Washblog

Rose and I met at the Forza coffee shop in University Place, a recently incorporated city near Tacoma. I arrived half an hour late, having turned to Mapquest after misplacing the directions she had sent me. I'd been circling around unfamiliar streets on the wrong end of town and I entered the shop in disarray, a little unsteady on my feet, struggling to keep my pocketbook strap from catching on the door and my papers from falling off my clipboard.  There was a real contrast in the welcome that Rose offered me.  She has a feeling about her of high energy combined with calmness that could put anyone at ease.

Noemie
Tell me about the PCO experience in your precinct. What has that been like?

Rose Ehart
I got appointed to be a PCO this time around. But I'm going to run for it this year. I like talking with people in my neighborhood. I enjoy meeting people. I believe in political participation and this is a good way to put that into action.

Noemie
That's one of the big challenges we have, a relatively low level of political engagement. It seems to be an uphill battle to bring important issues into people's awareness.

Rose Ehart
Many people aren't aware of political issues until there is something that involves them in their personal life. For a lot of people, even in relation to the Iraq war, it's no big deal for them. But if they are related to someone who is serving, then it becomes personal. So part of what we need to do is to help people feel personally connected. This can be a matter of stepping into someone else's shoes to understand why they don't see what we see. Now, there are some people who are going to walk past a problem and never see it. But that's a very small number. Most people pay attention to information when they understand it's relevant for them.

We're a very diverse society. In my precinct I talk with Democrats and Republicans. There are people from all cultural backgrounds, Koreans, Hawaiians, Samoans. We have to find different ways to say things so that we can reach people. For any one idea, there has to be at least ten ways it can be expressed.

Noemie
This is something I've been thinking about a lot. How can people come to recognize the concerns they share, how can they understand that what happens in politics affects them in their daily lives?

Rose Ehart
Research is most important. When you are trying to communicate or develop relationships, you have to identify where the shared interests are. There has to be a good match. I took a fundraising workshop where they covered this. It was funny. I had just been turned down for a grant for The Bread Basket from a major hardware store. Well, in this workshop, one of the speakers was talking about the importance of matching the interests of the funder and the nonprofit. 'Say you're a foodbank,' she said. 'And say you're asking Lowe's Hardware for money.' That was exactly my situation - except not with Lowes! And then she said, 'So you're asking Lowes for a grant. But you have to explain the match between their values and your values. They're not going to help you just because you're doing a good thing. They're going to help you if you're doing a good thing that meets their interests.'

In the political realm, we need to understand why people are voting for politicians like Bush. Progressives say: 'You've got to believe what I believe!' But that's not going to work. People vote on values not because they're good values - but because they're the good values that they hold. We've got to find out what motivates people. And we have to stop getting angry at people for not understanding things in the same ways we do. We have to stop expecting people to all be at the same level of passion. We don't need voters to tie themselves to trees on environmental issues. We simply need them to vote right.

Noemie
There is that tendency that I've seen among progressives to expect everyone to be a "true believer". And there is this tendency - and of course this is a human tendency, not just a progressive one - to take things personally.

Rose Ehart
Right. Sometimes misunderstandings happen because there are so many ways to express any given idea. Which means there are many ways to reach people.

If our elected officials think that people are going to vote in a certain way because they've always voted that way, they're making a mistake. Oftentimes Democratic voters are taken for granted. They seem to think we're like the Republicans, that we're into blind loyalty. But most people aren't like that. People are feeling frustrated. We feel that our votes don't count because the people we vote for are not doing what they said they would. And there's so much hate now between the parties. It feels like we're being used as pawns. People need to have hope, or they're not going to turn out to vote. People need to feel that there's a chance that elected officials will do what we put them into office for. More importantly when we do not agree with their record, they need to value our vote and trust enough to at least explain themselves so that we can understand.

Noemie
It's seemed to me that elected Democrats, particularly on the state and county levels, have been doing good work under difficult circumstances.

Rose Ehart
Yes. But it's hard for people to know this in connection with their daily lives. For one thing, how long does it take to reform health care insurance? I love Governor Gregoire. But I don't see a plan for healthcare insurance coming out of the state. Even Oregon's governor is aggressively working towards statewide health coverage. There always seems to be an excuse. This is something we should be doing. We should just do it. We have the power to do it.

For example, let's take the WASL. This is bogus what's going on. The state should admit that we're using the WASL in the wrong way. It should be an assessment tool, not a graduation requirement or a punishment for students and schools. It makes no sense to tell a school, hey, you're not serving your students well, so let's take away more money so your students can do worse.

The WASL has almost a Communistic sense to it, as if everyone learns the same. But every child is different. Some children are visual learners. Some are hands-on. We need people with all kinds of learning styles. No child should get picked on for failing to learn in the way that the WASL measures.

There's a story about Albert Einstein that I like. A teacher asked the children to write down their home addresses as an answer on a test. Einstein asked for a phone book to look it up. He didn't see the point in remembering his address when there were so many other things to remember that weren't in any reference book anywhere. His teacher didn't understand why he had to look up his information and thought he was stupid and would never amount to anything. Which shows that people can be wrong when they expect people to all learn in one particular way (or to display what they know in only one particular way). Because last time I checked Albert Einstein went very far in life and I am sure was far more brilliant than even that particular teacher.

The University Place schools are awesome. But even straight-A students in our schools live in fear of the WASL. The students spend weeks preparing for this test during class time. And then, after the test, there's a week of half days so the students can recover. It's that stressful.

There are so many reasons why children might not do well, even aside from learning differences. Some people don't know how important it is for children to eat properly. Well, we have children going to school hungry. Some children don't have enough heat in their homes. Or Daddy is beating up mommy. There are cultural factors. There are economic factors. Some families don't value school. Some children come into school after sleeping all night in their cars.

Noemie
Do you have other political plans?

Rose Ehart
University Place is a relatively new city and all the people who are on the Council now were active during the incorporation phase in some way. In the next few years, there may be someone who steps down. If seats start to open there, I'd like to run for City Council. I love my city. But I'm also learning about the 28th Legislative District and the 7th County District (Pierce County). I'm getting myself situated to learn more about the issues in these different jurisdictions and to get to know people. Maybe in four years I'll run for County Council. My background is primarily in human services. And I'm expanding outward from that. I do plan ahead.

Noemie
You're developing a deeper grasp of the issues.

Rose Ehart
I don't agree that politicians should have instant responses for everything. No matter how passionate I might be about something, when I dig a little deeper, I sometimes find that I learn something more, that I didn't expect.

Noemie
One of the things I hoped to do today, is to talk about religion.  The Bread Basket site states a commitment to a literal interpretation of the Bible. It also welcomes all churches to take part in its work. You are a political progressive, an environmentalist, a person committed to social justice and tolerance. I am seeing that evangelicals are starting to own the environmental issue. I'm understand that connection, between religious faith and care for creation. But there are other issues, such as choice or gay rights, where I don't understand how Evangelical Christianity and political progressivism can be compatible.

Rose Ehart
I'm who I am and that's that! I'm a Born Again, Charismatic, Evangelical Christian. People who believe as I do are seen as the ones who are sucking up the money and buying all the broadcast airtime and being spectacular and getting all the attention. People from other countries must think that Evangelical American Christians are all covered up in makeup. But those people on TV and radio do not represent the Evangelical Christianity that I am part of. They're just the ones who have gained control over the main media outlets.

Noemie
I struggle with the judgment aspect of Christianity. I feel that Christians look at me and see a doomed soul.

Rose Ehart
I believe in a literal Hell. This is where people who hate God will be. Even so, I cannot say who is going to heaven or hell. Even a person who hates God today may one day have a change of heart and love Him. When Jesus was on the cross, he said to the thief next to him that he would be with him in paradise that very day. I know that people who don't look or believe like I do will be in heaven with me. Nobody knows the human heart except God and He judges the heart.  We can see compassion and mercy and love in action. But we cannot presume to know what God knows or how He will judge another person. Jesus told us very clearly that we should not judge.   Simply because we can not begin to judge accurately or justly. He said, he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. The only person in that story who had no sin was Jesus. Did Jesus cast a stone? No.

People who preach hate do not know God correctly. God doesn't say, "Honey, I'd love to let you into heaven, but sorry, you didn't get baptized." Human beings are quick to judge and define others' relationship to God based on their own knowledge or ignorance. For example Native Americans who served "the great white spirit" I believe were referring to the same God I speak of. Early settlers did not always make that connection. Well, some people call their mothers, "mom" and others might call their mothers, "Nana". They're all calling their mothers. They know who their mothers are. Loving God in a different religion is like living in another country and paying the taxes there. Each culture is unique. Let us keep our cultural differences. Let us keep our uniqueness. We don't need to judge. We don't need to put our egos into wanting to be God or setting ourselves up against anyone else.

It's what's in our hearts that matters. Words don't always express it. God is not going to ask us, did you go on TV and wear lots of makeup? He's not going to ask us, did you stand in front of an abortion clinic with a sign? He's not going to ask us, did you hate gays? What does matter is how we treat each other. It's not easy to treat other people well. It can be easier to hate. It can be easier to stay in the place where you think you are having a little bit of success hating gays or whatever and to not make the effort to live according to what the Bible teaches.

I got liberated from other people's opinions and judgment because I read the Bible. God tells us; seek out your own salvation. Love one another. Be good to one another. Bless each other. That is not negotiable. Life is too short for anything else.

Noemie
This is a very important concept in our world today, the loss of the unique qualities of cultures and place. It must be frustrating to be judged according to a mass-media notion of what Evangelical religion is.

Rose Ehart
It can be at times; however, I have to stay focused on the fact that I know who I am even though there are times I am thrown in the same box as those who I am not at all like.

Noemie
Thinking independently, breaking out of assumptions and fears. This can take effort, or sometimes it can take a happy accident for someone to discover that it's possible to do. Was there some time or event in your life that enabled you to become an independent thinker?

Rose Ehart
When I was a child, people would sometimes say to me, "God's going to get you!" I never really believed that. Scriptures such as Elijah calling down fire from heaven on people were quoted as a scare tactic, but I never saw God that way.

Anything can be misused. As they say, guns are not bad. People do bad things with them.

One day when I was reading the Bible I got to that story (Luke 9:51-56) where the disciples reported back to Jesus and they said, Lord, they wouldn't listen to us in that town. Should we call down fire from heaven like Elijah did? Jesus answered them, "Don't you know I came to save the world, not to condemn it." Somehow, this scripture isn't one of the popular ones. I guess it's because it lacks that punch that's needed to control others and it requires us to love, forgive, grow and change.

It is important for Christians to read the Bible for themselves. Otherwise they will not know what really is in there. They won't know when important scriptures are being skipped over and they are being led astray. Whether it is a big detour from the word of  God or a small one, eventually it will get them far off course. If people aren't honest about small things, they won't know how to tell the truth about big things. Here's something. If you think about the manger scenes that people set up at Christmas, a lot of times they put the Three Wise Kings in them. But the kings didn't get to Bethlehem when Jesus was a baby. If you read the Bible closely, you see they arrived much later when He was about two years old and he was no longer in the manger. Even small things like that we should pay attention to.

God tries to tell us things. He will tell us many times. He tries to put us on the right path. If we listen to our hearts, we will hear God speaking to us. Jesus preached reconciliation and love. How is it that so many preachers base their sermons on judgment and condemnation? Maybe they're too proud to change when they learn that they are wrong. We should not be too proud to admit we are wrong.

Noemie
Like Washington State should admit it's wrong about the WASL.

Rose Ehart
Right! I don't have a problem telling people when I've been wrong about something. If your heart is telling you that you've got it wrong, you need to listen. That is God speaking. The more you listen the more He'll talk. The more you ignore Him, in time the less you will hear from Him.

I notice most of the messages that cause confusion and harm are done in anger and seem to intentionally hurt people rather than bring healing. Where does this anger come from? It's a refusal to have an open heart. It's a refusal to love. Here's one thing that gets me. The question of choice. I would never have an abortion. But I dare not put myself in the place of God and judge or condemn a woman who has one. I don't know all the circumstances of another person's life. It is not up to me to judge the decisions another person makes. Women can find themselves in extremely difficult situations.

How do you take water and remove the wet? How is it you can take choice away from a human being and still have a human being? Choice is the thing that makes us human. The only thing that makes us God-like, is choice. Do you want to lie in bed all day and be poor? Fine! We have to respect choice because God respects choice. Bears are going to hibernate no matter what. You can play your music, that bear's going to sleep. Salmon are going to swim upstream. But human beings have choice.

Public safety is different. Law limits choice to protect public safety, that's the role of government. However I believe the right to make personal choices were given to us by God and I for one choose to respect God by respecting people's rights to freely choose.

If you notice, the people who have no compassion for others, they're the ones who aren't letting God be who He is. God has patience with us. We must have patience with other people and with ourselves. We're not all the same and change does not happen overnight. An acorn seems insignificant, but give it time and the right conditions and it becomes the mighty oak. Because we do not know qualities lie within people, we are foolish to judge them from the outside.

Noemie
But what is the place of fear in all this? How is it that some people get to love God and others Hate him and end up in Hell? And how is it that there are passages, such as in Leviticus, that provide justification for slavery or other terrible things?

Rose Ehart
This is the sad part. There doesn't need to be fear. Jesus says more than anything else, "fear not." As far as loving or not loving God, this is solely the choice of each individual. We get to make our own choices, God gave us that power. You cannot take one little part of the Bible and apply it in isolation from the rest of the Bible. People wanted slavery in the United States because it gave them cheap labor. So they looked for their justification in the Bible. They pushed down their human compassion. They didn't listen to God.

We are called to teach and help each other, not to condemn or order each other around. We have no right given by God to not respect each other. If you read the Bible you will see that Jesus never condemned the thief or the prostitute or the tax collector. The only ones he picked on were the Pharisees and Scribes, those people in power who were filled with hate, even though they looked good on the outside. Jesus said, pray in secret. God knows what is in the heart.

This is what gets me about people who want prayer in the schools. Do they realize that if you legalize prayer in the schools you have to let people pray to any god. You'll have to let children pray to Beelzebub and Satan. We've got to stop putting so much responsibility on teachers and the schools.

God doesn't force me. Why should I force you? People who want to force other people are in an identity crisis and on a power trip.

Noemie
Tell me how you started The Bread Basket?

Rose Ehart
I used to sell real estate. In the winter, I'd take a break from that and work in long-term care for the state as a temp with DSHS (Department of Health and Human Services). One year they changed their computer system. So we ended up going out to the clients in person. I had always helped people with food. When I was in line at the supermarket if I noticed someone who didn't have enough money to pay for their food, I'd help them. I noticed on these DSHS visits that some of these people didn't have food. So I went back to my supervisor and I asked what I could do and I was told that I wasn't allowed to help. I wasn't allowed to give charity to anyone I met through my job with the state. But I knew them independently from the job, then I could help them.

I was going to a wealthy church at the time. I'd go year after year and I didn't notice that we weren't doing charity. But one time I went to my church for help. I had a friend whose husband took all the money and left her with the children. I went to my minister for help. And he said "We don't do benevolence." So I asked, what ministry are we supporting, then? And he told me that God told him that people who are in need choose to be in need. And he said that there was no point in helping poor people, anyway, because we help them today and then tomorrow they're still poor. That is simply not true and found nowhere in the Bible. Well, he was also a Republican.

Now I read the Bible and Jesus says, "Feed the hungry and clothe the poor." He says I was hungry and you didn't feed me. I was cold and you didn't shelter me. I look at the Republican Party that doesn't want to fund human services and I think this is almost like worshipping Satan.

That's when I decided, I am accountable for how I treat the poor. I have to look around and see what I can do. So I took my tithe of 10% and stopped giving it to the church and I gave it to feeding the poor directly. My mother and my friends and I did this together. I had come to know some of the DSHS clients and we helped the ones we knew. Then we realized that there was more to do and that there were resources to do it with. We started applying for grants. And the organizations we applied to would say, "Where's your 501C3?" So we figured out how to incorporate as a nonprofit. We didn't want to spend the money on a lawyer. We did it ourselves little by little with the help of the people at the IRS. We'd call them up and ask, what does this mean? And they led us step by step through the process. After we submitted the application, we were approved on the first try. Then we became City Partners. University Place is a new city and there's limited space. We were housed in a building that is being torn down now and so we're searching for a new location. Because we deliver, we can still function and we don't need a lot of storage. But it's good to have a space that people can come to.

Noemie
The article that Peter Callahan wrote about you in the News Tribune quoted you as saying that conservation was something that really inspires you.

Rose Ehart
Human beings have done a lot of harm to this earth. I am inspired because we can counter many of these effects through conservation and preservation. Sure we have suffered damage, but there is hope. I want to help other people be more aware and inspired.

Noemie
What does the Conservation District do?

Rose Ehart
The Conservation District deals with farmlands and surface water issues. We help farmers and other landowners meet environmental regulations. We work on soil recovery, salmon preservation, tree preservation, wetlands protection. The District owns an oak farm and other parks. All the people in Pierce County are stakeholders in the Conservation District.

We oversee the money that comes from Pierce County property assessments, a $5 assessment per property. And we oversee the money from the state. Most people don't know about the conservation districts until they find out from Ecology or somewhere else that they're out of environmental compliance. Then the District comes in and helps them get back into compliance. We might help them keep their livestock out of a stream. There's a Stream Team that helps with salmon recovery and pulling out the invasive weeds. The District has the potential to really reach out to people, to help them feel more connected with the laws that govern them.

Noemie
How do you stand on I-933? And how do you think the other commissioners might feel about it?

Rose Ehart
I can't speak for the other Supervisors, but I believe they are on the right side of this one. I am opposed to I-933 and I am working with groups like Washington Conservation Voters and others to help spread the word to people that this is not the answer they are looking for.

Noemie
Does the District have any role to play in helping to ease these land use battles?

Rose Ehart
Potentially. There could also be the potential to buy some land or to buy development rights or to help coordinate with other groups. There could be some innovative ways to help farmland be more profitable.

Noemie
Do you have plans to help more voters learn about the elections for the Conservation District?

Rose Ehart
That is something I'm going to work really hard on!

Noemie
Do you have plans for how to bring more public awareness to the work that the Conservation District does? And what are some ways you might be able to get that message out to people?

Rose Ehart
Yes, I have plans! Where there's a will, there's a way. You connect with the environmental groups like the Sierra Club and rent a booth at local city events. You reach out through the media. There's an Ask-the-Expert column in the News Tribune. Things like that can be pursued. The Conservation District has a website that can be updated and promoted. We can always survey people and see what would motivate them to get more involved and then work towards it. There is a budget for the District. We have $2.4 million. People can be reached.

You take advantage of your opportunities. There was an ad recently announcing a Conservation District meeting on an issue that affected everyone in the County. For some reason, the ad announced that people from Puyallup were invited. Everyone should have been invited!

Anyone who's marketing anything knows that you've got to learn about the demographics of your audience. You've got to find ways to win people over, to teach them about your product or service. People learn by repetition. You see commercials over and over. They have to hit you ten times before you hear the message. We can improve the information we provide. We can make things interesting for people. We can tell a story that people relate to. There's no need to be boring.

Noemie
You're coming into a position that was held by a 20-year incumbent. How does that feel?

Rose Ehart
I'm coming in from the outside with a fresh set of eyes. For the most part the District is one to be proud of, but there are areas that need work. Things that are difficult to spot when you have been in the middle of it for so long. I can help to spark change. I can be that voice that wakes things up and refreshes. This may not always be accepted at first, because change isn't always painless. I am willing to be friendly and get along to get the job done. However, there are things that need to be done and if it comes choosing between being buddies and making necessary changes, then, I don't need to be friends with the people I work with. I have enough friends. This doesn't have to be personal for me. The only thing that's personal to me is that we save Mother Earth. We don't need to have drinks together. We just need to work together to uphold the R.C.W. (Revised Code of Washington). I want to help improve the transparency and the accountability of the Conservation District operations. And I want to help give people fire. I want to inspire other people to run for office. The world has changed in the last 20-30 years. We have to change with it.