Letters April 27

Invitation only

Recently, the Lewiston Morning Tribune announced that meetings with Cathy McMorris Rodgers would be held in Colfax on the 17th and 18th of April. The notice ended with, “The public is welcome,” so I walked in for the Monday meeting believing that it was open.

Not true. I didn’t discover this until afterwards when talking with an aide outside. I admitted that I had just been to the meeting about farm issues. Imagine my surprise to be asked, “And they let you in?”

After further conversation, I came to understand that there is a system for being invited to speak with her and an open meeting is not a part of it. Tuesday, I called her Spokane office to verify what I had understood the aide to say.

It is true. CMRs meetings are invitation only.

If you and 14 of your friends and neighbors want to have an audience with CMR during the next congressional recess, this is the system described to me. Send your letter(s) to her office stating that you wish to talk to her about ______. You will become an interest group. Send your request in early and more than once.

The sad thing about the meeting I attended is that so few farmers were invited and that other members of the agricultural community, including the researchers and students at WSU, were not able to be a part of Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ outreach efforts.

Carolyn Cress, Pullman