Richards
By Paul Rogers
progers@mercurynews.com
Posted: 08/08/2012 06:39:28 AM PDT
Updated: 08/08/2012 06:39:45 AM PDT
Six months after one of California’s top wildlife officials faced a fury after shooting a mountain lion in Idaho, fellow commissioners are expected Wednesday to remove Dan Richards as president of the state Fish and Game Commission.
But the unabashed hunting enthusiast isn’t going down without a fight.
“This originates from the enviro-terrorists being threatened by me,” Richards said in one of his first interviews since his mountain lion hunt enraged environmentalists.
“They see a guy who is paying attention to the issues, and who calls them out on the crap they throw out. Their involvement is important but by and large it’s a farce, and I’m not afraid to call it that.”
The state Fish and Game Commission will vote on “election of new officers” at its meeting in Ventura, a vote that is expected to dethrone Richards, a San Bernardino County real estate developer and big-game hunter, but leave him as a member of the commission.
“The president of the commission should be someone who has the confidence of a majority of his peers,” said Mike Sutton, vice president of the commission, and executive director of Audubon California.
Richards said he plans to attend the meeting. If he is replaced as president — a role that allows him to set the agenda, speak for the commission and run its meetings — he said he will remain on the commission until his term expires in January.
The powerful five-member commission sets rules for fishing, hunting and endangered species in California.
It has been rattled by the bitter debate between hunters and animal welfare groups that began in February, when Richards sent a photo of himself grinning broadly and holding a dead mountain lion to Western Outdoor News, a hunting newspaper.
Richards, a Republican appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008, shot the lion legally while at the Flying B hunting ranch in Northern Idaho.
But animal welfare groups, 40 Democratic Assembly members and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for Richards to resign, saying he showed bad judgment and ignored the will of California voters, who banned the hunting of mountain lions for sport in 1990 when they passed Proposition 117.
Hunting groups rose to his defense. Richards retained his seat on the commission after State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, declined to hold a vote in the Legislature over his ouster.
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“They see a guy who is paying attention to the issues, and who calls them out on the crap they throw out. Their involvement is important but by and large it’s a farce, and I’m not afraid to call it that.”
Love it!
“The president of the commission should be someone who has the confidence of a majority of his peers,”
CORRECT… SO KEEP RICHARDS AS PRESIDENT!!
A hunter is out hunting bear in the woods. He sees one, lines up his sights, takes a shot, and misses. The bear sees the hunter and charges towards him. The hunter tries to take another shot, but finds he’s out of ammo. He throws down the gun and starts running away, but he realizes that the bear is going to catch up to him.
The hunter falls to his knees and starts praying. He says, “Dear Lord, I ask that you let this bear find some religion before he does me in.”
He turns around, and the bear stops, falls to its knees, and starts praying. The bear says, “Dear Lord, for this food I am about to receive, I am truly grateful…”
Evidently he did not have the confidence of a majority of his peers.
So away with him.
Richards may be gone, but he will NOT be forgotten!
He does not need the “president” title, he has his own influence as a true NO NONE SENSE “Fish and Game” man!
We have NOT heard the last of Richards!
Ano – That’s exactly what I’m talkin about!
Bang! Bang! Richards is a rock star!
HA HA HA HA, bye bye birdie.
He’s still got that Colonies Settlement Conspiracy reputation as UNCHARGED JOHN DOE #2 thanks to the Mikey and Moonbeam Show…
… maybe it’s about time the Feds take over that investigation once and for all!