The Wizard of Oz and the Shellfish Industry

Welcome to 2012. 

Bill Dewey with Taylor Shellfish received great chuckles from the audience at the Shellfish Initiative press conference when he described Christine Gregoire being "dressed down" at a meeting with the shellfish industry. This clip from the Wizard of Oz came to mind.

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Governor Gregoire has awoken in a land where the shellfish industry Wizard is claiming the only thing that can save Puget Sound and the economy is the expansion of commercial shellfish farming. Through the levers and buttons of the political process the Wizard is trying to convince agencies and politicians that having to apply for permits is preventing that from happening.  Through booming rhetoric the Wizard is trying to convince the public that restoring a mere 100 acres with native shellfish and improving access to the few remaining public tidelands is worth undoing regulations developed through an open public process over the past four years.  Through meetings held without public notice or the public's involvement the Wizard is hoping to remain hidden behind the curtain.  It's time the curtain be pulled back and the Shellfish Initiative be exposed for what it is.

For another analogy of the Shellfish Initiative, see here:
http://olyopen.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/the-new-walrus-and-the-carpenter-yesterday-in-shelton/