|
TESTER ABUSES PUBLIC MEETING LAWS |
 |
 |
 |
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Tuesday, 13 October 2009 04:40 |
Senator Tester, after boycotting three well-publicized invites to attend open hearings on his misnamed Forest Jobs and Recreation Act has devised a means to offset negative reaction to what appears to be his blatant disregard for open public participation and still convince his constituents that he does want input on his wilderness bill. Public participation and open meeting requirements are reflected in most federal laws relative to land use planning.
The September 26th Dillon meeting, orchestrated by Tester and his staff, introduced a comparatively new hearing format: That format, under skillful manipulation becomes the bill sponsor’s “telling” session, rather than a public “hearing” scenario where the public is able to have questions answered and any comments to become part of the official record. The new format allows supporters to extol the virtues of his bill and provides for the public only a hurried private exchange at close of the meeting when senator and staff are hurriedly making their departure—a one on one exchange which is not recorded.
Nothing goes into the public record which reflects questions or potential negative feedback on his much-hyped wilderness bill. Nothing goes on the public record relative to the thirty documented testimonies of people with practical concerns, such as those expressed at the September 11th public meeting at Missoula. Nothing goes on record about the thousands of signatures of voters on petitions circulated in Montana’s rural communities—petitions which cite the reasons for the signers’ apprehension’ about foreseen impacts on them should his wilderness proposal become law, and reasons that the bill can in no way measure up to his glowing promises.
Jon Tester’s web site asserts S 1470 has the support of a vast majority of Montanans. Senator Tester has publicly stated that he has conducted listening sessions around the state. Multiple Use advocates tell a different story! Retired County Commissioner Rita Windom from Lincoln County reported that she was told by current commissioner Tony Berget that the listening session conducted on the Kootenai National Forest was by invitation only. Comments from those in the Beaverhead/Deerlodge report the same. To whom then is the Senator listening?
Debby Barrett, Senator from Beaverhead County has even stronger comment: “There are laws for land management planning at all levels: State, Local and Federal. All of these laws have been ignored and violated at each and every level in Montana, and the result of these law violations is the basis for Senator Tester’s Wilderness Bill.”
So Tester’s claims that he has listened to Montanans are true only to the extent of his meetings with special interest groups: By all accounts during the last days of September he met with the Montana Sierra Club, the Northern Plains Resource Council, the Helena Hunters & Anglers’ Clubs, the Trial Lawyers Association, and the Nature Conservancy. It is alarming to what extent the senator from Eastern Montana has allowed special interest groups to shape a bill which should have been the product of meetings open to the public from the get-go.
It is a long way from the mountains of Western Montana to the halls of congress. It will be a challenge for the voices of everyday Montanans to over ride the rhetoric and the duplicity which has gone into the drafting and promotion of this bill which would accomplish only one thing: create more wilderness to the detriment of the people who live, work, and recreate in our forests.
|
