Montana Hunters and Anglers appears to be defending against an overreaching federal “land grab” bill now before Congress. It’s the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act. H.R. 1505. What MHA is really about is unseating Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, Montana’s at-large representative.
They’ve spent $240,000 thus far on shamefully deceptive ads designed to sound like archconservatives scolding Rehberg for straying into the big government camp by supporting H.R. 1505.
That bill allegedly “gives the Department of Homeland Security complete control over millions of acres of Montana public lands. That means Washington politicians get final say, even barring access with no notice. And Montanans, we’d have no say if Rehberg gets his way.”
Greg McDonnell, a veteran sportsman from Missoula, said, “It would be easy to mistake their rhetoric for the Tea Party.”
Those who know Rehberg and his record, like Ed Melcher, chairman of Families for Outdoor Recreation, won’t be fooled. “I saw through it right away because I’ve talked to Denny Rehberg face-to-face, and he would never lock Montana families out of our public lands,” Melcher said.
Others will research the bill’s purpose, which boils down to allowing federal law enforcement officers to pursue lawbreakers into sacrosanct wilderness areas.
Standoffs between the Border Patrol and wilderness protection agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, have stopped the pursuit of Mexican drug smugglers into wilderness areas along our southern border, making wilderness a haven for criminals.
The Canadian border has similar but less publicized problems, including the potential entry of terrorists.
Bob Hills, a former law enforcement officer from Laurel, Mont., said, “After learning exactly what this bill does, anyone can see it’s just a simple solution to a serious problem our law enforcement is having accessing wilderness areas to protect the people of the United States on federal lands. It’s not a ‘land grab’ by any definition I’ve ever heard of.”
The definitive rebuff to Montana Hunters and Anglers, however, came from Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah:
“If they have a problem with the legislation, you’d think they’d make an effort to get in touch with me, since I authored the bill. Denny Rehberg is one of 53 co-sponsors and the fact that they have chosen to single him out illustrates that their attacks are clearly political and have nothing to do with the contents of the bill.”
Why is MHA so intent on dumping Rehberg?
Profiling this group is unusually difficult, partly because Barrett Kaiser, MHA’s treasurer, filed with the Montana secretary of state’s office only on Oct. 6, 2011 — its first reports have yet to become public.
But information is available. Kaiser is a former adviser to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont, and a former consultant to Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester’s 2006 campaign. He’s also a Tester donor.
MHA President Land Tawney is senior manager for the Sportsmen Leadership program of Big Green giant, the National Wildlife Federation (2010 revenue in excess of $98 million).
Tawney is also on the Montana Sportsmen for Obama Committee, and the Sportsmen’s Advisory Panel for Tester.
MHA Secretary Kendall Van Dyk is also a member of Montana Sportsmen for Obama and an elected Democratic legislator in the Montana House of Representatives.
MHA director George Cooper is a Tester donor, and a lobbyist for Forbes, Cauthen and Williams, (Forbes is Jeff Forbes, former Baucus chief of staff).
In short, everybody who matters in MHA is a member of President Obama’s Montana campaign leadership team, or has close ties to Baucus or Tester.
Why doesn’t MHA disclose these relationships? Why doesn’t MHA disclose its funders?
These Democratic activists especially dislike Rehberg because he testified in 2009 against the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, which was to carve out more than 24 million acres of new wilderness in five Western states. MHA is about revenge.
It’s also a prototype for numerous “let’s-pretend-we’re-the-opposition” fronts we’ll likely see wearing hunting vests as campaign season advances.
Right now, all that MHA stalks is Rehberg.
Examiner Columnist Ron Arnold is executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise.
