bad politics

[broadhead]

For all you guys that have Drazkowski or Davids for Representatives it's time to let them know to keep there greedy fingers off the Heritage Fund money. They both signed on as authors to Bill HF1073 that takes the citizens out of the committee that divies up where the moneys are spent. We all know that politicians will "F" things up if we (the citizens) don't keep them in check. Representative Rick Hansen from St. Paul started this Bill and has been trying to get his fingers on some of the money since the Outdoor Heritage Ammendment passed. If this new Bill passes it will be the end of what we all voted for.

[Dor]

I already sent Greg an email. No response so far. Jeremy Miller did respond and said if it gets to him he would oppose cutting the citizen from the process.

Email should be sent fella's this is a biggy.

[Grassbag251]

can anyone post a link to the summary? itd be nice to know what im talking about if i talk to them. thanks

[Dor]

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/bil...ssionvar=20110

Basically says the legislators will decide how our moneys spent, citizens will no longer have a say. We know how well our government does with that.

[helpme]

I received this email update from him.

Steve Drazkowski (28B) - Email Newsletter




Hello from St. Paul,



Not long ago I agreed to co-author House File 1073, which would have eliminated the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHN), Clean Water Council, and Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The goal of this legislation is to take the spending authority away from these committees and give it back to the legislature.



The current system of allowing “citizens” to help decide how to spend environmental funds clearly is not working.



I wholeheartedly supported the creation of the LSOHN, as I felt Minnesotans needed to be directly involved with how and where outdoor legacy funds would be spent. Since then, the LSOHN and the LCCMR have become controlled by the special interest groups who are most represented on the respective boards.



These councils continue to bring forward more proposals for buying thousands of acres of more state land when we are unable to properly manage the 8.5 million acres the state owns now – 17 percent of the entire state. The non-partisan Legislative Auditor agrees, having concluded that state government owns more land than it can afford, and that it cannot keep up with rising operation and management costs. Buying more land only exacerbates this problem.



Basically these two groups have grown into their own bureaucracies, with LCCMR now having an administrative budget approaching $1.5 million per biennium, and LSOHC quickly catching up top that figure.



House File 1073 is an effort to bring a new direction to these and other councils and to figure out how to align them to work better with the Legislature. I signed onto this bill originally, because the current process is not working and significant changes need to be made.



But then I began to hear from my constituents – lots of them. They told me that having the Legislature eliminate citizen input sends a poor message. After considering their input, I’ve determined they are absolutely right.



Based on their concerns, I have removed my name from sponsorship of the bill and will continue to support the concept of citizens being directly involved in developing recommendations to the legislature each year for spending environmental revenue.



That being said, the problems with these councils still exist and we all must work to improve them and the processes in which they are engaged. If you have any thoughts or ideas, I’d love to hear them.



Talk to you soon,



Steve

[Grasshopper]

Well I have to admire the response to your concerns. It seems pretty reasonable and intelligent.

When MN citizens voted to approve the original measure, I was very happy, thinking it would ease some of the natural resource funding problems in the state.

I guess with that much money lying around, the devil is in the details...

[10_Points or better]

Hard to fathom special interest groups pushing their own agenda.

[Dor]

Hard to fathom special interest groups pushing their own agenda.

Even if this is fact, i'd rather see environmental groups pushing their own "enviromental" interests with this funds as these groups understand the needs of the minn outdoors. Cant say the same if our politicians get control of this cash.

[Grasshopper]

Even if this is fact, i'd rather see environmental groups pushing their own "enviromental" interests with this funds as these groups understand the needs of the minn outdoors. Cant say the same if our politicians get control of this cash.

Amen, Dor. Those dollars will disappear into a black hole...

Anyone on this site from Missouri? They have a similar excise tax, and a group that dispenses the dollars, I think? I would love to know how this works for them. Their DNR is, if I'm correct, one of the better-funded state agencies in the country..

[broadhead]

When Bob Lessard started drafting the Ammendment he confided in Missouri. They told him that the biggest problems that they had were keeping greedy fingers off of the dedicated money and to expect the same. That is why it was so important to have citizens in the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council. Back in the days when Charitable Gambling was enacted I think it was about 35% of the proceeds were to go to conservation in the state and now the politicians have whittled that down to around 15%, just to show what will happen if we don't keep them honest.

I think Missouri should be a model for Minnesota to follow. Their DNR and big game biologist Lonnie Hansen is on the top of my list.

[10_Points or better]

I was thinking that having lobbiests involved can't help either.