Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tester town halls
Posted by Skylar Browning on Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Sen. Jon Tester's office announced two upcoming town hall meeting on his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act.
The details:
Saturday, September 26, from 9-10:30 a.m.
Beier Auditorium, University of Montana-Western, Dillon
Monday, September 28, from 9:30-11 a.m.
3rd Floor Community Room of the Gallatin County Courthouse
311 West Main Street, Bozeman
The format:
Both events are free and open to the public.
After presentations, Tester and his staff will be on hand to gather feedback and answer questions about the legislation.
Those looking for a little background on the proposal — both pro and con — can check here, here, here or here.
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Yep, that's about right. Announce the "town halls" only a few days ahead of schedule. I'm sure the Beaverhead Partnership folks knew about these meetings weeks ago. After all, they needed time to make all those "Thank You Sen Tester" signs, generate form comments or generic letters to the editor and get their members to these manufactured "town hall" meetings.
Will Senator Tester's office ever respond to the serious concerns and critiques that have been raised in many quarters about his mandated logging bill? Will Senator Tester ever let us know why he would allow military landings in Wilderness Areas? Or will we just get more campaign-style rhetoric?
http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2009/09…
Snip: "[P]roponents of the measure showed up, many of whom wielded signs that read "Thank you, Sen. Tester."
See what I'm talking about?
For those readers interested in a detailed analysis of Sen. Tester's bill from one of the nation's leading experts on natural resource policy and law, I'd highly recommend they check out Dr. Martin Nie's piece at Headwaters News titled, "Questions, opportunities presented by Montana Sen. Jon Tester's Forest Jobs and Recreation Act."
It's available at: http://www.headwatersnews.org/p.ForestJobs…
It would certainly be nice if Sen. Tester and supporters of his bill would address these important questions, which have actually been asked (yet ignored) for months.
As Dr. Nie says in his conclusion, "The above questions are not driven by politics. Nor are they asked with the purpose of trying to defeat the Senator's bill or to criticize his courageous entry into Montana wilderness politics. They are meant instead to get the public thinking about the big picture and how the parts are going to fit or not fit together. The stakes are high. If the FJRA becomes law, place-based proposals throughout the West will take a big step forward. The FJRA would be the first one out of the gate, setting precedent for others, and this is reason enough why it must be scrutinized so carefully."
Thanks.
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