SALEM-Rep. John Huffman (R-The Dalles) has been appointed Assistant Republican Whip by House Republican Leader Bruce Hanna (R-Roseburg). The appointment enables Rep. Huffman to advance the caucus’ legislative agenda in the Oregon House of Representatives.
 
"It is an honor to be appointed to this leadership position in the House Republican caucus," Rep. Huffman said. "This appointment enables me to play an important role in the caucus’ efforts to improve the economy, promote fiscal responsibility and ensure government accountability."
 
Rep. Huffman will work closely with Rep. Hanna, Deputy Leader Kevin Cameron (R-Salem) and Republican Whip Ron Maurer (R-Grants Pass) on major legislative issues. Rep. Hanna said he chose Rep. Huffman because of his strong work ethic and ability to work effectively with fellow caucus members.
 
"Since he came to the House in mid-2007, Rep. Huffman has become a respected and valued member of our caucus," Rep. Hanna said. "I am pleased to have him on our leadership team. We will count on Rep. Huffman over the coming months to help us achieve our shared goal of building a better Oregon."

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Public meetings set this week in Madras and Sisters

By Nick Budnick
The Bend Bulletin

February 8, 2009

SALEM — Hasina Squires, a lobbyist for a proposal to build a destination resort inside the Metolius River Basin, says that at a Jan. 9 meeting in Sisters, top aides to Gov. Ted Kulongoski informed her they had the necessary votes in the Legislature to pass a protection plan blocking her client’s project.

“I would disagree with that,” she says was her response.

One month later, Squires is all smiles as she works the halls of the Capitol, and it appears Kulongoski may have more of a fight on his hands than he bargained for.

Amid heavy lobbying, battle lines are taking shape in Salem over the two destination resorts proposed for the Metolius River Basin as well as on a push to tighten the rules on such resorts statewide.

“The halls are filled with lobbyists for the resorts,” said Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver.

Two efforts to settle the Metolius issue have gathered momentum in Salem. Each proposal, one by Kulongoski and one by House Democrats, favors a different resort.

In December, Kulongoski touched off the current fracas. He asked his Department of Land Conservation and Development to designate the Metolius for special protection. On Friday, the DLCD issued a draft management plan that would affect the two proposed Metolius resorts in different ways.

Under the DLCD proposal, about 10,000 acres on the edge of the basin owned by the Ponderosa Land and Cattle Co. would be allowed to become a resort, although roughly half of its area would be barred from being developed with houses or golf courses.

The other proposal, a 675-acre resort by Dutch Pacific LLC called the Metolian — the one represented by Squires — would be barred from its current location inside the river basin. State officials are encouraging its developers to move it elsewhere, suggesting that other land previously off-limits to destination resorts could be opened up for that purpose, according to lobbyists, lawmakers and Jefferson County officials.

The Kulongoski-inspired proposal is now the subject of public hearings that start this week and of closed-door talks with county officials and developers — talks that have already begun.

In the background is similar legislation that Kulongoski has suggested for the Metolius basin but is holding in reserve to encourage compromise.

“I’ve fished and camped over there with my kids for 40 years,” Kulongoski said in an interview Thursday. “I just think that’s one of the most pristine areas in the state.”

Efforts to block development

It’s easy to see why the governor might have thought this two-pronged approach had good odds. In 2007, Metolius protection legislation cleared the Senate and appeared likely to become law before Kulongoski requested it be halted pending further review.

However, in the current session, Kulongoski’s new vision for protecting the Metolius is raising concerns among fellow Democrats. A very different approach is forming among them.

That push, spearheaded by Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem, would block the Ponderosa resort but potentially allow the Metolian proposal to go forward. As head of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, Clem is considered something of a point person among Democrats on land use issues. He said he doubts Kulongoski’s bill would even be passed out of his committee in its current form.

Clem applauds the governor’s concern for the Metolius but questions some of its details. For one thing, he feels that destination resorts should be barred not only from the basin but also from the three-mile area around it — the area in which the Ponderosa project lies.

If Kulongoski’s plan would allow the Ponderosa resort to go forward, Clem said, “that’s going to be a problem for me.”

For another thing, the Salem lawmaker says that if the Metolian’s proponents, who bill their plan as an “eco-resort,” can prove it will have no impact on the environment, then perhaps it could be allowed to proceed within the Metolius basin.

Squires, the Metolian lobbyist, has submitted draft “eco-resort” legislation with the assistance of Whisnant. Its details remain unclear. “I’ll look at it and see if I can support it” when it’s finalized, Whisnant said.

Clem said he is joined by Rep. Ben Cannon, D-Portland, in his ideas, and the two are drafting legislation along these lines. Their bill blocks traditional golf-and-subdivision destination resorts, Clem said, but “leaves the door open for things that are not destination resorts, read ‘eco-resorts.’”

While Clem is considered an important voice among moderate House Democrats, Cannon is viewed as an up-and-coming member of the more liberal wing of the party.

Clem said their joint legislation likely “represents a good idea of where the (Democratic) caucus will go on this.”

His position is echoed by House Speaker Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, who called it “ironic” that Kulongoski’s bill on the Metolius could halt an ecologically sound proposal like the Metolian.

“My sense is that the bill, in its current form, doesn’t have much of a life,” he said.

Central Oregon lawmakers

The Metolius discussions so far have not been public, leaving Central Oregon lawmakers grasping for information.

The basin lies in the district of Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles. He said Friday that he is feverishly gathering information about the dueling approaches forming among the Democrats, noting that “meetings are happening as we speak.”

He said he opposes any solution that disregards local control, noting that Jefferson County has already approved destination resorts in the basin.

Whisnant, for his part, said that while he wants to protect the natural beauty of the Metolius, he also believes in property rights and is suspicious of protection efforts that he views as originating with environmentalists in Portland. “People in Portland shouldn’t dictate what happens in Central Oregon,” he said.

Rep. Judy Stiegler, D-Bend, said she is hopeful the ongoing compromise efforts she’s heard about bear fruit. In the meantime, “I’m gathering information and looking hard at the whole thing,” she said.

Other wild cards are at play in the discussion.

Environmentalists continue to push for stronger protections for the Metolius, and for stronger rules regarding destination resorts around the state.

“We’re hearing a lot of support (among lawmakers) for acting to protect the Metolius,” said Jeremiah Baumann, program director of the group Environment Oregon.

Moreover, property rights advocates are mobilizing. The Kulongoski bill included a provision that would have overruled the Measure 49 requirement that landowners be compensated if their property value was hurt by the new protection plan. Dave Hunnicutt of the group Oregonians in Action calls it “a shining example of hypocrisy.”

Clem agrees that it would be unfair to overrule Measure 49, noting that he and other Democrats campaigned for it.

If the Salem lawmaker speaks for a majority in the House, it potentially puts a major price tag on efforts to regulate destination resorts in the Metolius basin.

For the state to block the Ponderosa’s plans, the cost of compensating the firm “would be in the millions,” said the firm’s lobbyist, Rick Allen, a former Madras mayor.

Other observers think the cost could be in the tens or even hundreds of millions, depending on what plan is adopted.

Richard Whitman, the director of the Department of Land Conservation and Development, said his agency is looking at alternatives to grant relief to landowners, alternatives that don’t cost money. And he cautioned that his agency’s efforts to compromise are just beginning.

“We’re just starting the public process to get ideas for possible compromises,” he said.

The recommendation by his agency, expected to be issued in late March, must be approved by the Legislature.

Informed that his Metolius plan could face an uphill battle, Kulongoski said the various bargaining positions mean little this early in the session, which is scheduled to close at the end of June.

“None of this stuff means anything right now,” he said. “I don’t think that anything here matters until they adjourn.”

Nick Budnick can be reached at 503-566-2839 or at nbudnick@bendbulletin.com.