketability.
Commissioners voted
unanimously
Wednes-
day to sign the option
agreement.
“There is no question
about the importance of
this project to industrial
and agricultural growth
of the region,” commis-
sioner Bill Elfering said.
East Oregonian
A9
Wildfire risk picks up in parts of Northwest
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
BOISE, Idaho — Western
wildfire risk is increasing in
spots following a slow start to
the season, the National Inter-
agency Fire Center reported.
An exception is Alaska, where
fires are already active.
“From what I am hearing
from the field, the fine fuels
across the Great Basin are now
cured and able to support fire
activity should it occur,” said
Bryan Henry, NIFC Predic-
tive Services acting national
fire weather program man-
ager. “The higher elevations
are delayed still. The only sur-
prise out there nationally is
how wet the Northern Rockies
have been and continue to be.”
Much of the Northwest has
normal risk, NIFC reported.
But areas west of the Cas-
cade Crest in Washington and
Oregon, and north along the
Canadian border, likely have
above-normal risk as heavy
fuels remain drier than usual.
Moderate to severe drought
remains across much of
Washington and Oregon,
particularly in western por-
tions. Above-normal tem-
peratures are expected espe-
cially west of the Cascades,
where below-average summer
rainfall is likely. Predicted
above-average precipitation
for the Rocky Mountains
and Great Basin may extend
into eastern Oregon and
Washington.
In the Northern Rockies,
NIFC expects normal sig-
nificant large fire potential,
except across the northern
Idaho panhandle and north-
western Montana, where the
potential should be above nor-
mal through early September
in part because of continued
moderate drought. Tempera-
tures likely will be above aver-
age in much of the region.
Lower elevations in the
Great Basin have seen grasses
cure in most areas below 5,000
feet except in northeastern
Nevada and parts of eastern
Idaho and western Wyoming.
Boise-based NIFC said fine-
fuel loading is well above nor-
mal in many lower elevations,
though some brush is yet to
dry; when that live-fuel mois-
ture drops, large-fire potential
will increase quickly in July.
The region has above-nor-
mal potential for large fires
in August and September at
lower elevations in western
Nevada, and normal potential
elsewhere.
Northern California has
above-normal July poten-
tial for significant large fires,
except in the higher-eleva-
tion Mendocino National
Forest near the central coast.
NIFC said factors include
dead and down fuels in the
northern Sacramento Val-
ley, heavy brush growth and
a robust, mostly cured crop of
fine fuels. Rainfall was well
above average in the 2018-19
season. Risk likely is below
normal in the Northern Sierra
above 6,000 feet. High-ele-
vation snowpack was above
average entering July. Snow-
melt likely will conclude by
late July, though soil and
fuel moisture should linger.
Conditions that are warmer
and drier than average are
expected through October.
Boquist: Conduct hearing scheduled for July 8 in Salem
Continued from Page A1
come heavily armed”?
I’m probably not the origi-
nator of that phrase. It’s prob-
ably been used in many other
circumstances in the last four
decades of military and gov-
ernment service.
So the origination of this
whole discussion was, you
know, over a month ago,
and it went back and forth,
including — there are emails
on what is legal, what is not
legal. Do you have the author-
ity to arrest? If you have the
authority arrest, you know,
what happens? And of course,
there’s correspondence with
the state police involved in
this. There’s electronic cor-
respondence with the Mar-
ion County District Attor-
ney. Because remember, if
you’re going to arrest some-
body, you have to prosecute
them if it’s a criminal deal,
because other than that, it’s
false imprisonment.
This comment actually
come up multiple times before
I actually shared the com-
ment directly with the super-
intendent of state police and a
captain in the building in, you
know, that was out there. And
of course, their response is the
same as response back that,
“okay, it’s not our job to come
arrest you.” OK. And if you
notice, nobody got arrested.
Now, the media is quite
familiar with this are all kinds
of threats floating around all
kinds of quotes. The best one
in the building here is they’re
going to arrest us and bring
him in and chains and orange
jumpsuits. But none of that
happens.
So in the video tape the
KGW took that has doesn’t
release the entire 15 min-
utes of the interview, which
our communications direc-
tor asked me to do the inter-
view. The reason is quotable,
because it is a quote from, you
know, at least a dozen conver-
sations before directly with
the Oregon State Police on
you know, “it would be ille-
gal for you to come arrest, it
would be a false arrest.”
And of course, they see
this is purely political free
speech and discussion, you
know, within the politics and
the realms.
Did you think about
what sort of response you
would get?
Absolutely.
And what was your
thought?
The thought is, is that all of
the qualified law enforcement
officers and the people would
know that they should not be
violating the law, and that this
was purely a political issue,
which it is.
It is purely outright polit-
ical retribution. And the fact
that I have a document, which
I’ve given to you, that says
there is no complaint, infor-
mal or formal, and that it was
instigated by news reporters
— reporters plural — both in
writing, I was told, and ver-
bally, that this is a political
issue. One hundred percent. It
is unfortunate the rest of the
tape was not put out.
Were you expecting
this would garner national
media attention?
I don’t think I would
expect national media atten-
tion at all. And of course, I
mean, considering the writ-
ten responses, there’s no com-
plaint. I mean, you gotta real-
ize the media picked up and
started running with this.
And the real response has
been over the last 72 hours
in which, you know, people
are claiming there’s a for-
mal complaint and informal
complaint. And there’s all
this. And of course, that’s the
media.
In hindsight, do you
regret the comments?
In hindsight, yeah, that’s
an interesting thing. It’s like
foresight, if you can see for
here’s my philosophy in life.
So the answer is no. Here’s
what everybody goes around
and saying, “well, in hind-
sight, I would do something
different.”
Well, the problem is, if you
were starting all over … you’d
have the same circumstances
in the same place, you’d make
the same comment. So I look
back in hindsight is know,
if I, if I made a mistake, not
saying I did in any particu-
lar case, or not, I’d probably
make the same statement.
So the notion like you can go
back and, you know, change
the circumstances, to me, is
nonsensical. What you do is
you learn by your mistakes
and go forward.
You were in the build-
ing Saturday, but not on the
floor. Why was that?
I went to caucus. The dis-
cussion in caucus was try-
ing to end and sine die on
that evening, period. That
evening. And what bills we
would give rules suspension
for, and what bills we would
not give rules suspension for,
Oregon Capital Bureau Photo/Aubrey Wieber
The scrutiny given to Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, intensified
to unprecedented levels in June when in one day he made two
comments that literally brought national media to his door.
and trying to leave. There was
a belief that we would be done
on Saturday night.
I was asked by Herman
Baertschiger, if in exchange
for killing four bills, I would
try and keep the peace and
not go to the floor.
I think I’ve only stayed
for one sine die. So that was
my first session in the House.
Because the thing happens at
the end of the session, so the
public understand, is what’s
called the Christmas tree
bill. This is the literal horse
trading bill. This is the bill
where people get payoffs for
the votes they made. And
it appears to me, this was a
grand payoff that happened
on Sunday, back and forth.
And so I generally do not vote
on the Christmas tree bill
because I mean, it’s pork poli-
tics, and its worst as far as I’m
concerned.
And so Laurie (Monnes
Anderson) and I discussed,
OK, well, I leave anyway. If I
leave and if whomever wants
to then come in and vote and
have your votes count.
When you came on the
floor Sunday, were you
aware that Sen. Sara Gelser
said she would not be on the
floor with you?
Absolutely not.
Sara has not talked to
me. Nobody’s talked to me.
The only reports I’ve seen is
what’s in the media.
Did you insist on having
a gun with you on the floor
Sunday?
That is a bald faced lie.
OK, that is a bald faced lie.
And three senators are enti-
tled to their free speech, if the
issue is a legislative or politi-
cal issue on the floor. If this is
an employment issue, which
they are claiming presently,
and their shenanigans come
Monday, then they are lia-
ble in a court of law. At this
point, I’m going to give them
the advantage that it is politi-
cal free speech.
Do you regularly carry
a concealed firearm on the
floor?
Yes, I have a concealed
weapons permit. Yes, I have
occasionally carried a gun on
the floor based on the secu-
rity threat in this building is
established. And at this point,
I probably have 25 death
threats against me.
Now, the answer to your
question is that did I carry a
gun down on the floor during
the last couple of days? The
answer is no. Furthermore,
anyone who claimed I did,
needs to check their facts.
Because let’s face reality, it
is already a hostile situation,
created for political purposes.
OK, so why did you leave
on Sunday?
When I left, there was
supposed to be two bills. We
were going to do a Christ-
mas tree bill and the Christ-
mas tree implementation bill:
pork one and pork two. Right.
That’s what was left.
My understanding is they
horse traded, somebody horse
traded. The governor threat-
ened, this is supposedly, right.
The governor, with Peter
Courtney, threatened that
they would she would line-
item veto all of the Repub-
lican projects — basically
political blackmail, extor-
tion, which is probably legal
in politics. Okay, so I’m not
blaming her for horse trad-
ing. Apparently, what trans-
pired is she did that, and said,
you know, if you don’t give
me an opportunity to vote on
the cigarette tax referral, that
she’d veto these projects.
They brought back a
reconsideration of the speak-
er’s housing bill. And then
they brought back the tobacco
tax referral. So it was actually
four bills in the last 20 min-
utes of the session, or what-
ever it was.
The Christmas tree proj-
ect bill is always held hostage
to the end, and that’s the best
way to do it: hostage. So if
you’re somebody that who’s
supposed to get a $55 mil-
lion project out in your dis-
trict, mostly rural Oregon, by
the way, and you don’t, you
know, kowtow, you can be
have your project line-item
vetoed.
That whole process that
even though this is supposed
to be a public record, it’s kept
secret to the very end, both-
ers me.
Then they opened both
chamber doors and both ends
and they look across, and
then they talk about Kum-
baya. There’s no Kumbaya in
this building, period. There
is no Kumbaya. This build-
ing has been a hostile work
in place for member employ-
ees, at least since February of
last year.
And so this notion of then,
OK, everybody’s all friendly,
and we make up, you know,
simply bothers me, it’s a
charade.
Is there concern the
divide between you and
other members in this
building is beyond repair?
First off, you’re right, it’s
wide.
Here’s the, here’s the issue
that started. On Aug., 17,
2018, I sat in the law offices
of Barran Liebman with
Peter Courtney, with Ginny
Burdick and Senator (Jackie)
Winters and myself, and an
equal amount of House mem-
bers. This was in regard to
the sexual harassment com-
plaints against the Legisla-
ture. It came apparent in that
meeting that there was more
than dishonesty happening
on the side of the Legislature
in dealing with the sexual
harassment allegations.
You need to remember,
I am a hostile witness in
at least one of the lawsuits
that’s out there. There are
two other lawsuits that I cer-
tainly will be called into. I
have multiple written formal
complaints that have been
stonewalled in direct viola-
tion of law. Now, many of the
members of the media famil-
iar with so to say that we’re
going to have better rela-
tionships until this place is
cleaned out, is simply false.
There needs to be outside
state and federal investiga-
tors looking into the actions
of the Oregon State Senate.
To my knowledge, I do not
know that that is not happen-
ing right now. And so, no,
we’re not going to have good
working relationships to the
clean house.
Are you going to show up
to the hearing on Monday?
If there’s a hearing, I’ll
come. I don’t even know
what the committee hear-
ing is going to consider. So
I don’t can’t make a spec-
ulation of what it is they’re
going to do.
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