“And, really you look at groups like FutureWise and this, uh, RE Sources organization—their goal is to control and limit rural lifestyles. I mean, that is their stated goal. They tried to change property rights to property ownership, you know, in the County codes. So this is just another way to come after rural landowners by placing a meter on their wells. Like I say, we defeat it in Olympia, time after time, and now they’re changing their tactic to try to get it done at the local level.”

How is it okay for our local State Senator to go on a talk radio show and broadcast an outright lie that RE Sources’ “stated goal is to control and limit rural lifestyles?” Why do we have to put up with that?

When Honcoop asked if Hirst’s proposal in his op-ed raised the significance of people to be casting their ballots right now, Ericksen answered:

“Yeah, this is a huge issue—a million dollar tax on local farmers—a meter on every private well in Whatcom County—a tax on every single household. This is a really big deal. And, we’ve been blocking this at Olympia, you know, for the past seventeen years, ever since I got there, this issue comes forward and we’re always able to defeat it, but if people don’t get involved and vote at the local level nothing prevents a Whatcom County Council from slapping a meter on every private well in Whatcom County.”

Honcoop asked, “Do the votes people make today and tomorrow, and get those ballots in, does that make a difference?” Ericksen replied:

“I definitely think so, and I think this editorial piece in The Bellingham Herald over the weekend, the people in Whatcom County need to take that very seriously. The author of it is a very intelligent person, he’s a Stanford University Engineering grad, he worked at RE Sources, uh with RE Sources and FutureWise, so he’s very tied in to the liberal establishment in Bellingham. He’s a, um, a bot-shaper [?] with those groups and has the ear of the current County Council, so yeah, voting makes a big difference and this needs to be taken very seriously by every person in Whatcom County who has a private well.”

I would really like to know what a “bot-shaper” is. In the meantime, Senator Ericksen continues to live up to his newly awarded “Worst Public Official” title, assigned to him by Cascadia Weekly readers.