THE SAME OLD STUFF
06/09/07 17:06 Filed in: Jim Beers
Article
I have worn out keypads
trying to energize hunters and fishers and trappers
about how the US Fish and Wildlife Service, hunting
and fishing equipment manufacturers (that are
supposed to pay the excise taxes that support hunting
and fishing), State fish and wildlife bureaucrats,
and conservation organizations (whom we mistakenly
assume are our protectors) are really in league with
environmental and animal rights zealots to quietly
abandon hunting and fishing programs for the promise
of Federally funded environmental and animal
protection schemes that are immeasurable and are
touted to pay higher salaries to bureaucrats as they
keep getting politicians reelected ad infinitum.
Wow, an eight-line sentence (97 words!): raise your hand if you are you still awake.
Wow, an eight-line sentence (97 words!): raise your hand if you are you still awake.
The USFWS is working
with Congress to replace the hunting and fishing
programs at the state level with Federally-funded
Native Ecosystem/Invasive Species/Animal
Worship/Nature Cathedrals/et al programs performed by
state employees on marionette strings held by
Washington bureaucrats. The hunting and fishing
manufacturers, importers, and retailers are supposed
to be collecting and the government is supposed to be
collecting more than a half-Billion dollars per year
for state hunting and fishing programs but they are
increasingly cheating as lax enforcement enables the
state agencies and the Federal agency to argue for
Federal dollars for everything from "preventing this
or that from becoming 'endangered'" to being
"responsive to new constituencies". "Our"
conservation organizations are no more than career
loafing sites as employees look for the next State or
Federal job that pays more, or the next election as
they play "footsies under the table" with the
politician they bet will win the next election and
all the patronage that goes with it. One need look no
further that The Rocky Mountain Elk endorsement of
wolves or the Trout Unlimited endorsement of Federal
Invasive Species authority or eradication of rainbow
and brown trout and coho salmon fisheries to see what
goes on there. The environmental extremists and the
animal rights radicals are what they are and their
agendas are as evident as fox tracks in fresh snow on
a sunny morning. The quality of our politicians
regarding our rights is likewise no something to lean
on in most cases.
Now I know I have said all this before. I know that State and Federal bureaucrats dismiss me on a personal basis but, so far as I know not on the merits of what I write. So let me quickly (I have a "lot on my plate at the moment" as they say) point out the steady march of what I have been pounding for years now.
The hunting and fishing excises taxes (referred to as P-R [Pittman-Robertson] or Wildlife Restoration funding & D-J [Dingell-Johnson] or Sport Fish Restoration funding) are the backbone of State hunting and fishing programs. This is true not only because of the annual amounts (over a half-billion) but even more importantly because in order to keep collecting their "share", each state (among many other things) must keep all the state hunting and fishing money separate from other state funds and not discriminate regarding access to facilities purchased and maintained by the nationally-collected excise taxes.
Now to refresh memories: each state must, by law, to be audited every 5 years. In the 1970's and 1980's the audits diminished and all but disappeared. In the 1990's the USFWS environmental/animal rights appointees and managers STOLE $45 to $60 Million in just two years from the excise taxes and in violation of many laws used the money to introduce wolves into Yellowstone and open an "Environmental Mouthpiece" Endangered Species Office in California (after Congress had refused to fund these items) and other things like bonuses for Federal employees having nothing to do with excise tax administration. The amounts were verified by a General Accounting Office Audit but never replaced (in other words you and I LOST $60+ MILLION worth of hunting and fishing programs). The State agencies (who are always crying poor mouth) NEVER EVEN ASKED FOR THE MONEY TO BE REPLACED because they were already orienting toward a world without hunting and fishing funds and an "endless stream" of environmental/animal rights funding from the US Congress (that would be our taxes).
The scandal caused an outcry for renewed auditing. By the way those that stole the money and those that let the audits disappear were never disciplined or admonished nor did they even miss bonuses as they were considered "outstanding" for kissing "up" so nicely. Anyway, audits of fish and wildlife agencies are complex matters. How many auditors know the difference between game animal programs and environmental busy work (ineligible for funding)? How many auditors know that clam projects are ineligible for Sport Fish Restoration funding? How many auditors know it is illegal to spend P-R or D-J on Park employee salaries or to put vehicles purchased with P-R or D-J funds in the State motor pool for everyone to use? Answer: hardly any until they do such audits for awhile.
So the audits conducted in the late 1990's found over $125 Million misused in the first few states to be audited (the "real" figure would have been much higher with experienced auditors but God Bless those first guys for doing what they did). So they were unceremoniously FIRED (for being a tiny bit behind "schedule"). The $125 + Million slowly was whittled to nothing and the USFWS contracted with the Inspector General responsible for AUDITING USFWS (an illegal and patently improper arrangement) to audit the State agencies. Now that Inspector general and his staff are NOT who you want to rely on for anything but what suits their best interest. Their subsequent "audits" have been little more than whitewash for increasingly devious State agencies and their USFWS puppet masters. Which brings us to today and the reason I keep writing "The Same Old Stuff".
Yesterday I purchased my Virginia State Waterfowl Stamp (required) and my US Forest Hunting Stamp from my local sporting goods store. As I handed the clerk, a genuine good-old-boy, my Virginia Lifetime Hunting License he remarked that I was sure lucky because a new Hunting License fee increase had gone into effect. He then looked up and said, "the worst thing is the increase is going into the State General Fund and not to hunting and fishing programs". Then he asked if I wanted my State Waterfowl Stamp sent to my home? I said yes but that I had said yes last year too but I never received it. He laughed and said a lot of waterfowl hunters had complained about that too but the State just doesn't care about hunters and fishermen anymore. He said we are just like speeders, simply a source of revenue to be tapped (Virginia recently stunned the nation by implementing Draconian driving violation fees for residents only with the sanctimonious attitude of "they deserve it").
This morning I purchased a South Carolina non-resident Hunting license online. As I did so I noticed an interesting quirk. In order to hunt on State Wildlife Management Areas (all of which are either purchased with or maintained by P-R funding) State Residents must purchase a $30.50 license and a Non-Resident must purchase a $76.00 license.
Let me remind you that unaccountable agencies, just like unaccountable businesses or children, only grow worse over time. The decay of State agency integrity is like any rust, it spreads and eventually disables the implement. Hunting and fishing programs are decaying before our eyes and we still read our NRA and DU magazines that help fund the "Breakfasts" and "Receptions" by such groups for State and Federal fish and wildlife employees at meetings. The same employees we think are working for "us".
Now I am just one hunter (albeit an unusually knowledgeable one) buying two licenses within a 24-hour period. What do I find? A State (Virginia) selling a Waterfowl Stamp that is never provided. A State (Virginia) "Diverting" Hunting and Fishing License revenue to the General Fund (one of the first things P-R & D-J were established to stop). Who tells me? Not the overpaid Federal "auditors" or the Federal bureaucrats that are at best indifferent to hunting and fishing and more commonly anti-hunting and anti-fishing: no, just some poor guy whose outrage is ignored by government dismissal of the rules.
Then I apply to South Carolina and find that the excise taxes are being used to give residents something cheaper than what is charged non-residents. This has also been a prohibited practice. Both States are doing thing they should either be made to stop (and reclaim lost funding) or be denied future excise taxes. Care to bet in what will happen?
The bureaucrats will continue to build careers, the organizations will continue to "play 'footsie'" and slap each other on the back at the "Receptions" and "Breakfasts" as they applaud "Invasive Species" and "Native Ecosystem" proposals sure to generate more funding and jobs and pay increases. The politicians are sorting through all these "new" proposals from the self-serving bureaucrats even as you read this. The upcoming election promises an orgy of each party promising to outdo the other to "save" everything from buffalo and "wildlife corridors to State and Federal bureaucracies faced with "shortages" and "crises".
I apologize for being repetitive but as I seem to say more often of late, "I told you so". When there are no audits there is no accountability. When there is no accountability there are no rules. When there are no rules, Power rules. Power today lies in the hands of those determined to eradicate hunters and fishermen right along with trappers, grazers, loggers, pet owners, cock fighters, public land users, rural residents of limited means, rural economies, fish and wildlife management and an endless array of assumed freedoms from what we eat to where and how we live and what we will be allowed to "own".
Does anyone have any suggestions of what to do?
Jim Beers
6 Sep. 2007
- If you found this worthwhile, please share it with others. Thanks.
- This article and other recent articles by Jim Beers can be found at http://jimbeers.blogster.com (Jim Beers Common Sense)
- Jim Beers is available for consulting or to speak. Contact: jimbeers7@verizon.net
- Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Centreville, Virginia with his wife of many decades.
Now I know I have said all this before. I know that State and Federal bureaucrats dismiss me on a personal basis but, so far as I know not on the merits of what I write. So let me quickly (I have a "lot on my plate at the moment" as they say) point out the steady march of what I have been pounding for years now.
The hunting and fishing excises taxes (referred to as P-R [Pittman-Robertson] or Wildlife Restoration funding & D-J [Dingell-Johnson] or Sport Fish Restoration funding) are the backbone of State hunting and fishing programs. This is true not only because of the annual amounts (over a half-billion) but even more importantly because in order to keep collecting their "share", each state (among many other things) must keep all the state hunting and fishing money separate from other state funds and not discriminate regarding access to facilities purchased and maintained by the nationally-collected excise taxes.
Now to refresh memories: each state must, by law, to be audited every 5 years. In the 1970's and 1980's the audits diminished and all but disappeared. In the 1990's the USFWS environmental/animal rights appointees and managers STOLE $45 to $60 Million in just two years from the excise taxes and in violation of many laws used the money to introduce wolves into Yellowstone and open an "Environmental Mouthpiece" Endangered Species Office in California (after Congress had refused to fund these items) and other things like bonuses for Federal employees having nothing to do with excise tax administration. The amounts were verified by a General Accounting Office Audit but never replaced (in other words you and I LOST $60+ MILLION worth of hunting and fishing programs). The State agencies (who are always crying poor mouth) NEVER EVEN ASKED FOR THE MONEY TO BE REPLACED because they were already orienting toward a world without hunting and fishing funds and an "endless stream" of environmental/animal rights funding from the US Congress (that would be our taxes).
The scandal caused an outcry for renewed auditing. By the way those that stole the money and those that let the audits disappear were never disciplined or admonished nor did they even miss bonuses as they were considered "outstanding" for kissing "up" so nicely. Anyway, audits of fish and wildlife agencies are complex matters. How many auditors know the difference between game animal programs and environmental busy work (ineligible for funding)? How many auditors know that clam projects are ineligible for Sport Fish Restoration funding? How many auditors know it is illegal to spend P-R or D-J on Park employee salaries or to put vehicles purchased with P-R or D-J funds in the State motor pool for everyone to use? Answer: hardly any until they do such audits for awhile.
So the audits conducted in the late 1990's found over $125 Million misused in the first few states to be audited (the "real" figure would have been much higher with experienced auditors but God Bless those first guys for doing what they did). So they were unceremoniously FIRED (for being a tiny bit behind "schedule"). The $125 + Million slowly was whittled to nothing and the USFWS contracted with the Inspector General responsible for AUDITING USFWS (an illegal and patently improper arrangement) to audit the State agencies. Now that Inspector general and his staff are NOT who you want to rely on for anything but what suits their best interest. Their subsequent "audits" have been little more than whitewash for increasingly devious State agencies and their USFWS puppet masters. Which brings us to today and the reason I keep writing "The Same Old Stuff".
Yesterday I purchased my Virginia State Waterfowl Stamp (required) and my US Forest Hunting Stamp from my local sporting goods store. As I handed the clerk, a genuine good-old-boy, my Virginia Lifetime Hunting License he remarked that I was sure lucky because a new Hunting License fee increase had gone into effect. He then looked up and said, "the worst thing is the increase is going into the State General Fund and not to hunting and fishing programs". Then he asked if I wanted my State Waterfowl Stamp sent to my home? I said yes but that I had said yes last year too but I never received it. He laughed and said a lot of waterfowl hunters had complained about that too but the State just doesn't care about hunters and fishermen anymore. He said we are just like speeders, simply a source of revenue to be tapped (Virginia recently stunned the nation by implementing Draconian driving violation fees for residents only with the sanctimonious attitude of "they deserve it").
This morning I purchased a South Carolina non-resident Hunting license online. As I did so I noticed an interesting quirk. In order to hunt on State Wildlife Management Areas (all of which are either purchased with or maintained by P-R funding) State Residents must purchase a $30.50 license and a Non-Resident must purchase a $76.00 license.
Let me remind you that unaccountable agencies, just like unaccountable businesses or children, only grow worse over time. The decay of State agency integrity is like any rust, it spreads and eventually disables the implement. Hunting and fishing programs are decaying before our eyes and we still read our NRA and DU magazines that help fund the "Breakfasts" and "Receptions" by such groups for State and Federal fish and wildlife employees at meetings. The same employees we think are working for "us".
Now I am just one hunter (albeit an unusually knowledgeable one) buying two licenses within a 24-hour period. What do I find? A State (Virginia) selling a Waterfowl Stamp that is never provided. A State (Virginia) "Diverting" Hunting and Fishing License revenue to the General Fund (one of the first things P-R & D-J were established to stop). Who tells me? Not the overpaid Federal "auditors" or the Federal bureaucrats that are at best indifferent to hunting and fishing and more commonly anti-hunting and anti-fishing: no, just some poor guy whose outrage is ignored by government dismissal of the rules.
Then I apply to South Carolina and find that the excise taxes are being used to give residents something cheaper than what is charged non-residents. This has also been a prohibited practice. Both States are doing thing they should either be made to stop (and reclaim lost funding) or be denied future excise taxes. Care to bet in what will happen?
The bureaucrats will continue to build careers, the organizations will continue to "play 'footsie'" and slap each other on the back at the "Receptions" and "Breakfasts" as they applaud "Invasive Species" and "Native Ecosystem" proposals sure to generate more funding and jobs and pay increases. The politicians are sorting through all these "new" proposals from the self-serving bureaucrats even as you read this. The upcoming election promises an orgy of each party promising to outdo the other to "save" everything from buffalo and "wildlife corridors to State and Federal bureaucracies faced with "shortages" and "crises".
I apologize for being repetitive but as I seem to say more often of late, "I told you so". When there are no audits there is no accountability. When there is no accountability there are no rules. When there are no rules, Power rules. Power today lies in the hands of those determined to eradicate hunters and fishermen right along with trappers, grazers, loggers, pet owners, cock fighters, public land users, rural residents of limited means, rural economies, fish and wildlife management and an endless array of assumed freedoms from what we eat to where and how we live and what we will be allowed to "own".
Does anyone have any suggestions of what to do?
Jim Beers
6 Sep. 2007
- If you found this worthwhile, please share it with others. Thanks.
- This article and other recent articles by Jim Beers can be found at http://jimbeers.blogster.com (Jim Beers Common Sense)
- Jim Beers is available for consulting or to speak. Contact: jimbeers7@verizon.net
- Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Centreville, Virginia with his wife of many decades.
