Re: A note from my friend in Montana... :-(

["Advantage Saddles" <owensall@sierratel.com>]

Title: A note from my friend in Montana... :-(

Just FYI

Katee

The bad guys won a round in the United States Senate late Thursday night,
as Senate Bill 990 - S. 990 - the "Son of CARA" - was approved.  S. 990 is
a $600 million per year land grab, much smaller than the Big Daddy "CARA"
Land Grab legislation also being considered by Congress.

QUESTION:  What happened?  What was the vote?  Who voted with us and
against?  Who spoke out during debate?

ANSWER:  There was no vote.  There were no amendments.  There was no
debate.

It happened in the dark of night, on the final day of the 2001 session of
Congress, when other business was finished and many Senators had already
left the Capitol.

Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, working with Senator Bob Smith,
Republican of New Hampshire, brought S. 990 to the floor of a nearly empty
Senate chamber.  Reid asked for "Unanimous Consent" that the bill be
approved on the spot, with no debate, no amendments and no recorded vote.

ALL  Senators had been notified just a few days before that Reid would make
a Unanimous Consent request - and  NONE, not even one Senator, stuck around
to defend private property rights!

If even  ONE, just  ONE  Senator had objected, then consideration of  S 990
would have been put off for several weeks.  Amendments and debate would
have been allowed, and a recorded vote taken.

How did this happen?  Two reasons:

First, in the end-of-session confusion, very few people were paying
attention.  It was the end of one of the longest sessions of Congress in
decades, a few days before Christmas, and there were still several
multi-billion dollar appropriations bills to be approved.  Congress was in
a crisis, which made for a perfect opportunity to slip through Son of CARA.

Second, incumbent politicians don't want to rock the boat.  No Senator, not
even one, was willing to hold up S. 990 for fear of offending the four
Senators who sponsored the bill - because they may need those Senators to
help them on something else.

Who did this?

The final language (see portions below) of S. 990 as it was considered by
the Senate was sponsored by four Senators.  They are Republican Bob Smith
of New Hampshire, Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada, Independent Jim Jeffords
of Vermont, and  INCREDIBLY,  Republican Mike Crapo of Idaho!!!!!

Crapo's office was called and asked, "Since Idaho is more than 60% owned by
the federal government already, how could the Senator cosponsor S. 990, a
multibillion dollar land grab?"  The caller was told, "Someone will get
back to you on that."  There was no return phone call.

ACTION  ITEM - IDAHO:

ESPECIALLY  if you are from Idaho, contact or go see Senator Mike Crapo -
he will be in Idaho for the next three weeks, ask for his schedule - and
ask him the question he has refused to answer:  "WHY did you cosponsor S.
990, the Son of CARA???" (see below for bill specifics)

Boise Office of Senator Crapo
304 North Eighth Street, Room 338, Boise ID 83702
208-334-1776, fax 208-334-9044

Coeur d'Alene Office
1000 Northwest Blvd. #100, Coeur d'Alene ID 83814
208-664-5490, fax 208-664-0889

Idaho Falls Office
490 Memorial Drive #102, Idaho Falls ID 83402
208-522-9779, fax 208-529-8367

The other three Senators, Bob Smith (New Hampshire), Reid (Nevada) and
Jeffords (Vermont), have a long record of land grabbing.  They should also
be contacted - in particular by residents of their home states.

ACTION  ITEM - NEW  HAMPSHIRE:

You have a choice in New Hampshire.  Senator Bob Smith faces a difficult
Republican primary election in 2002.  He is being challenged by Republican
Congressman John Sununu.  Sununu supports property rights, and voted  NO
on the CARA Land Grab in the House last year!

We're not telling anyone who to vote for, just pointing out that there is a
clear choice in New Hampshire:  Bob Smith - land grabber, or John Sununu -
for property rights.  Here are both campaign's offices - you may want to
contribute to the candidate of your choice, and tell the other candidate to
re-read the United States Constitution:

Sununu for Senate
P. O. Box 500, Rye, NH 03870
603-964-7077, fax 603-964-7205
www.teamsununu.org <http://www.teamsununu.org/>  

Bob Smith for U.S. Senate
116 South River Rd., Unit D, Bedford, NH 03110
Phone: 603-647-0202, Fax: 603-665-9099
www.Senatorsmith.com <http://www.senatorsmith.com/>  

How bad is  "Son of CARA"???  Let's count the ways:

FIRST:  Up to $600 million per year for five years, that's up to  $3
BILLION dollars total can be allocated, for two purposes:  land
acquisition with no protection against condemnation, and grant money to
leftwing environmental and animal rights organizations.

SECOND:  The government can grab your land for nearly any reason,
including, to quote directly from S. 990, "acquisition of an area of land
or water that is suitable or capable of being made suitable for feeding,
resting, or breeding by wildlife."


And it gets even better - again, to quote direct from S. 990, your taxpayer
funds can be used "to address the unmet needs for wildlife and the habitats
on which the wildlife depend."

In other words, private property can be condemned for nearly any reason
that can be cooked up by extreme preservationists and their allies in
federal and state agencies.

THIRD:   S. 990 exempts government land acquisition agents from FACA, the
Federal Advisory Committee Act!!!!!  Despite scandals and misappropriation
of funds with Pittman-Robertson money in the past few years!!!  And despite
the current case of federal and state agents working together to plant lynx
hairs in a national forest in order to eliminate access, S. 990 proposes to
exempt these very same agents from public scrutiny under the FACA law!!!

To quote directly from S. 990:  "Coordination with State fish and game
department personnel or with personnel of any other state agency under this
Act shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act."



PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR LIST.