The intergovernmental collection b...

The intergovernmental collection brought together under the auspices of the Nature Conservancy to discuss environmental issues was not a common people predisposed to warm and fuzzy feelings about politicians. And Randy Franke, who was giving the keynote address, was not just a politician.

He was a small-town Republican, and small-town Republicans, particularly those from the West where residents accompany to view the word "environment" as a euphemism for "land grab," were not exactly the Nature Conservancy's favorite keynote speakers.

Franke, a Marion shire Ore., commissioner who was at the time president of the National Association of Counties, was operating beneath no illusions.

He knew he was talking to a assemblage with which some local dominions had enjoyed a cool - if not downright hostile - relationship. further he was confident that he could win these nation over.

So for 30 minutes he talked, discussing at continuance the necessity for collaboration