American Lands Council loses 45% of it's membership

[Ben Lamb]

A little good news on a Wednesday. Keep pouring the heat on:

http://westernvaluesproject.org/secretive-american-lands-council-sees-memberships-drop-45/

As the American Lands Council, the group advocating for the seizure of valuable public lands in the West, prepares to meet behind closed doors at an undisclosed location in Salt Lake City, a new investigation by the Western Values Project reveals that county memberships in the group have dropped an estimated 45% since the American Lands Council first published a list of members. The results of the investigation were published today in High Country News.

Last year, ALC removed from its website their list of counties who pay annual dues to the group. To determine the current membership, WVP filed formal information requests to the 53 counties formerly listed as members, and found that a substantial number, up to 45%, are no longer members. The membership status of another 19% is unclear, as county officials have either not responded to requests for information, or because counties are undecided about renewing membership. The remaining 36% are still members. Correspondence with individual counties is available upon request.



This comes on the heels of more bad news for the group’s land transfer agenda, after a report by the Conference of Western Attorneys General concluded that lawsuits seeking to force the transfer of federal lands to states are unlikely to succeed. The group voted 11-1 to accept the report’s findings, leaving little doubt in the reports conclusions.

 

[James Riley]

Serious question from someone who does not know the answer: Is it legal/okay for governments to be dues-paying members of private public interest organizations? Like my city, county, state, fed could be a dues paying member of, say, the ACLU, or the NRA, NAMBLA? WTF?

I've never seen anything that would prevent it, but it strikes me as odd. Would they just do it in executive fashion? Or would they hold a vote of the Commission/Council/Congress, etc., on the record where all their constituents can see they are in bed with this or that outfit?

Thanks for any education anyone might provide.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Serious question from someone who does not know the answer: Is it legal/okay for governments to be dues-paying members of private public interest organizations? Like my city, county, state, fed could be a dues paying member of, say, the ACLU, or the NRA, NAMBLA? WTF?

I've never seen anything that would prevent it, but it strikes me as odd. Would they just do it in executive fashion? Or would they hold a vote of the Commission/Council/Congress, etc., on the record where all their constituents can see they are in bed with this or that outfit?

Thanks for any education anyone might provide.

Yes. Counties are often members of trade organizations, etc. For example, the National Association of Counties is an organization that works on behalf of County Commissioners. Those Counties that are associated with state assn's pay dues, etc.

Depending on the amount of money budgeted for membership, and the by-laws of the Commission, a public hearing may or may not be necessary for the expenditure. BHA members in Wyoming have done good work holding the Natrona County Commission's feet to the fire on this during public comment portions of CC meetings. Nothing says that if your county supports the ALC, you can't go make a stink of it at the next meeting during open comment.

 

[grizzly_]

I contacted my County Commissioner last year and threatened a public records request to eventually find out they had paid $10,000 to ALC. A call to the local newspaper, The Herald Journal, resulted in a front page article which led to an Editorial against the decision, multiple opposing letters to the editor, and heavy coverage on local talk radio.

I'll follow up in a few weeks to check for this year, but I highly doubt they'll renew.

That's a pretty tough expense for most Counties to justify to taxpayers when questioned.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I contacted my County Commissioner last year and threatened a public records request to eventually find out they had paid $10,000 to ALC. A call to the local newspaper, The Herald Journal, resulted in a front page article which led to an Editorial against the decision, multiple opposing letters to the editor, and heavy coverage on local talk radio.

I'll follow up in a few weeks to check for this year, but I highly doubt they'll renew.

That's a pretty tough expense for most Counties to justify to taxpayers when questioned.

Awesome work!

 

[JBS]

Serious question from someone who does not know the answer: Is it legal/okay for governments to be dues-paying members of private public interest organizations? Like my city, county, state, fed could be a dues paying member of, say, the ACLU, or the NRA, NAMBLA? WTF?

I've never seen anything that would prevent it, but it strikes me as odd. Would they just do it in executive fashion? Or would they hold a vote of the Commission/Council/Congress, etc., on the record where all their constituents can see they are in bed with this or that outfit?

Thanks for any education anyone might provide.

I had not heard of the third organization you listed- so I googled it. I wish I hadn't.

 

[MThuntr]

I had not heard of the third organization you listed- so I googled it. I wish I hadn't.

I thought that it was a South Park thing and they were making fun of a serious group's acronym...turns out googling such as a mistake. FYI guys don't google the third group at work.

 

[Schaaf]

Uff da, wish I would have read the red letters before I went to google.

 

[grizzly_]

For anybody that is interested, here is the article that ran after I emailed the newspaper... http://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/co...cle_ad16d28a-9d22-524f-b552-93adc7565e79.html

I post this to show how effective a simple email to local media can be. BHA was great to provide a quote for the article as well. We could really raise awareness of this among Sportsmen with some more of these stories.

Also, I confirmed our county did not renew. It works.

 

[James Riley]

Yes. Counties are often members of trade organizations, etc. For example, the National Association of Counties is an organization that works on behalf of County Commissioners. Those Counties that are associated with state assn's pay dues, etc.

Depending on the amount of money budgeted for membership, and the by-laws of the Commission, a public hearing may or may not be necessary for the expenditure. BHA members in Wyoming have done good work holding the Natrona County Commission's feet to the fire on this during public comment portions of CC meetings. Nothing says that if your county supports the ALC, you can't go make a stink of it at the next meeting during open comment.

Thanks. I guess I think that is some BS right there. One man's innocuous "trade organization" or what have you, is another man's partisan political hack organization. I would think government should steer clear of expenditures on such things. Might as well take taxpayer money and use it to pay dues to the Republican Party. Or the Democrats.

So the County could become a dues-paying member of BHA and then the ALC would have to hold Commission feet to the fire. The better option would be for the Commissioners to refrain from joining any outfit in the first place.

If I found out my commissioners were using my tax dollars to pay dues in an outfit that I hated, I would be some serious pissed off. Might even have to run for office. Maybe I don't want to know.

$10,000.00?????? To sell my public lands?????

 

[Ben Lamb]

Thanks. I guess I think that is some BS right there. One man's innocuous "trade organization" or what have you, is another man's partisan political hack organization. I would think government should steer clear of expenditures on such things. Might as well take taxpayer money and use it to pay dues to the Republican Party. Or the Democrats.

So the County could become a dues-paying member of BHA and then the ALC would have to hold Commission feet to the fire. The better option would be for the Commissioners to refrain from joining any outfit in the first place.

If I found out my commissioners were using my tax dollars to pay dues in an outfit that I hated, I would be some serious pissed off. Might even have to run for office. Maybe I don't want to know.

$10,000.00?????? To sell my public lands?????

I don't disagree.

I would also note that groups like the National Associaton of Counties are generally led by rural, conservative counties and have adopted platforms in support of land transfer and less transparent review processes on public land. So while they may give money to the ALC, they're also funding groups like NACO which advocate for the same things.

 

[MoGreen]

11-1 they accept the decision. Great. More important things to worry about in the next 20 days until the election. Put her in and your worries will be far beyond public land issues.

You can still vote liberal down ballot. She gets those judges and you're gonna regret it.

 

[MooseCaboose]

That's all good to see. Can't wait for this movement to go the way of the dodo

 

[Elkmagnet]

11-1 they accept the decision. Great. More important things to worry about in the next 20 days until the election. Put her in and your worries will be far beyond public land issues.

You can still vote liberal down ballot. She gets those judges and you're gonna regret it.

I'm going to warn you Mogreen.

DON'T OPEN THIS LINK!

http://www.cafepress.com/+2016_election_hillary_clinton_teddy_bear,1717491355

 

[Big Foot]

I'm going to warn you Mogreen.

DON'T OPEN THIS LINK!

http://www.cafepress.com/+2016_election_hillary_clinton_teddy_bear,1717491355

Thanks elkmagnet! This made my night. I am pretty sure it is a baby grizzly bear.