Open government

The uproar over the attempted closure of a portion of the John Wayne Trail is justified.

At the heart of it is the move by representatives Joe Schmick and Mary Dye to close 135 miles of the trail. The section they want abandoned was to be turned over to area landowners.

That would have been enough to cause a controversy.

More disturbing is the fact that the move was made in relative secrecy. The two stuck the closure in a state funding bill. They did not make it public. They certainly did not ask for public comment.

The idea of the closure has raised enough hackles by itself. The fact that the move was made surreptitiously has rightfully raised even more.

Schmick, long elected state representative, and Dye, the yet-to-be-elected contender for Susan Fagan's vacated seat, took it upon themselves to ignore many constituents in favor of a few landowners.

Schmick should have known better.

Dye, who was just named to the legislature, should have been smarter. It is a bad sign that she would choose to govern by skullduggery before even being elected to office.

When the proposal was bumped from the budget because of a simple typographical error, it finally became public.

The rails to trails program is not universally loved. Adjacent landowners have long expressed concern over some problems trails can cause them.

The matter should be discussed.

The matter of deceiving the public needs no discussion. It needs some very convincing explanations. A few words from Schmick and Dye about their opinion of open government might be in order, too.

There is still time before the general election in November.

Gordon Forgey

Publisher