From Ignoregon(Oregon Blogs): Samuelson and Hackett Ousted!

January 27, 2009

Tom Freel - KAST-AM Astoria(New Northwest Broadcasting)

Samuelson, Hackett Ousted

Here's a follow-up on the Clatsop Democrats meeting where the leadership removed Ann Samuelson and Pete Hackett from their delegate positions:

(Clatsop County Commissioner Ann Samuelson)"What I witnessed tonight at the Clatsop Co. Democratic meeting was one of the most unAmerican, undemocratic processes ever.

I was voted out, no discussion, point of order was not acknowledged, basically railroaded.

I asked a voting member after it was over why? I was told that I had "brown nosed" Hazen all the way to New York City...when actually we went to Washington D.C. on a very tiring short trip to assure that the FERC Commission acknowledged our Clatsop County contract with Bradwood Landing, assuring that promises to the County were kept.(The ethics, necessity and cost of this trip were questioned by many in Clatsop County and Commissioner Jeff Hazen's account of this trip is posted at the end of this post for you to read and judge for yourself)

People in attendance were aghast, as was I.

I did bring a cake, on it I had written a number of things I've worked on as a Commissioner in the last two years...they ate the cake...need I say more...as always I will continue to serve my constituents in District 5, and the County as whole.

Forgiveness is a skill...I'm getting good at it.

Ann Samuelson"

http://www.ignoregon.com/


Clatsop County Commissioner Jeff Hazen's account of "The D.C. Trip"

Sunday, September 21, 2008

"As most of you are aware, Commissioner Samuelson and I traveled to Washington DC to attend the September 18th FERC meeting. The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to have both of us represent Clatsop County at the meeting.We arrived about an hour before the meeting started and were greeted by the director of external affairs who welcomed us and explained how the meetings worked. She was very gracious and took us up to the Chairman's office where we were able to meet with him for a few minutes. Just prior to the start of the meeting, we were also introduced to each of the commissioners. The room filled up and the meeting began. The Chairman introduced us to those attending the meeting and thanked us for attending. When the Bradwood Landing agenda item came up, each commissioner read statements regarding their positions on the project and indicated their position. A roll call vote was taken and the result was 4-1 approving the certification of the Bradwood Landing project.As stated by some of the commissioners, this is not the final approval for the project. They attached 109 conditions to the project, 75 of which must be met before construction can begin. Comments were also made regarding the transparency of the project and the fact that the State of Oregon still has some decisions to make regarding the project. They expressed the necessity of improving the gas supply in the Northwest. I would encourage everyone to go to the FERC website and read all of the statements made by the commissioners.Following the meeting we had one interview with an energy publication. We then walked over to Union Station for lunch prior to our appointment with Congressman Wu. When we arrived at his office, we learned that he was on the floor and would not be able to meet us in his office. We were taken over to the Capitol by one of his legislative assistants so we could meet with him in the hallway. Unfortunately, he was very pressed for time and the hallway was very noisy so we were unable to have much of a discussion with him. We attempted to share the process that we went through and the separate contract we have with Norther Star Natural Gas. It was a disappointing meeting for both of us. We were even more disappointed that as we were sitting outside of his office building on a park bench, he walked by us and seemed to not recognize us even though we had just met with him less than 30 minutes earlier.We then went to the other side of the Capitol for our appointment with Senator Wyden. Upon arrival at his office we learned that he couldn't meet with us because he was attending an Intelligence Committee meeting. We sat down with one of his senior energy advisers. He shared with us the concern that the Senator has about the FERC process and that he wanted to see the process changed. I can't tell you if the Senator supports or doesn't support the project, he just doesn't like the process. We again shared the contract we had with NSNG, but he didn't seem to interested in it. It was unfortunate that we couldn't share some of the other concerns in the county since we didn't get to meet with the Senator.We left his office rather disappointed in both meetings. Our intention was to also discuss topics such as the Westport/Wauna water situation and also to encourage the relocation of the NOAA fleet to Astoria. While we had dinner that evening, we discussed that we need to be better and building the relationship with our congressional delegation so they know first hand what is going on in Clatsop County and what opportunities there are for the federal government to assist us.The following morning, we met with one of Senator Smith's natural resources senior advisers. I felt that the meeting with her was excellent. We knew the Senator was out of town and that we would be meeting with her instead. She was very insightful in the FERC process and had a good knowledge of the Bradwood Landing project. I look forward to continued discussions with his office in regards to this and other topics as well.I think that it was important for us to go to Washington to represent Clatsop County. I realize that there are some that don't like the fact that we went, but with decisions like this, we must be represented. This was not a sight seeing vacation on the public dime. As a matter of fact, the only building we stopped to look at was the Library of Congress after our meeting with Senator Smith's office. It happened to be on our way back to where the car was parked. I don't know what the total cost of the trip was, but I would venture a guess of around $2600. I think we only had the county pay for 1 lunch and 1 breakfast, we paid for our dinners, one lunch, and also for the food on the plane. I chose a hotel outside of Washington DC because I didn't think that paying $400 a night for a hotel room was prudent. As we plan future trips to Washington, we should be able to plan them far enough ahead of time in order to get better prices.As with all organizations, it is important to build relationships and I believe that trips such as this can be beneficial to the county. Traveling to Salem will also be important in order to continue our relationships with our partners there. "