Political Quotes

“Mr. President, our third team member who is leaving is Ben Ward. I think of Ben as our appropriations wizard. He knows that system inside out, and he is the master of Tribal issues and natural resources issues and so much more. He is heading off to serve as the Office of Management and Budget's Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs. I think the whole world noticed his extraordinary talents, and we are looking forward to continuing to work with him as we strive to make the appropriations efforts as effective as possible. I think that virtually no one in Oregon has gone untouched by the work that Ben has done over the past 5 years. He has worked to get piping money to Central Oregon to assist the farmers. The farmers not only get more water, but more water gets left in the Deschutes River. He has worked very hard to advance the improvement of Native fishing sites, treaty fishing sites, on the Columbia River and the preparations to rebuild communities that were wiped out by the building of dams some 70 years ago that have never been properly addressed. He has proceeded to help the Klamath Tribes secure the funds to improve the habitats for their sacred c'waam and koptu fish and to improve the whole, entire water ecosystem in the Klamath Basin for all of the stakeholders.…”