(This article was originally published on the Freedom Foundation blog on July 7, 2014, written by Scott Roberts, while he was employed at the Freedom Foundation. The original article posting was deleted by the Freedom Foundation in 2017. It has been reposted here exactly as it was originally written)
When Washington State Department of Ecology’s Bob Penhale wrote, “I will offer that we must find joy in the hunt, and that the crafty old bucks are the most satisfying to harvest,” he was referring to property owners, not game.
Penhale’s email was sent to Colin Maycock, a San Juan County planner, who immediately objected to the reference when he replied, “I would like to stress that San Juan County staff are not and have never been interested in ‘hunting’ the citizens and rather resent the implication that we ‘target’ individuals for code enforcement actions.”
This email exchange highlights two persistent problems with our state government—the overabundance of laws and bureaucrats who misuse them.
The point of contention between Penhale and Maycock was whether or not the citizen’s property access should be classified as a “skid trail” or a road. The citizen possessed a valid Forest Protection Plan approved by the Department of Natural Resources indicating that the access was a skid trail.
Access to forests—under our state’s Forest Protection Act—is exempt from the Environmental Protection Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) rules and, subsequently, the state’s dragnet of laws and rules that regulate waters of the state.
The regulations of the “waters of the state” were originally intended to protect large water bodies, but over time the definition has been so distorted by the Department of Ecology that state bureaucrats are now able to regulate a trickle of water in roadside ditches.
Penhale writes, “Assuming this is the skid trail I looked at last month, at times such as this one an activity that is a screaming violation under county (enabled by Department of Ecology) rules and regs is legal under the Forest Practices Act (RCW 76.09).”
Under DNR’s rules, the citizen is peacefully in compliance. If DOE’s rules applied, he would be found in violation, and could be harassed by Penhale and his weapons of mass bureaucratic destruction.
However, the overabundance—and fair application—of rules by themselves would be benign.
Which brings me to my second point: Bureaucrats abuse the power given to them.
I’ll start by saying there are many good people who serve our state by working for the government, but they are being overshadowed by a growing number of state workers who abuse their power and intentionally persecute citizens.
It’s these malevolent employees whose actions dwarf the goodwill of their fellow well-intentioned colleagues. Their actions cast a stigma of distrust over government that the public cannot—nor should they ever—forget.
Former IRS Director Lois Lerner has dominated the national news because she abused her power by targeting and harassing citizens. But Lois Lerner is not an isolated case, and this kind of distrust reaches well into our state government.
Rep. Matt Manweller (R-Ellensburg) recently used Lerner to describe our state agencies when he said, “My message to your listeners is, Lois Lerner is not an exception. There are thousands of Lois Lerners all throughout your bureaucracy picking on people because they know they’re untouchable. Lois Lerner is not unique, there is a Lois Lerner in every third cubicle (in WA state agencies).”
These bureaucrats act with impunity in our federal government because they are blindly protected by President Obama. Sadly, our state workers have imprinted the same behavior because they receive identical cover from Gov. Inslee.
Penhale’s email is hardly an isolated incident. Last spring, Glen Morgan of the Freedom Foundation exposed emails written by former DOE Director Ted Sturdevant, who wrote disparaging emails describing some citizens. The following week, Sturdevant resigned from the lofty position he held as Inslee’s chief legislative and policy officer.
Penhale must feel adequately protected by Inslee and his superiors because he was uninhibited in writing his thoughts in an email—a record discoverable by the state’s Public Records Act. It’s shocking to think that he can have such callous disdain for the citizens he has been hired to serve. If he’s willing to put those words into an email, imagine what he’s saying to other like-minded employees over the cubicle.
Penhale did backpedal once he realized Maycock was offended by his statement, and he wrote, “No lack of respect for the public intended, nor to the professionalism of the San Juan County staff. Just an (apparently clumsy) attempt at providing an analogy.”
But the damage had already been done, and those words alone are not a convincing apology.
The public is not safe when people like Penhale are employed by the state and weaponized with this armory of rules. Whether he uses them to target specific individuals or to terrorize citizens at random, these legal weapons should not be given to people like Penhale.
There is only one letter of apology that is appropriate, and that is his letter of resignation.
View the email exchange here.
Links:
