I wonder, historically speaking that is, how on earth they managed to get irrigation over there. Must have been a pretty far-sighted group of people who put the needs of all people ahead of petty resentments or something.

Does the Ellensburg voter realize how much more progressive our government would be but for the conservative influence of the eastern part of the state? As a Seattle voter from the 37th District, I feel a bit like him, but in the reverse. I feel like I may was well stop voting because the eastern influence prevents the election of more progressive candidates to positions of influence. Without eastern washington, we'd have a progressive governor and speaker of hte house instead of the politically milquetoast Gregoire and Chopp.

Disgruntled west side voter:

Puhleeeze. You got 95% of the pie and you begrudge the Eastern half the other 5%! Boo frickin hoo.

Stilwell: Are you serious? Water flows down both sides of a mountain...

The next time one of our westside readers complains about the eastside, s/he should look down at her/his dinner plate. Is there bread? Eastern WA wheat. Are there peaches or cherries for desert? Eastern WA grown? Is there yogurt? Eastern WA dairies, mostly. Their opinion matters, just as does ours. There are ways to find common ground, if we're willing. But, not if Disgruntled west side voter views prevail. S/he should try growing her/his own food for a year. Or, cut out use of all electricity generated over there. Or, better yet, go live there for one year. Life's got a complexity to it that simplistic griping doesn't recognize.

As I sit here, off to the side, reading David's story about the guy everyone in town thought David should go get an ear full from, I wonder if David will seek some balance. People across this state do look at things differently but we remain one state, one of the best in the nation. Now I know that you can't legislate many of the things Washington has to offer but it is our people that make this a good place to work, play and raise a family.
Frankly, I would rather see an interview that covers what life is really like for some third generation farmer or shop owner. What are the good things what are the bad and in light of all that how will they vote and why. Don't get me wrong, though, I could not pull that off. Still I hold out hope that this trip of David's does not start and end with the most pissed off folks and how they blame Seattle for the rain or lack of same.

I think you need to talk to more people in Ellensburg. We just had a city council election that voted in a progressive slate of candidates. Three of Kittitas County's elected officials are democrates.

The town of Ellensburg votes democratic and the county is swing.

Yes, it is VERY cold on the "east side" right now.
I thought about your tour today as I drove south down WA SR-195 from Spokane. I stopped in PROSSER for a latte, and thought it might be fertile ground for local opinion, as there are many signs defending "our dams" and other suggestions of a pro-active political community.
(be careful on those ice-spoted roads)

I lived in Ellensburg for 5 years, and I've even met Mr. Winegar. I understand the complaints of eastside republicans, but his attitude is so defeatist. There are alot of republican politicans in Olympia and D.C. representing Washington state, it's hardly a one-party system. I would venture that republicans in eastern Washington are better represented than democrats are in a state like Texas. We live in a democratic society, and it's immature to whine about being oppressed and call for succession whenever you find yourself in the political minority. If you don't like how your state is governed, try changing your opponents minds instead of demanding your own state!

Absolutely right, Mark. And I'd like to here what specific ideas come from Olympia wouldn't work there? Ellensburg would have made a great capitol, but the politics wouldn't be any different than they are now. As for an Eastern Wash-Ore as it's own state, boy I'd love to see that tax base at work. Can you say federal corporate welfare monkeys?

swislander-

Water doesn't form irrigation districts.

This basic debate has been going on forever. Yes, we would all starve to death over here on the west side, except we're not all a bunch of morons who can't grow things, plus we would just import more stuff using our wealth derived from technology.

The counter-argument is that all the people in Eastern Washington could sit in the dark playing checkers by kerosene lantern if not for the technology that is largely centered on the West Coast. (Try running the power grid without computers.)

So we'd die and you'd be bored, whatever. The entire east-west resentment is fueled by conservative ideologues and baloney artists on AM radio.

Hey, I'm all for dairy operators, but they've all gone out of business in Clark County. When a Democratic county commissioner tried to get ag lands preserved to help everyone, including small operators, he didn't get anywhere. Too much money to be made by the BIA folks I guess.

Does it dawn on anyone that we have more in common with each other than we do with ConAgra and ADM? I'd love to have more locally produced food, and when products from this state are in season I enjoy them immensely. If there are specific policy decisions that will help small ag operators, short of generic "let me dump my waste any where I want and destroy habitat however I want," great. Sorry, but most of the complaints center on environmental protections that are needed for all citizens.

We're all in this together.

A crock as always, stilwell.

"The entire east-west resentment is fueled by conservative ideologues and baloney artists on AM radio."

It is, in fact, fueled by the idiocy of leftist politicians such as those of the city council of Seattle. You remember them, don't you? The idiots that passed a resolution demanding the destruction of Eastern Washington dams?

When leftists become convinced they have the right to interfere in the lives of others on the other side of the state on issues that don't concern them in the least, then resentment on the part of those who WOULD suffer the consequences of their delusion is a natural result.

In this instance, the resentment is fueled by the arrogant stupidity of those who share your world view. Get over it... and get over yourself.

Hinton,
I'd like to find something reasonable in your post, but it's mostly an orgy of angry name calling:
Stupid
Arrogant
Idiots
Delusion...etc.
Your rant does indeed parrot the temper-tantrum dogma of AM talk radio, portrays the east's political style as very emotional and unattractive, and does nothing to bridge the political divide between east and west.
Stillwell closes with, "We're all in this together."
You end with, "...get over yourself."
If I didn't know better, your post might help convince me that easterners are rather irrational.
Stillwell- 1
Hinton- 0

Oh scat! I am going to have to agree with Hinton when he said:
"It is, in fact, fueled by the idiocy of leftist politicians such as those of the city council of Seattle. You remember them, don't you? The idiots that passed a resolution demanding the destruction of Eastern Washington dams?" This action set the debate back five years.
A continuing dialog concerning methods of water storage, storage capacity, fish passage issues, base flows, power generation and irrigation is central to the people of our state. In fact one of the Governors great successes acknowledged by elected officials in both parties, has been in regard to her leadership in this area.

"Stillwell closes with, "We're all in this together.""

JimD, he says this at the end, however, he wants to push his leftist agenda down everyone else's throat, now how does that make it "we're all in this together", is that as long as it is okay with him? Hinton's points are right on, you'd have to open your eyes to to see that though.

Hard to know where to start with Hinton there, he's as iraational on the subject of dam removal as is Mr Postman's employer.

We are talking about removing four dams on the Lower Snake River to restore salmon runs. Hinton refers to "Eastern Wa dams", which could imply all of them and Postman's employer always seems to cut and paste the phrase "Columbia and Snake River dams" which is simply inaccurate and misleading.

The Seattle City Council's resolution on the issue was really ill-advised from a public relations point of view because reactions of the media and the Hintons of the world was quite predictable. One reason they spoke up however was that opponents of removal were continually pointing out that the combined electrical output of the 4 dams in question is enough to power Seattle and some were asserting that Seattle would be in the dark if this was done. Quite reasonable for us to weigh in on that.

Hinton also says, if not quite directly, that the dams in quetion are of no concern to Western Washington. That is simply not true.

There are many fishing families is SW WA (some with lineages as long as those of some farming families)who now have to fish Alaskan waters because there aren't enough salmon in the Columbia to allow for a sustainable commercial harvest.
The media was too busy bashing Seattle for it's resolution to report the almost identical resolutions passed by Astoria and Warrenton, two fishing towns on the Oregon side of the Lower Columbia, whose fishing economies have been devastated by the decline in salmon, much of which is attributable to the dams in question.

The recent ESA listing of western Washington's resident orcas is due in large part to the decline of the Chinook salmon that compose the bulk of their diet. And yes, scientists do indeed say that salmon from the Snake River system are a significant component of this diet.

Puhleeeze. You got 95% of the pie and you begrudge the Eastern half the other 5%! Boo frickin hoo.

This is a real distortion, Eastern WA is not half the state, in fact, it's not even a quarter of the state.

We've nine equally apportioned congressional districts, which means that each of them contains 11.11% of the state's population. 7 of them are on the west side and 2 are on the east side. Do the math.

bothsides,
What do you consider stilwell's "leftist agenda"?
I don't know if it's some term of derision you heard on the AM radio or FOX News that you think applies to everyone with whom you disagree - or does it refer to the left side of the state???
Seriously - in regards to Washington's east/west political divide - what is the "leftist agenda".

And how is stillwell trying to "push" this supposed "agenda down everyone else's throat"? He's posting opinion in a reasonably articulate manner without a lot of emotional clutter - hardly the one aggressively "pushing" anything around here - in contrast to those who push the ill-tempered sloganeering of hostile temper tantrums in place of anything constructive or thoughtful.

Thank you Cascadian. You nailed the Dam issue.

It's okay, folks. Just don't feed the Hinton troll, or bothsides, who is obviously also Hinton.

Togetherness is a very appealing theme, certainly! I'm always interested in the concerns of others, and I will vote them when I can. I'd hope they would also recognize mine. We need to help each other.

I live in Everett and often feel the way Winegar does. The Seattle liberal left leads the pack. Thank heavens we have the iniative process and people like Eyeman who can help rally the common man/woman to find chinks in the liberal/Deomocarat armour!!

I do feel my vote counts but I also know the liberal Democratic machine rules the roost in Olymia via Seattle.