Trophy Hunt!

Back in November, I wrote about Bob Ermold's opinion piece in the PC about predator control.  Bob got all slobbery about the wisdom of Corey Rossi, the unqualified director of the State of Alaska's Division of Wildlife Conservation. Corey was originally selected by then Gov Sarah Palin to run the AK Dep't of Fish and Game, but he was not appointed after a near-revolution in the department based on his lack of a degree or appropriate experience.  So, the special job he has now was created for just him.  Since then, he's been sort of promoting his own big-game guide services. Apparently conflicts of interests mean nothing to those who approve of his desire to kill every wolf and bear in AK.

Well, ole Corey is in a heap of trouble.  Apparently, an independent investigation by the state troopers has shown that this guy, who is suppose to conserve wildlife, has violated state hunting laws and lying to the cops and has just been slapped with 12 counts of illegal guiding.

Read more about the charges at the Alaska Dispatch and Craig Medred's follow-up piece here. Seems that one of the things Rossi lied about in the investigation was that he was working for Kenai guide, Joe Dilley.

I wonder if there are bag limits on unqualified head of state departments?  Well, since the Murkowski/Palin/Parnell governorships, that would be the head of nearly every department.

Post-Palin Post

I usually let the other Alaskan bloggers take on Sarah Palin, and the news of her resignation this past weekend has certainly given them a lot to write about (see the sidebar on this site for links). She has blamed the bloggers for her decision and her accusations have made national and international news.

The only thing I am going to say is that after the presidential election, I wish she had simply went back to being the governor of Alaska and put any further aspirations aside for the time being. While I didn't agree with everything she did, I sort of liked the pre-Monegan/Troopergate/VP Palin.

Her decisions to grandstand, to make political points, to be absent from the state during crucial times in this last legislative session did not serve the citizens of Alaska. Her spins in defense of some questionable behavior have been unbecoming. During the national campaign, she demonstrated that she could dish it out, but that is just an invitation for others to do the same back. And I guess the ensuing criticism she received was too much for her to handle.

So Sarah, pick some salmon from your set net site, tend to your kids and family, get your life back. Take some time off and out of the spotlight. The best thing to do might be to find someone that you trust but that doesn't necessarily agree with you on everything. Get that person's advice and then sleep on any comments that you might otherwise impulsively have to say.

Palin: Obama Closes Soldotna GM Dealership

I've been laying off of our governor since the election - there are plenty of other Alaskan bloggers who have fun with Sarah, and Lord knows, she gives them plenty of material.

And she just keeps on giving. I'll jump in because she mentions Soldotna in her most recent press release.

According to Governor Palin, "Today, we learned that Obama’s decisions continue to impact Alaskans; while we as taxpayers now own General Motors, Obama closes another dealership – this time in Soldotna as more of Alaskans’ hard-earned money and jobs are lost to big government."

I got to thinking. Didn't the Peninsula Clarion run a story about Hutchings GM just a few days ago? Yep, May 10 in fact. It seems the Governor's statement isn't quite accurate. While Hutchings lost its franchise, it isn't closing. The dealership did employ around 75 workers back in the fall, 10 days before today's statement, its workforce was down to 28.

GM has been having difficulty since way before Obama became president as their last profitable year was in 2004. Since then they have lost $82 billion dollars. Any company bleeding that much red ink might just cut back their workforce - especially those franchises that aren't as profitable as others. The auto industry has lost some 400,000 this past year - some of that was bound to trickle down to the Kenai.

So, despite Palin's rhetoric, the dealership isn't closing, and the local layoffs occurred because of financial difficulty GM has been having for 5 years. Layoffs are a natural part of what happens when there is a downturn in the economy or if a company like GM makes bad business decisions.

So just how is that Obama's fault?

The debate whether the US Government should be bailing out a business won't be addressed here - there are plenty of pundits who can provide you with that entertainment.

But if the US doesn't bail out GM, wouldn't that mean that the company would go bankrupt and close ALL of their dealerships? And is that a better choice? What would Sarah say then - that Obama's inactions continue to impact Alaskans?

If she had offered an alternative suggestion on what should be done, that would have been helpful, but of course she provided nothing of the sort. I've yet to hear any thanks to Obama from her as Alaska has accepted millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds to create jobs here.

The GM rescue is not strictly Democrat/Republican thing, here's a statement in support of GM's bailout from Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and maybe with a bit more understanding of the problem than Sarah. "We all recognize the role these companies play in the overall composition of our economy and we want them to succeed. It has become abundantly clear that in order to remain viable and competitive, these companies must re-organize, revamp and restructure."

W.A.R. What is He Good For? (Absolutely Nada!)

Wayne Anthony Ross, Sarah Palin's pick to be the Attorney General of Alaska has some solid SOLdotna credentials. He's the lawyer who represented Jeff Webster, the super-soaker clown who doused 80-year-old women with buckets of water in below freezing temperatures on two separate occasions as they were protesting the invasion of Iraq at the Soldotna Y back in 2003.

Back then, Ross said that Webster was harmlessly expressing his free speech and that it was dangerous for folks to protest the war. Ross went on to say that he couldn't understand why the state would prosecute someone whose son was fighting for the country.

Harmlessly expressing his free speech? What about the old ladies - weren't they harmlessly expressing themselves when they were assaulted not once, but TWICE by Webster? And yes, as long as you make excuses for physical assaults on free speech, it will continue to be dangerous for folks to protest. Kinda like it's dangerous to protest in countries were there are few freedoms. Now, if W.A.R. was to be appointed AG of North Korea, China, or Iran - well, that would be a nice fit.

Ross, in his confirmation hearings this week, now says as AG he wouldn't be OK with pressing charges in the Webster case, but would do it anyway. Yeah, Right.

We Americans are entitled to legal representations, but shouldn't our lawyers advise us to suck it up when we do something boneheaded? So, Mr. Ross - was it your legal advice to Webster to plead innocent and not to apologize?!?

And you want to be AG for the State of Alaska?

I wonder what would happen if someone were to douse W.A.R. (or his hummer) with a few bucketfuls of water on a winter's day as a protest to his selection as AK's AG?

A Not-So-Modest Proposal: Aerial Hunting of Commercial Fishermen

Overview of Relationships Between Commercial Fishermen, The Sport Fishing Industry, Dip-Netters, Mat-Su Politicians, and Salmon in Cook Inlet, Alaska

Relationships between large predators and their prey in Alaska are complex; it is possible to generalize about some situations, particularly in Cook Inlet. This information on the biology of salmon and the impact of commercial fishermen and the sport fishing industry represents highlights from 25 years of research and management programs. The recent introduction of dip-netters and politicians from the Mat-Su borough now is beginning to play a major role in allocation decisions.

In the coastal fisheries of Canada and Alaska, where commercial fishermen (either set netters or the drift fleet) are major predators of salmon, salmon returns typically remain well below levels that wealthy and influential individuals and wasteful personal use dip-netters would like to see. This occurs primarily because, together, set and drift fishermen, are efficient predators on salmon stocks, and kill many of the returning fish.

Commercial fishermen have been found to be very adaptable and within a few years, they recover from times of low fish returns. Despite relatively heavy regulation and operating costs over the last century in Alaska, commercial fishermen occur in nearly their entire traditional habitat throughout Cook Inlet.

Commercial fishermen are social animals that often live in large family groups. Depending upon the relationship of adult males and females, multiple births of potential commercial fishermen may occur. Most children born into a commercial fishing family themselves become commercial fishermen – especially in areas where salmon returns are abundant.

A solution to this problem can be found in Game Management Unit 20A where wolf control has been shown to be effective at maintaining high numbers of moose and high long-term harvests of moose. In Unit 20A, reduction of wolves by the introduction of aerial hunting has increased moose population density.

Based on this data, biologists expect that significant reductions in commercial fishermen (either drift or set net or both) will also lead to higher numbers of salmon for harvest.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, with the full support of Governor Sarah Palin has announced the introduction of aerial hunting of Cook Inlet commercial fisherman.

State officials stand by their scientific findings on predator control. "Several times over the past several years, our science has been challenged in court," says Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. "In every instance it has prevailed. If shooting wolves from airplanes works, we expect similar results with shooting commercial fishermen.”

In 2007, Palin approved $400,000 to educate the public about the ecological success of shooting wolves and bears from the air. Some of the money went to create a pamphlet distributed in local newspapers, three weeks before the public was to vote on an initiative that would have curtailed aerial killing of wolves by private citizens. In her current fiscal-year budget, Palin included another $400,000 for a similar pamphlet defending the culling of commercial fishermen. Last year she introduced state legislation that would transfer authority over the program from the state Department of Fish and Game to Alaska's Board of Game, whose members are appointed by Palin.

Palin defended her actions: "Well, let's see. There's ― of course in the great history of Alaska there have been rulings that there's never going to be absolute consensus by every Alaskan, and there are those issues, again, the aerial hunting of commercial fishermen, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of Alaska, there would be others. But our next-door neighbor is Cook Inlet. As commercial fishermen rear their nets into the water space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right there. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on these very powerful predators. I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open airplane window for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the shot. Show me where the open shot is. Even if it's just cracked open a little bit, maybe I'll shoot through that and maybe prematurely pull the trigger through it, but don't let me miss a shot."

Bob Penney, co-founder and a current board member of the nonprofit Kenai River Sport Fishing Association has pledged part of the $4.7 million Congressional earmark his organization received from the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (Thanks Uncle Ted!) to promote aerial commercial fishermen hunting. He has proposed expanding the annual Kenai River Classic, a yearly sport fishing event comprising of some the most influential politicians, lobbyists and policy-makers to include a chance to participate in the aerial hunting.

Penny explained his position: “We tried to get the state to buy back commercial fishing permits, but the program would have been expensive and there was no guarantee that commercial fishermen would go along with it. Aerial hunting of commercial fishermen wouldn’t cost the state much money. Plenty of my rich friends would gladly pay for the opportunity to gun down these fish-killing predators. In fact, I’d be happy to offer a bounty for each commercial fisherman shot.

Mat-Su Assembly member Tom Kluberton chairs the Mat-Su Mayor's Blue Ribbon Sportsmen's Committee. "If this is not addressed before fishing season, the commercial fleet may reduce the number of fish escaping into the Susitna drainage to a level that will be devastating to Mat-Su families who rely on salmon for their table and to the guiding and fishing-related tourism industries in the area as well," Kluberton said.

Mat-Su Borough Manager John Duffy is making a plea for relief to state officials.

"We believe that any time the drift fleet is allowed to fish south of the Blanchard Line, the fish bound for the northern district get intercepted," Duffy said. "It would be more prudent to first allow the northern district residents to reach its escapement goals by shooting commercial fishermen."

Ricky Gease, executive director of KRSA, in an e-mail to the fish board claimed that security was an issue and that the board should consider meeting in Anchorage instead of Soldotna when they consider approving aerial hunting of commercial fishermen.

Mr. Gease stated, "At the 2000 meeting in Soldotna, members of the BOF, employees of ADF&G, and numerous members of the general public were threatened with acts of violence, some stretching to death threats ... the fact that the physical security of the public became an issue at this meeting shows that security was not adequately factored into the decision making process prior to the meeting ... Several members of our organization who live outside Soldotna question whether or not their physical security can be guaranteed if the meeting once again happens in Soldotna. We’d better pass this policy and get them before they get us."