CGEI not cut from same cloth as former executive

Lou Marzeles
Editor and Publisher

     Fallout from the William Weiler ethics charges continues to—well, fall out.
     Weiler, you will recall, is the former Fish and Wildlife biologist charged by a state ethics board with trying to steer business toward the non-profit organization that he ran. He was also cited by that board with using his state-owned computer for writing up religious material and creating marketing tools for his organization. He was, the board said, in significant conflict of interest. Ethics professionals, not to mention your average guy in the street, tend to seriously frown on such things.
     For that matter, so does his own former non-profit organization, the Columbia Gorge Ecology Institute (CGEI). The institute removed Weiler from its board on March 25.
     A call came to The Sentinel office last week from Aaron Morehouse, CGEI’s executive director, and he also wrote us a letter. “We’re concerned about people equating CGEI with unethical actions,” Morehouse said. And he makes a good point: CGEI ought not to be painted with the same brush used on Weiler.
     It’s worth reviewing the rather remarkable work that CGEI does. The institute provides education programs that help connect kids with their home landscapes and teach some core foundations of science. Its programs reach nearly 2,000 young people each year. These programs allow kids to engage in real hands-on stewardship of the land and its resources and get them out in the field.      CGEI is also the only education organization of its kind reaching a 2,000 square mile service area that stretches from the Bonneville Dam to The Dalles and from Mount Adams south to Mount Hood.      And Morehouse says his organization wants total transparency. You can call him at (541) 387-2274.
     “We want people to know that CGEI never knew anything about Bill Weiler’s conflict of interest,” Morehouse said.
     We do, too. Let CGEI do its positive work unfettered by negative association.