Sen. Wyden represents entire state? Prove it.

by NW Spotlight

The Medford Mail Tribune ran a stunning editorial yesterday. Stunning, mostly, because it calls out Sen. Ron Wyden as the missing ingredient in actually getting a deal done on forest policy. It begins:

“Ron Wyden likes to remind you that he’s Oregon’s senator. Suggest that his constituency is based in Portland and the Willamette Valley and he’ll quickly inform you that he represents the entire state. Now he has a chance to prove it.

Wyden is the key to any hopes of making actual, real, significant change in the litigious stalemate that has largely removed the final word from the phrase ‘federal timber harvest.'”

Sen. Wyden has been given a hall pass for years on actually getting something accomplished as the media instead focused on his outreach, talk of working together, and introduction of legislation that goes nowhere.

This is a real break from that narrative and it’s long overdue.