(NOTE: Just because you don't live in King County, WA, don't think for one minute that your government isn't planning something just as ridiculous as hiring a rural ombudsman ("Govnmn't Man") at $70,000 plus per year. A government not monitored, is a government out of control.)

So now the rural residents of King County have their own rural ombudsman. Hooray! Or do they? Much hoopla was given to selecting the new King County rural landowner ombudsman, the one Mr. David Spohr, a lawyer for the justice department. But he wasn't just a lawyer for the justice department. He was a lawyer defending the U. S. Government against a beleaguered, nationally-known property owner and cattle rancher, Mr. Wayne Hage. Read about Mr. Hage at: https://nj.npri.org/nj98/04/hage.htm. And read about the status of his case at: https://www.stewards.us/hage_v_us/hage_v_us.htm.

The federal government, under either the Forest Service, or the Bureau of Land Management or some other government out-of-control bureaucracy, egged on by environmentalists, sent armed horsemen onto Mr. Hage's grazing allotment property, rounded up his cattle and then sold them at auction. Mr. Hage has been fighting the government for over 10 years, defending his allotment and property rights, at a huge personal cost to him, I might add.

"There is no sinister plot here, no conspiracy," said David Spohr, a Justice Department lawyer representing the two federal agencies. "If anything, the federal agencies were too soft. They allowed too many violations to go on for too long," Spohr said. "He (Hage) believes this entire 752,000 acres has been set aside entirely for his use."

Read the whole article at:

So who did we get for a rural ombudsman? Not Steve Hammond who was local rural property owner, a previous county councilman and one who was in tune with the rural landowner. No!!! We got an attorney for the justice department (government) who fought rural landowners on the side of the government. It's just "big government" hiring more "big government" stooges (with a big-government mindset), to rule over the "people". "Now all you little sheep. You line up like good little boys and girls, or the government sheep dog will bite you, or have lamb chops for dinner."

First, we had all-lower-case joan burlinghame, as a temporary rural liaison to placate the rural landowner over the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO). She got over $50,000 for a 10-month contract to liaison with rural landowners. Was the $50,000 well spent? You've got to be kidding!!! Mr. Spohr is going to get over $70,000 per year and for what? Will he be able to reverse the CAO? Of course not. Only the Council can do that, or the voters. Will he be able to sooth the frayed feathers of rural property owners who come up against DDES who enforces the CAO with a Gestapo hand and charges exorbitant fees for the privilege? Not likely. And if you don't think King County's DDES is acting Gestapo-like, ask rural landowner Ron Rowe. Ask Charles Strouss. Ask Karl and Diana Lechner. Ask Stan Powers and ask the 1,500 to 2,000 rural landowners who fall afoul of DDES code enforcement every year, turned in by their neighbors, anonymously of course.

Should we give him a chance? A chance to do what? Spend $70,000 plus of our hard-earned tax money, that's what! Now if the NO-CAO Referenda is upheld by the State Supreme Court and the unincorporated voters of King County repeal the CAO, will the Council then fire the "govnmn't man". Probably not.

Rural landowners. It's the Growth Management Act (GMA) that has to go. It is the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) that has to go. The repeal of both would bring true, constitutional freedom to the rural landowner, who is being required to bear the entire burden of environmental protection without due process and without compensation (5th Amendment violations), so that city-folk can have their own private "park", at the rural landowners expense. Of course the city folk don't have to follow the same rules as the rural landowner. They have already fouled the environment and continue to foul it, big time, every day. Oh. And by the way. DDES has got to go as well.

And finally, it is the King County Rural Ombudsman (KCRO) that has to go, saving the taxpayers over $70,000 per year, plus benefits, along with a whole lot of do-nothing work and rural landowners who get their hopes up for nothing.

People. We get from government, rural ombudsmans that will do nothing. We get handed a "bone" for border control. We get amnesty of law breakers. We get ordinance, after ordinance, after ordinance to control every aspect of our lives. We get endangered species acts (ESA) that force people out of work and off their properties for owls that are going extinct naturally and mice that are improperly labeled as endangered. We get constant attempts to take our guns away. Our Constitutions are trashed. Our freedoms and liberties trampled upon by big government, socialists and wild-eyed, radical environmentalists. We get eminent domain for other than a clear government purpose. We get bureaucracies that have become the fourth branch of government, with accountability only to themselves and exponentially-rising budgets. We get mounting tax burdens and more and constantly increasing government employment. And we get thousands of laws passed every day, where the "consent of the governed" is never asked for permission. Good God! When does anyone get it?