Transfer of Public Lands back at MT Legislature

[Ben Lamb]

Senator Fielder and a few others seem to be moving forward with another attempt to instill support for the transfer of public lands:

Joint Resolution to study Federal Land conveyance & a Joint Resolution requesting conveyance of federal land are both in the drafting stage. I expect there to be more bills on this, especially as it relates to access and state lands as the transfer folks attempt to mollify the concerns of sportsmen and other recreationists.

We keep telling them no, regardless of how many times they refuse to listen. There are more bill draft requests with vague titles but given the sponsors, will likely try to make seizure & sale palatable. Many bills or variations thereof are being run across the west as the American Lands Council tries to show congress there is broad support for transferring public lands away from their owners.

Day 1. Here we go.

 

[6mm Remington]

What point do they not understand in that we elect them and they do what the people want them to do not the other way around?

 

[Ben Lamb]

It usually takes a few thousand emails & phone calls:

[email protected]

(406)444-4800

 

[----]

 

[Ben Lamb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsntlJZ9h1U

 

[Gerald Martin]

How hard would it be to sponsor a Joint Resolution to Stop Wasting our Money on Really Bad Ideas? I wonder if she would listen to me since I'm her constituent...

 

[shoots-straight]

How hard would it be to sponsor a Joint Resolution to Stop Wasting our Money on Really Bad Ideas? I wonder if she would listen to me since I'm her constituent...

I thought about that for the count of 1, then slapped the stupid off my face. Silly man!

 

[teamhoyt]

How hard would it be to sponsor a Joint Resolution to Stop Wasting our Money on Really Bad Ideas? I wonder if she would listen to me since I'm her constituent...

^my thoughts exactly!

How in the hell do these ass clowns think they can spend our money on such bs? Ya Ya I know look around right! I Say a law should be drafted that anytime money of x value has to be spent to do a study it would have to be voted on by the people.

 

[teamhoyt]

Email sent! Who voted for her anyway?

 

[tjones]

Email sent! Who voted for her anyway?

6700 R's in 4 counties. Amazing, I know.

 

[BuzzH]

Didn't know there were 6700 people that stupid in all of Montana...let alone 4 counties.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Didn't know there were 6700 people that stupid in all of Montana...let alone 4 counties.

You've met us, right?

 

[tjones]

Parts of 4 counties, to be clear and more accurate but still amazing.

 

[u1299]

What point do they not understand in that we elect them and they do what the people want them to do not the other way around?

If I'm reading your statement correctly, your asking why politicians don't do what we elected them to do and are now telling them to do? Well my answer to that is from their point of view they are doing exactly what they were elected to do. They ran on the platform they were going to vote to transfer our public lands, that was never a secret, not once did they try to hide or shy away from that fact, and most of them were elected or re-elected in landslides.

I'm going to assume because some pissed off hunters are now demanding they abandoned the PLT pledge they campaigned and won on, they're probably saying to themselves, " you poor little whining hunters didn't vote for me anyway and I still won, so why should I listen to you now". What's the worst we can do to them, not vote for them again next time? Now if enough hunters did vote for them knowing full well what they were campaigning and running on are now having second thoughts for having done so, perhaps there may be a glimmer of hope 1 or 2 of the more moderate or tad less hardliners will listen and change their stance.

If I were a pro PLT member of the legislature, no way would I be convinced the pro public land advocates voted in large enough numbers for me to have won, so I wouldn't give them the time of day. I'd do the same damn thing if I were a pro public land legislator who campaigned on that issue and some pissed off anti public land advocate was screaming and yelling at me and demanding I vote they way he wanted, I wouldn't give him the time of day either.

Randy made a point once when he said something to the effect, [nothing will get a politicians attention more than 8 or 10 pissed off hunters all making a personal visit to his/her office]. That may be true for some politicians, I hope it is, but as I mentioned in the previous paragraph my convictions to being a pro public land advocate are so deep as to be 100% non negotiable regardless if 10,000 anti public land zealots with loaded guns ascended on my office. I would never change my opinion or vote.

Bottom line, you better know the issues, the candidates and their views before you cast a vote, you may not get a second chance.

 

[BuzzH]

You've met us, right?

I did take into consideration her district...but even then...seriously? WTF?

 

[Big Fin]

Ben, do we know when hearings will be held on her pipe dream? I suspect she won't try to put it through Senate Fish & Game, rather some other obscure committee that has nothing to do with lands and is stacked with her pals.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Ben, do we know when hearings will be held on her pipe dream? I suspect she won't try to put it through Senate Fish & Game, rather some other obscure committee that has nothing to do with lands and is stacked with her pals.

It showed up as a requested draft today. Depending on how long it takes to put it together, i would expect that we could have a hearing as soon as 2 weeks. There are a number of other lc's we're watching that advance transfer in some form as well. We're out of the gate early this session with committee hearings in both the senate & house on thursday. Looking like we might have a busy 65th.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Didn't know there were 6700 people that stupid in all of Montana...let alone 4 counties.

She represents a district where all she has to do is combine the words "Obama, the USFS, loss of logging jobs, federal gubmint, gun rights, and freedom" into a flyer or speech and people will vote for her. The fact that she only got 6700 votes was progress this election, believe it or not...

Her actions are one more reason filming this episode of Fresh Tracks was so rewarding. It was right in her back yard...on some of that mismanaged federal land that needs to be transferred...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RHqYQZ7ACo

 

[shootbrownelk]

Today's Star Tribune newspaper has an article on the "Federal Land Transfer Bill". It's set to move forward when the Wyoming legislature convenes on January 10th. Despite overwhelming opposition from Outdoor groups and Sportsmen and others. It seems like this Bill is being driven by just a few lawmakers. Senators Bebout, Miller and Stubson. The will of the citizens be damned. The supporters are Oil/Gas/Mining/Agriculture and Ranching interests.
This is shaping-up to be a nasty fight.

 

[u1299]

Today's Star Tribune newspaper has an article on the "Federal Land Transfer Bill". It's set to move forward when the Wyoming legislature convenes on January 10th. Despite overwhelming opposition from Outdoor groups and Sportsmen and others. It seems like this Bill is being driven by just a few lawmakers. Senators Bebout, Miller and Stubson. The will of the citizens be damned. The supporters are Oil/Gas/Mining/Agriculture and Ranching interests.
This is shaping-up to be a nasty fight.

Looks like a lot of work lies ahead. Again, one needs to ask the question, how did these people get elected in the first place with such overwhelming opposition from sportsmen to PLT? I hate to keep harping on that but it's an issue that needs to be addressed if we hope to avoid these fights in the future, and quite frankly despite the obvious fight we're in at the moment we should all be looking at this long term.