RMEF stance on fed land transfer

Many of the biggest hitters in the state, in regards to sportsman activists, (other than Randy) were at our initial meeting. Land Tawny, Ben Lamb, Ron Moody, John Gibbson, (PLWA) etc. Ben was on the leadership group for awhile. Many came for other reasons, but we have remained steadfast in our mission. This mission is what we have been talking about on this thread.

Many of those people that came to that meeting now show up on Hunt Talk. Some you may recognize, others not so much because of screen names. There's lots of active people that support us, just aren't involved because they have a different path.

There has been friction inside the community, but when your in a bar fight sometimes you end up punching your own buddy in the nose. For the most part, we all share a common purpose. Elect sportsman friendly individuals, and expose those that aren't.
 
RMEF has been a leader on this issue. Hands down. No debate. They turned the heat on to state legislatures across the west and were instrumental in shutting down the land grabbers in state houses from New Mexico to Montana. They worked well with other groups and pulled no punches in the fight. During the last session in MT, RMEF was very much invloved not just in transfer, but in fighting to reinstate conservation & access funding. They don't take a bow like a lot of other groups, but they certainly kick ass when it needs to be kicked.

As far as a PAC: It's important to remember the kind of money you need to make something like that happen. NRA's PAC has $11 million on hand for this cycle. Compared to some of the Super PAC's, it's chicken feed. The WIlks Brothers alone donated over $15 million to a pro-Cruz Super PAC.

Political activism is big business. It takes a huge amount of capital as well as volunteer time to make a significant difference. I wish it were different, but it's not. One take away from this campaign circus that sportsmen should notice, however, is the funding model that Sanders has been able to develop. He's raised most of his money in small donations from individuals and it comes in $5 million at a time.

This also shows why we should be more inclusive and look towards all outdoor recreation since we're in the fight together.
 
Ben Lamb said:
.

As far as a PAC: It's important to remember the kind of money you need to make something like that happen. NRA's PAC has $11 million on hand for this cycle. Compared to some of the Super PAC's, it's chicken feed. The WIlks Brothers alone donated over $15 million to a pro-Cruz Super PAC.

Political activism is big business. It takes a huge amount of capital as well as volunteer time to make a significant difference. I wish it were different, but it's not. One take away from this campaign circus that sportsmen should notice, however, is the funding model that Sanders has been able to develop. He's raised most of his money in small donations from individuals and it comes in $5 million at a time.

This also shows why we should be more inclusive and look towards all outdoor recreation since we're in the fight together.
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To get someone elected at the national level yes, but a State level Senator or Congressman...I don't think many spend 11 million to get elected to represent Albany, Platte, Natrona county, etc.
 
BuzzH said:
To get someone elected at the national level yes, but a State level Senator or Congressman...I don't think many spend 11 million to get elected to represent Albany, Platte, Natrona county, etc.
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Nope. Just tens of thousands of dollars.

And to be clear, that $11 million is spread around to local races by the NRA. Not just federal candidates.
 
Ben Lamb said:
Keep kicking ass, SS!!

And I don't mind the occasional punch in the nose from friends. :)
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I'm here for ya buddy ;)

The outside money injected into the Wheat/VanDyke MT Supreme Court Justice race was about $1.4 million which was 10x the amount of money spent by the candidates themselves! We have some big $$ to fight on the important races.

SS, let blow Wittich out of the water in the primary :D
 
Ben pretty much sums it up in #45.
RMEF has been in the fight for public lands use since it's beginnings from what I can see.
The costs involved in political battles would drain them in a year.

Posting links to 2 faced politicians across the country would be a good investment........
I see Lee endorsed Cruz,so Cruz is in open against public lands
 
jryoung said:
All I see from them is a focus on hunting rights issues, I don't recall ever seeing anything regarding the transfer of public land.
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Sorry I didn't convey my thoughts well there. It was late and I was a bit sleep deprived at work. I was trying to say that this group is already set up as a lobbying group and would be in a position to be the group that is being discussed here. I did note on their webpage that they had no current issues for lobbying. So I get where you were coming from too.

Personally, I can't get on my high horse at all on this since I have only written a few emails to my Reps in Congress. The only money I have given is through my license fees.
 
Lots of great posts and discussion on this thread! I emailed RMEF to ask about their efforts on land transfer and got a much appreciated personal response from Mark Holyoak. I can see that RMEF is doing good work in this area. Below is the email from RMEF.

----


Thanks for reaching out to us. Actually, we’ve been extremely active and vocal on this front. RMEF has always advocated that federal land remains in federal hands through Bugle articles and on other fronts. Here’s some of our recent involvement.



Oct 2014: We issued a news release when such talks were merely rumblings:

http://www.rmef.org/NewsandMedia/Pr...pposesSaleorTransferofFederalPublicLands.aspx



Oct 2014: Copy of a letter we sent to every member of Congress representing folks in the West opposing the sale or transfer of public lands:

http://rmefblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/rmef-opposes-sale-or-transfer-of.html

Feb 2015: RMEF CEO David Allen among those addressing public lands rally in Montana:

http://missoulian.com/news/local/pu...cle_2684b360-0b86-53b7-bca0-8553a14de1d9.html

March 2015: RMEF representation at public lands rally in Utah:

http://www.standard.net/News/2015/03/02/Rallies-held-against-states-push-to-control-US-lands

http://www.utahrmef.com/bill-christensen.html



Aug 2015: RMEF board member Randy Newberg speaking against public lands sales/transfer:

http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyl...cle_f6f91591-b2f7-59c7-b40b-96460f927a55.html

Sept 2015: Letter to editor in Nevada: http://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/voices/2015/09/29/op-ed-blm-usfs-need-allies-not-enemies/73052016/

Our most recent issue of Bugle magazine (2016 Jan-Feb issue) includes an article on the importance of keeping federal lands in federal hands, which is actually a reprint of an article from 20 years ago—see attached.

We also have a government affairs specialist with ties to Congressional reps around the West. He continues to make the rounds and is very close to the situation, as is the RMEF executive staff including President/CEO David Allen.



We’re out there beating the bushes to try to stop these transfers and urging our members to do the same.



Mark Holyoak
 
jryoung said:
I'm guessing the folks at Stubson for Congress missed the algorithm on this ad.
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That's hilarious jryoung. The candidates for our Wyoming House seat don't seem to get it - Liz Cheney's fishing license gaffe, Tim Stubson advertising to the wrong crowd of public-land sportsmen. Now we need to keep the pressure on Rep. Lummis to show Wyoming politicians they are on the wrong side of this issue. https://secure3.convio.net/trcp/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=517
 
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There is a lot of good work being done to protect the public lands, but we need to build more momentum. One thing to keep in mind, this is important to those of us that are western hunters and those that live in the states that are impacted by this issue, but this is a very small percentage of the U.S. population.
I live in La, and the only way that I am aware of this issue is through western hunting forums. I will bet that the vast majority of the U.S. population is totally unaware of this movement to transfer public lands and what the short term and long term consequences will be. We need to be selling our message to the masses via more mainstream media if we want to bring awareness and promote our position on the issue. Also, we need professional spokesmen and women that are effective at promoting the message to the masses via T.V. along with other media, similar to what the NRA has done for years with great success. Only then can enough pressure be put on the politicians in all states to prevent the transfer. Our position is noble and fundamentally good for the future of our country, so we have a good message to sell, we just have to be selling to the right people and enough of them.
 
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