Election '09

Election Highlights from Around the Rockies

The elections that attracted national attention Tuesday were all on the East Coast, with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine (suddenly burdened by his previous job as head of Goldman Sachs) going down to defeat and conservative Republican activists like Sarah Palin failing in their effort to override the local party and elect a fellow-traveler to an open Congressional seat in upstate New York. Unsurprisingly, voters across the country were worried about the economy, not too keen on incumbent office-holders, and wary about measures that might cost them money.

In Colorado, open space and marijuana were the issues of the night, in Boise, the streetcar desire played a role in the elections and in Montana, the liberal bastion that is Missoula finally has a liberal city council.

Here’s a quick and dirty roundup of highlights from election night: 

WASHINGTON TO THE RESCUE?

Roadless Rule Bill: the Timing is Right, so Just Pass It

Unnoticed by many, two members of Congress from Washington have decided it’s about time to do something to resolve the seemingly endless debate over the future of our last roadless lands.

Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Jay Inslee, both Democrats, have re-introduced the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act (S.1738, H.R. 3563) to codify the Clinton-era Roadless Rule that has been on a legal roller coaster for the past nine years.

YES, NO, MAYBE

Interior Halts Some Utah Leases, OKs Others, Defers Most

Following a review of 77 controversial Utah gas leases, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has put a halt on eight of them, deferred 52 of them and is allowing 17 of them to go forward.

The decision follows the recommendations outlined in an interagency report on the leases, which Salazar found had been rushed through by the Bush administration without adequate review.

“I think the report demonstrates that there was a headlong rush to leasing in the prior administration and it ended up taking the kind of shortcuts that we have discovered here,” Salazar told reporters on Thursday. “There were areas that should not have been leased because of the ecological values.”

POLITICAL ADVICE FOR THE TIMES

Give Me Some Real Health Care Reform and Nobody Will Get Hurt

We're all thinking about health care reform and if Congress can really come through for us on an issue that touches us all. At the same time, I suppose you're asking what this issue is doing on the outdoor page.

The answer is, I might have found a way for our the-end-justifies-the-means Congress to pass meaningful health care reform without hurting their NRA grade.

The Blanding Artifact Raids – Getting to the Heart of the Matter

Browsing the news stack on the Blanding, Utah artifacts raids, I finally found an editorial in the Deseret News which seemed to address what for me are the central issues. It’s by George Hawkings of Bountiful who references a previous artifacts raid 23 years ago.

GAME OVER, FINALLY, GUN GUYS WIN

Political Irony Reigns as President Obama Signs “MasterBlaster Bill”

I suppose I should let it go, but nobody else does, so why should I?

This is my third column about the now-infamous administrative rule to allow loaded, concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges (links at end of column). The rule evolved into a symbolic and high priority political battle, and both pro-gun and anti-gun groups seized on it as a way to find out who had the power.

And now we know. The gun lobby wins, easily, which is no surprise to me.

GOP Holds Interior Appointments ‘Hostage’ Over Utah Oil and Gas Leases

Yesterday, Senate Republicans started a mini protest against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar by blocking he appointment of David J. Hayes to one of the department’s No. 2 spots.

As the Washington Post reports, “Republicans acknowledged beforehand that the vote was not a rejection of Hayes, who served for two years as deputy interior secretary in the Clinton administration; Republicans instead were making a statement of opposition to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s cancellation this year of leases for oil and gas drilling in Utah.”

But Ray Ring, at High Country News writes on his blog: There’s much more to it than that:

Amid that noise, which is led by Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, the underlying character of today’s Republican Party can be detected. It’s more evidence of the tremendous leverage rightwingers have within the party, and how they exercise it in the Republican primaries, pressuring other Republican politicians to avoid any middle ground.

... Utah’s Sen. Bennett has led the rebellion against Hayes by putting a “hold” on Hayes and another Interior nominee. Bennett says he’s protesting Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s cancellation of some controversial Utah oil and gas leases.

Yet until now, Bennett himself has been a centrist on environmental and other issues, as much as any recent Republican office-holder. Apparently now Bennett thinks he must satisfy rightwingers, to win the Republican primary when he runs for re-election next year. So he’s shifted to align himself with the defenders of poor old oil and gas.

WHAT TO CALL IT?

Branding Wilderness Lite

Editor's note: Second in a two-part series on resolving the conflict between mountain bikers and hikers over protecting roadless lands. Click here for the first part, plus a very interesting comment thread.

Last week, I wrote about options hikers and wilderness groups had to make peace with mountain bikers so the two key constituencies could work together to protect roadless land. One option was urging Congress to pass another organic act creating a true alternative land designation. But what to call it?

In past commentaries, I'm used the words "Wilderness Lite" to refer to various land designations that provide almost as much protection as the "Big W" Wilderness Congress designates under the Wilderness Act of 1964. Basically, cutting to the chase, I can more precisely define "Wilderness Lite" as "Wilderness that allows mountain biking."

GUN POLITICS IS GETTING VERY INTERESTING

Crapo Introduces Bill to Codify National Park Gun Rule

A lot of people might wonder why and how the national parks became a Second Amendment battleground, but nobody really thinks the war will end anytime soon. Now, Congress has decided to make sure the fight goes on.

On January 9, a Bush administration rule to allow loaded and concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges went into effect, but the Brady Campaign and National Parks and Conservation Association sued to overturn it, successfully. On March 19, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Washington, D.C. granted the plaintiffs an injunction to prevent the Department of the Interior from implementing the rule. One day later, the National Rifle Association (NRA) appealed, but the judge has not ruled on the appeal.

Now, on April 2, Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced a bill (S.816) to codify the Bush administration rule to, according to a NRA alert, "restore the Second Amendment rights of visitors in national parks and wildlife refuges."