Friends –
Filing week has passed, and it’s still with a heavy heart that I will not continue in the Public Lands race. However, just because my presence and our voice are no longer in this particular race, it doesn’t mean we won’t be heard.
I continue to stand by the values our campaign centered and a people-first approach to stewardship. As each of the Public Lands campaigns and other important races on the ballot progress, it’s important that we keep our community’s diverse and unique needs at the center of any decisions we make and votes we cast.
This is why I want to share with you my bottom-line demands of the next Commissioner of Public Lands who wants to earn my support. I hope these can help guide you as you make informed decisions.
Whoever is CPL needs to:
- Elevate the Environmental Justice Director and Tribal Relations Director to the executive level to successfully exert their full authority to manage our natural resources for the public benefit of all Washingtonians;
- Consult women, Tribes, labor, and immigrant communities on who they hire and retain for their leadership and executive positions;
- Run a campaign centered in community and putting resources back into community, so CPL has more accountability to people who work the land and build the public support necessary to resist and stand up to big timber;
- Run a campaign that does not take immigrants, Tribal Nations, Eastern Washington, and Central Washington communities for granted;
- Run a campaign that inspires people to vote no on the initiatives and yes for a future that includes their communities;
- Run a campaign promoting climate-centered policies and community resiliency, valuing trees as a critical cooling mitigation and flood control asset;
- Remove barriers to grants, including the application process, delays, and unreasonable expectations of small community organizations and Tribal Nations;
- Be a collaborative leader who will partner with other state agencies, not impede climate-based science and common sense implementation;
- Commit to reducing the impact of industrial agricultural grazing on public lands on land health and water quality;
- Support migrant workers’ right to organize, fight for thriving wages and benefits, and utilize the CPL platform to support migrant workers to access public goods like unemployment insurance regardless of their status;
- Support and champion No on I-2117 and continue to hold big corporations accountable for polluting Washington State;
Our support, particularly Latine communities’ support, should be earned — not expected.
Adelante,
Team Rebecca Saldaña (D)
PO Box 20776
Seattle, WA 98102
United States