Hearing is Thursday for Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Kehne

OLYMPIA - State Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Jay Kehne, Omak, will have an opportunity to defend himself Thursday, Feb. 16, at a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Energy, Natural Resources and Marine Waters Committee.

The hearing is slated for 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 2 of the John A. Cherberg Building, 304 15th Ave. S.W.

Kehne has seen his name disparaged during recent months amid accusations of having a conflict of interest stemming from his employment with environmentalist group Conservation Northwest.

He was appointed in December by Gov. Chris Gregoire as one of the three representatives from Eastern Washington. Kehne has been criticized by those who say that his work with Conservation Northwest goes against the values commonly held in Eastern Washington.

Kehne, a resident of Eastern Washington for almost all of his 57 years, said his values are absolutely reflective of Eastern Washington.

He also said that, if he's going to be so heavily scrutinized for his professional affiliations, then every other commissioner should be as well.

"They better look at every commissioner that ever served, because everyone worked for somebody," he said. "You can't just say: 'There's a fisherman on the commission. By golly, we can't have that because we're against bait-fishing.'"

Teri Mitschelen, leader of the Okanogan County Republicans, recently wrote in a letter that opposition to Kehne is about "property rights, conservation easements and continued government buyout of private property using precious taxpayer dollars.

"As an outreach coordinator for Conservation Northwest," the letter continues, "Jay Kehne receives a salary to promote the Fish and Wildlife purchase of conservation easements and title acquisitions of rural land."

Kehne has repeatedly defended his work for Conservation Northwest on conservation easements, saying that he mainly worked one-on-one with ranchers to help educate them about state and federal programs in which they expressed interest.

"There wasn't fee-acquisition or land-acquisition involved in those particular ranchers," said Kehne. "In all of those cases, all of the ranchers maintained their property."

Kehne said he recused himself from a vote at a Feb. 3 Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting to acquire 165.65 acres of private land in Okanogan County to avoid "any appearance of a conflict of interest."

The commission decided to push back the vote until a conference call Friday, Feb. 17.

Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient, said he would save his comments about Kehne until the confirmation hearing, but did reaffirm his strong opposition to public-land acquisitions. According to the senator, 77 percent of lands in Okanogan County are publicly owned. The owner of the current proposed land purchase was repeatedly described as a "willing seller" by department Real Estate Section Manager Dan Budd during the commission's Feb. 3 meeting.

Morton proposed legislation a few years ago that would have capped public-land acquisitions at 50 acres, though it failed to garner enough support to pass.

"It's my responsibility to provide more outdoor activity, recreation, more wildlife, more fish in our streams," he said. "To be able to pass on to the next generation the freedoms that we've enjoyed to go down to that stream that runs through where (Fish and Wildlife director Phil Anderson) wants to buy all of this (land) and go fishing."

Kehne said that, while he had a minor role sitting in on teleconferences for a group that advocated the sale of private lands to government agencies, he would no longer do that as a commissioner.
Morton disagrees with Kehne's assessment of property value and likened fee acquisition to socialism, saying it hurts landowners' ability to engage in free trade.

The hearing on Kehne, who, by law, is able to serve on the commission unless he is officially "not confirmed" by the Senate, will be conducted in an interview style by the committee members, meaning no public testimony. Committee Chairman is 40th District Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island.

Written testimony can be submitted to committee staff that morning. Testimony may be sent to Nahal Ghoghaie, nahal.ghoghaie@leg.wa.gov.