Hilary Franz, the state public lands commissioner, stands accused of being an formidable politician.
Sure, and the forest is inexperienced and the river is moist.
Ambition in a politician isn’t precisely uncommon. Nonetheless, quite a few of us who work on the Division of Pure Sources insist, on and off the report, that Franz let her quest for greater workplace – first, an aborted run for governor and, now, a race for Congress – get too blended in along with her official duties because the caretaker of 6 million acres of Washington’s forests, seashores and different public lands. Some workers felt as in the event that they have been being nudged into political exercise on her behalf.
If the complaints are right, it does seem Franz could have boosted herself an excessive amount of in the middle of boosting the pursuits of her division. Nevertheless, it’s price remembering lands commissioners of the distant previous whose principal ambition was to serve enterprise pursuits as a substitute of the general public. Franz can’t be accused of that.
As a substitute, she deserves credit score for pushing into the politics of Olympia to boost the profile of DNR, thereby securing $500 million from the Legislature to combat and stop wildfires and growing the division’s finances by 60% throughout her two phrases in workplace.
It took greater than a caretaker to do this; it took a politician. Being out entrance within the political enviornment could have served Franz’s profession aspirations – we are going to see how her congressional marketing campaign finally ends up – but it surely additionally served the folks of this state. And that’s not such a horrible factor.
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