A supporter recently passed along a slick campaign mailing produced by my opponent’s legislative office and mailed out at taxpayer expense. As if the fact that we as taxpayers have to pay for his campaign efforts wasn’t enough, the piece actually contains deceptions as to the industry-friendly diversion loopholes that were written into the Water Legacy Act.

The publicly-funded campaign piece incorrectly states that “any water withdrawal that would harm a trout stream is prohibited.” In fact, the legislation allows corporations to divert up to 100,000 gallons per day of our water, even if it makes our Blue Ribbon trout streams run dry. In addition, existing diversions, even those over 100,000 gallons per day, are unaffected so long as they aren’t increased. This is the same legislation that authorizes the first legal water diversions from the Great Lakes Basin in nearly 100 years.

That’s just wrong. Private corporations shouldn’t be allowed to take any amount of water that would damage the trout streams that are so important to our local economy and our way of life. Not one drop.

It’s bad enough that the chair of the House Natural Resources, Great Lakes, Land Use, and the Environment Committee is deceiving his constituents on the details of legislation that passed through his committee. That we as taxpayers have to pick up the tab for these deceptions is just plain shameful.

The fact that my opponent is using our tax dollars to fund his campaign shows just how ethically bankrupt Republicans in the State House have become, and reinforces why so many local people will be voting for change on November 7. If I’m your next State Representative, I will work to plug the Nestle Loophole in our water laws, and will stop anyone from damaging our rivers, lakes, and streams.