From Indian Country Today
This district normally votes Republican and that would seem a safe bet again, but don’t count Pakootas out. He is the closest any candidate has come to beating her in the 11 years she has been in office. Less than 11 points separated the two in a late August poll.
Yes six terms- and McMorris Rodgers has done everything she can to work against the best interests of her Eastern Washington district and everything she can to work for her corporate supporters to further her own lifetime career in elected office.
From open secrets.org —Contributions to McMorris rodgers
In District |
$211,012 |
(27%) |
|
Out of District |
$581,534 |
(73%) |
|
No district information |
$449,526 |
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Joe Pakootas announced (I wrote about it here) a big win for the Colville Tribes in the case he brought against Teck Metals, or Cominco, as they are now known.
from the Indian Country story-
Just recently a judgment of $8.3 million was issued against Teck Metals, Ltd. of British Columbia, Canada to pay back the Colville Tribes for the legal costs they incurred in getting the company to quit dumping massive amounts of waste into the Columbia River and onto the reservation. Pakootas and another tribal member filed that lawsuit personally in 2006 as the law is written that a tribe couldn’t sue but had to come from an individual. Pakootas was CEO at that time. “I will continue to fight for environmental preservation and clean water for everyone when elected to Congress,” he commented.
Along the way, as highlighted in the Watershed Heroes Awards of 2013…
To say that the case of Pakootas v. Teck Cominco is a landmark case would be an understatement.To get to the merits of the case – cleaning up the river – has required navigating the intricacies of both the Superfund statute and international law. Along the way, the Colville Tribes have made legal history. Important rulings have included that:
•A company located in another country cannot deliberately send pollution into the United States and then claim it is out of reach of U.S. pollution laws.
•Ultimately, the question is not where the polluter is located, but where the pollution is located.
Last April, the court ruled that Teck could not escape liability by pointing the finger and blaming others for their own actions.
Last September, the case took a giant step forward when Teck admitted that it had knowingly and deliberately discharged 10 million tons of slag and toxic pollution into the Columbia River.
Then, just two months ago, federal judge Lonnie Suko ruled that Teck Metals qualifies as a polluter under the Superfund law.
...it is a fitting moment to celebrate and honor the extraordinary efforts and leadership of the Colville Tribes to achieve justice
Twelve years of hard, determined work to fight for clean water and protection of the environment.
From Indian Country -Pakootas...
... discussed the public lands issue and how Republicans are pushing for privatization of these lands. “I would be protecting these public lands to be sure they are open to the public. Tax dollars pay for them. Tribes can assist because they are former Indian territories.”
The only support, I have found that Cathy McMorris Rodgers (CMR) has given to Native Americans in her WA-05 district is to H.R. 538- Native American Energy, supported by the the Colville Tribes (link to their letter of support). But on the other hand CMR voted yes on H.R. 2577 -”an Appropriations Bill that kept the government open, but with drastic cuts to the EPA, wildfire funding, the Land and Wildlife Conservation Fund, and US Forestry Service.”
also from Pakootas...
The Congresswoman touts that she has fought hard for wildfire prevention funding. This bill is hardly that, it’s enough to keep the agency open at the expense of other programs. This is one of many instances where my opponent has underfunded an important and lifesaving governmental agency, and then questioned why it didn’t perform well.
McMorris Rodgers is "noncommittal" on the subject of climate change even as fires rage in her district.
More from the Indian Country article-
Speaking more specifically to the Native American population Pakootas said, “Native American veterans have been ignored ever since we’ve been fighting in wars. Right now Indian Health clinics aren’t recognized. Many of our veterans can’t get services provided at our clinics and can’t get reimbursed by the Veterans Administration. The resources need to be extended to Indian reservations.”
And as I wrote McMorris Rodgers Sponsors Koch Brothers bill to privatize VA healthcare! The approach McMorris Rodgers takes is the one a Mother Jones article describes well...
First, create a system that enriches private providers and is almost certain to make service worse. Then blame the crappy service on the old, bureaucratic VA and insist that only further privatization can fix it. Rinse and repeat. Eventually your donors are rich and the VA has been dismantled.
A good short description of Joe Pakootas from the Indian Country piece-
He was raised on the Colville Reservation within the 5th congressional district which stretches from the Canadian border south to the Oregon border and from the Idaho border eastward to the Tri-Cities. Like many Indian youngsters at the time, he was taken from his parents and placed in foster care. After high school, he took a job with the labor union to help his family, then attended the University of Washington School of Business and received an MBA degree. He was later given the Bradford Award from the University as the top minority businessman in Washington.
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No one around here is naive about what a tough fight defeating McMorris Rodgers is. But we have a real chance now. The most important task is to get Joe’s name out there. Number 4 in the Congress/Conference chair is not just a disaster for the people in this district- she is a disaster for the whole country.
McMorris Rodgers works really really hard raising money for her "leaders" while she votes to cut funds for the rest of us.
We all know what CMR can say.
I saw a comment on the Pakootas Facebook page -a person from Seattle wondered what they could do to help. Two answers:
VOLUNTEER!!
DONATE!!
Monday, Sep 5, 2016 · 9:18:41 PM +00:00
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peagreen
Update- regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline, Joe posted these remarks along with the video link from Democracy Now on his campaign's website and Facebook page
I am proud of the many Native communities from across this country who are currently peacefully protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. Many tribes from Washington state are represented.
Water is life. We must think about how this will affect future generations, not just the immediate financial gain to a few individuals. It is in the best interest of our country to shift from using and transporting dangerous, explosive fossil fuels to using cleaner and safer sources of renewable energy.