Hilary Franz, the state public lands commissioner, stands accused of being an bold politician.
Sure, and the forest is inexperienced and the river is moist.
Ambition in a politician will not be precisely uncommon. Nonetheless, quite a few folks who work at the Department of Natural Resources insist, on and off the document, that Franz let her quest for larger 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 staff felt as in the event that they had been being nudged into political exercise on her behalf.
If the complaints are appropriate, it does seem Franz might have boosted herself an excessive amount of in the midst of boosting the pursuits of her division. Nonetheless, it’s value remembering lands commissioners of the distant previous whose predominant ambition was to serve enterprise pursuits as an alternative of the general public. Franz can’t be accused of that.
As an alternative, she deserves credit score for pushing into the politics of Olympia to lift the profile of DNR, thereby securing $500 million from the Legislature to battle and forestall wildfires and rising 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 might have served Franz’s profession aspirations — we are going to see how her congressional marketing campaign finally ends up — however it additionally served the folks of this state. And that isn’t such a horrible factor.
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