Senator Gordon Smith and the Klamath

The blog Loaded Orygun, which describes itself "as a left-leaning journal of Oregon's politics and culture" has been all over Senator Gordon Smith's statements about the Klamath River water shutoff and fish kill, both covered extensively in the documentary.

Every time Smith opens his mouth about his role (and Cheney and Rove's role) in the Klamath controversy, he seems to dig himself a deeper hole. Many thought Smith's biggest problem in his 2008 reelection bid would be his support for the Iraq war. Now it appears that issues surrounding the Bush Administration's role in water releases on the Klamath River may be the greatest impediment to another six years in the Senate for Smith.

By the way, one of the issues is Smith's role in lobbying for more water for the farmers with the White House in 2001. In Battle for the Klamath, Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR) tells me on camera how he and Smith personally lobbied President Bush on Air Force One, with Rove sitting next to him explaining to the President how the Endangered Species Act actually works.

House committee wades into Klamath water dispute

Coverage of the Congressional hearing yesterday. The major news was that when the Department of the Interior Inspector General investigated political manipulation in the Klamath Basin by Karl Rove and others, they never asked about Vice President Cheney.

As I say in the documentary, I asked the Inspector General's office whether they ever actually talked to Rove as part of the investigation. The answer was no.

Klamath-Cheney tale is all fiction

Here's an opinion piece by the mayor of Klamath Falls and Dan Keppen, who is one of the main characters in Battle for the Klamath, arguing that the Washington Post series (below) and other allegations about the Bush Administration's role in the Klamath controversy are false and "anti-farmer".

In the documentary, I made an effort to talk with people on both sides of the issue, and I found few people who were anti-farmer, or anti-Indian tribe, but many people who wanted too much of a resource that was not, and is not, readily available in the Klamath Basin: water.

Rove Aide Details Klamath Actions

On May 10th, Susan Ralston, an aide to Karl Rove, gave a deposition (Here it is. Page 52) to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that included questions about Rove's involvement in diverting Klamath River water to Oregon farmers in 2002.

Tom Hamburger, then of the Wall Street Journal, first broke this story and I covered it extensively in the documentary, getting confirmation both on and off camera of Rove giving a PowerPoint presentation to a sizable group of Interior Department managers at a retreat, using the Klamath situation as an example of how policy impacts politics. I also have documents that I obtained through FOIA about the subsequent Interior Department Inspector General's investigation. I may post some at a later date.

Why did Karl Rove and his aides care about water flow levels on an obscure western river in 2002? Because they wanted to reelect Republican Gordon Smith to the Senate by appealing to agricultural interests in Oregon. Plus, as a bonus, it might give them a shot at Oregon's electoral votes in the 2004 general election. Smith was reelected, but they lost Oregon to Kerry.

Many observers thought talk of Rove's involvement in the Klamath water battle was far-fetched at the time, but Ralston's testimony, if anything, shows that Rove and his political team were far more involved than anyone suspected. If they were using government resources (including setting up a commission on the Klamath crisis) to impact a political race, it's a violation of the Hatch Act, which is a law that Congress, at least in the days when I was in Washington, takes very seriously.

A small incident? Maybe. But like the story of the fight over water and salmon in the Klamath River Basin, it may have larger implications than what it first seems.

Jason Leopold of Truthout has more.

Mike Kelly Essay on Karl Rove and NOAA

Mike is one of the main characters in Battle for the Klamath and he's been proven right about many things since he declared as a whistleblower - both in court rulings and in the subsequent events on the Klamath River.


HOW A KARL ROVE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION WORKS

I first heard of Karl Rove on July 30, 2003. Tom Hamburger’s Wall Street Journal story about Rove’s PowerPoint presentation to officials at the Department of the Interior finally revealed to me, as they say, the man behind the curtain.

While Rove was making his presentation in January of 2002, I was working on an analysis of the effects of a proposed 10-year federal irrigation plan on Endangered Species Act-listed coho salmon in the Klamath River. I was trying to determine whether the proposed project would, in the language of the ESA, “jeopardize the continued existence” of the Southern Oregon and Northern California stock of coho salmon. MORE...