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Guest Forum: What the Bush administration is doing stinks like a dead fish. By JoAnne Eggers Ashland I serve on the Board of Directors of Headwaters and am writing on behalf of the board and staff. Karl Rove, a Bush political strategist, is evidently showing up at meetings to put a political spin on the Klamath Basin's water shortage problems. The intent seems to be reaping political gain for his boss. Addressing the Klamath River issues is hard enough without the Bush politicking. We remind Mr. Bush that what we need here to arrive at any honest workable solution is the best science (he promised us that), not sleazy politics. The President is supposed to be serving all the American people and protecting our resources, including habitat that will sustain, not kill, fish. If the Bush administration put the same focus and energy into generating solutions that acknowledge the reality of water over allocation, we would already be a long ways down the road toward supporting conditions that sustain both fish and people. One often cited possibility is to buy out farmers who would be willing to sell their property, thus reducing the demand for irrigation water. Science is the appropriate basis for analysis and decision making related to water use in the Basin. Since salmon and other fish do not vote or even get interviewed by pollsters, it is even more important for science to have its proper influence in analysis and decision making. Karl Rove has no legitimate business trying to influence agency findings, reports, evaluations, and recommendations. We also urge Representative Greg Walden to rise above politics and work for an honest-to-goodness solution instead of the recent wheeling and dealing he performed to cut back the amount of water for fish. What the Bush administration is doing stinks like a dead fish. It must be extremely awkward to put a political spin on the 33,000 dead fish that did not make it up the Klamath River last year to spawn. Let's have more spawning and less spinning. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -