Ringer

Kind of a stretch to compare a few auction tags controlled by G&F to stealing 300+ tags with zero transparency. Nice try though.

I know little Johnson is pro 2072 but I also know that the group in the interview won't chase the red herring of bashing rich boys that can't hunt by themselves. This is exactly what I wanted to happen. Light of day from the media and the rats at the Capitol will run and hide. This is an abuse of a public resource to benefit a handful of people. Brewer may find her hands full explaining her honorary chairman positions as well as the legislator tags. Good job and knock'em dead boys.

I tend to agree that we need to be careful here. Point out the North American model, the publicly owned resource, the lack of transparency, the groups that have left AZSFWC over this bill and the vote at the G&F meeting. Talk about the handful of wealthy hunters and the lobbyists. I would get hold of Robby Woodhouse for this as well. Also point out the legislator tags and ask why that would be necessary if they felt this was so good for the 99%. Good luck and good work. Hope they go ask Brewer for her views on this mess as well.

I guess the half that liked it didn't attend the G&F meeting. I seriously doubt that those numbers are true and verifiable. Ask for them to show you the returned ballots and see if they flinch.

The guy that was against killing sat in front of me. I clapped him on the back and thought he was going to stroke out. Told him he had a big set to say what he did and that I thought it was good for him to be there if he wanted. I asked him to get his friends involved in habitat projects whether they were for hunting or the fish habitat at the Salt lakes. He said he did not want to eliminate hunting but was tired of G&F working so much for hunters. As for the meeting I was about to get up when Bruce said his piece and that was what needed to be said. The vote was never going to happen from the commissioner. Glad Brewer's people could see that. It reminded me of the USO meetings but everyone seemed to skirt the real issue until Bruce and Woodhouse said their part. The bottom line is that meeting was to try to focus energy somewhere that it isn't. We need a voice and that means we need a political lobbyist to do the dirty work like our competition. I hate politics and that is the game we need to be in to stop this bill and others like it. Might be too late.

Kind of proves the point that money can overcome all obstacles. Average Joe is called that because we are average and not entitled. AZSFW and the ADA are a joke now. Good luck getting regular people to volunteer, join or contribute. You have lied and you have abused the right to call yourselves a sportsman's group. Stay vigilant and expose the new bill info. If it gets passed list every politician that voted for it and work as hard to defeat them as we have to defeat this bill. Time to write all the legislators again and this time tell them to demand total transparency from any group that benefits from the sale of our public resource. I am sure Don Peay and Hamberlin will love that deal.

3tvnews@azfamily.com will get their attention. They asked for any documentation or facts surrounding the issue.

Write the Republic and ask them to investigate. It is all about a special interest group trying to corrupt our process and the light of day from Channel3 or the Republic will rile up the public on this one. I pointed out the lack of transparency in other states, the legislator tags and the percent dedicated to our G&F department. Also told her about the meeting tonight. I think this is the last thing the opposition wants to see.

It was obvious at last night's meeting that the ADA guy was ticked off. Babbling about how mean we all are and Death threats? New one to me. Not one hand went up in support of this bill including his and I hope Brewer's people took note of that. This is exactly like USO and if you are supporting AZSFW you are going to have meetings with a dozen members in the room. Woodhouse did a good job of framing the reasons this bill is just plain bad for Arizona. If the ADA and AZSFW have a brain among them they will ditch this effort so they can fight another day. If they want auction tags so bad that they are willing to bet the future of their organizations on this then that is that. They could win and they could lose. If they lose they are done IMO.

That guy from ADA was absolutely babbling last night at the meeting and he was ticked off! Said there were death threats? Was that staged for Brewer's people? Hope it is not true. It is obvious that ADA is in bed on this bill so need to adjust to that fact and move on.

Did that as well as stating the published info on the salaries for the head and Gilstrap, the special interest aspect and why the wealthy hunters want access to tags owned by the public. I am hoping they will read these sites to get a feel for reality and ask a few hard questions of the politicians. Never know but it can't hurt to get them involved.

I think you have hit on our next step. We can gather funding and sue to remove their 503c since they are a special interest group with a paid lobbyist pushing legislation that specifically benefits their administration , lobbyist and certain memebers that do not represent a majority of Arizona hunters. Keep this in mind and we can use this strategy.

If you go to the Arizona Legislature homepage and type wildlife in the search box it will list every bill that includes that word. I see nothing on the Commerce agenda from Weiers and would think it will take them a few days to position the bill again. Keep looking and when someone figures out where they are hiding the weenie let us know so we can start our own lobbying efforts.

Write to the democrats! I already have two that have written committing to work against this bill. I am as conservative as Atilla the Hun but hey these people can at least grill Gilstrap in reality vs her sales pitch.

I just got off the phone with a good guy that was at the Gilstrap meeting last night. He said exactly the same thing. They are going to force this bill through and feel that 90% of AZ hunters will forgive and forget in a year or two. They put charts up on how great SFW has done in managing wildlife in Utah and how crappy we have done here. I suggested a $25 habitat stamp dedicated to the same goal and that fell on deaf ears. Basically they are pushing that 99% of hunters never contribute to the cause. We better get ready because this thing is far from dead. I asked about opening the books to total transparency and that is not going to happen. They suggested combining the new SFW expo with the current G&F expo and that was scoffed at. These people are well funded and they are serious. They figure the organizations they lose will come back to the fold over time. We are in trouble now that politicians are listening to their favorite lobbyist.

We make custom wood and upholstered furniture and have done it on the bench for the last 31 years. Just about starved since the crash but the wealthy are starting to spend again and they can afford to buy American. Our TV lifts are made here but they cost 4 times as much as imports but I still buy them. Made in America by Americans will be on my products from now on. I am tired of designers asking me to repair Chinese junk furniture that fell apart in the first six weeks and it happens a lot. I won't touch it.

I have never seen her support the bill so yes she is. I do hope she can influence the ADA to rid themselves of the Pete C types and take a stand.

The enemy of my enemy is----my friend. If they are against AZSFW I will support them.

The best way in this state is through a ballot initiative. Call on a public interest group to find out how to get petitions signed and frame it as a bill to prevent the whoring of a public resource and I bet it would pass. People hate those nasty, rich 1%'ers trying to steal Bambi. It would get broad support and how can AZSFW advertise against it? We want to sell tags to rich guys to kill the King's deer?

One week until the 3/22 meeting. I think we will have a good turnout. I posted on our fishing website as well. This could be the start of something that will 1) get more people involved and 2) set up an early warning system when nasty bills like HB2072 show up. See you all there. Glen

Pete C. is absolutely a liar. I found an old post from Don Martin where he said Pete stood in front of the Mojave Sportman's Club back when AZSFW was formed and told them no way would raffle or auction tags ever be part of AZSFW like they were in Utah. He should have no place in any organization representing average hunters in our state.

As hard as it was for me to do I contacted some democrats in the legislature about this bill and a couple have actually thanked me for the heads up. Write them all and call when you can. We can raise the red alert and I am asking every one of them just to google HB2072 and see if they think AZSFW represents the majority of Arizona sportsmen/voters.

Wow! Little johnson has got to be Don Peay. As for you Snort we are not that far apart but there is not much of a chance to get massive numbers of people to volunteer as they really just care about the next trip to the lake or hunt. What will get them active is something like USO or HB2072 so I guess we should thank AZSFW for that part. Until the group agrees to full disclosure of every nickel spent and completely open books I view them with as much trust as a used car salesman. People here just don't like the idea of selling first place in line to anyone for any reason and that includes our G&F department. Too bad, so sad.

And therin lies the problem. You say the "true" champions of Arizona hunting but I suppose that excludes those of us who have donated time and sweat to G&F projects and have fought off USO and now are working to bury the AZSFW organization. To me they are just as big a threat as any other group that wants to impact the ability fo my G&F department to function on the behalf of all Arizona sportsmen. I joined the AES and will be at their banquet because they did the right thing. I have donated thousands over the years to RMEF as well. You are arrogant.

They are calling those of us against this bill an insignificant minority. Someone posted a link to every legislator on another site and I wrote in opposition and had a few of my friends do the same. If they get thousands of emails against AZSFW it will impact how they view the issue. Please keep writing and calling and also contact any sponsors of their supporters who might like to continue selling things to the 99% club here in AZ.