The tussle over tags

COEUR d’ALENE — Some Idaho sportsmen's groups are taking umbrage with Gov. Butch Otter for what appears to be a political move they believe could cripple the current Idaho Fish and Game Commission.

Otter issued a press release last week calling on anyone interested in applying for two commission seats that are set to expire at the end of June instead of reappointing the current commissioners, which has been standard procedure in the past.

Tim Sherman, president of the Idaho State Bowhunters, posted a letter on Facebook on Tuesday that was penned in collaboration with one undisclosed Fish and Game commissioner, which lays out what they feel is an overreaching attempt by a few legislators to politicize the management of big game hunting in Idaho. Sherman declined to name the commissioner he is working with.

“I want sportsmen to understand the truth behind what is going on,” Sherman told The Press in an interview Wednesday. “For many years, these legislators have been pushing Fish and Game around.”

Sherman said it is not often sportsmen associations stand up for the Fish and Game Commission, but he feels two commissioners are being singled out for standing up to political pressure from certain legislators “who have special interests in fish and game’s business.”

Sherman’s letter outlines how, in 1938, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission was created by voter initiative specifically to keep Idaho’s Fish and Game management free from political manipulation.

“Now, (78 years later), it’s time to see how this principle is holding up over the course of time,” the letter says.

“To fully understand the state of the commission now, one must look over the last few years. The F&G has always been treated as the bastarda child of the legislature but this relationship has degraded to the point that two fish and game commissioners, (who) are celebrated by sportsmen, will not be reappointed,” the letter said. “Although the commission’s approval with the sportsmen is at an all-time high, Gov. Butch Otter has made the highly unusual decision to rid himself of sitting commission chairman Mark Doerr of Twin Falls and sitting vice-chairman Will Naillon of Salmon.”

Several sportsmen’s groups along with a handful of former F&G commissioners began to cry foul last week, when it appeared to them that the governor was caving under political pressure from a handful of legislators who have been attempting to commercialize two of Idaho’s game tag programs and manipulate one other controlled hunting program for nearly a decade.

When contacted by The Press last week, former F&G commissioner Tony McDermott, of Sandpoint, said the decade-old squabble has come to a head, but he is not taking sides on the issue.

“Considering the issues involved, there is plenty of blame to go around concerning this entire mess,” he told The Press in an emailed analysis explaining the dispute.

McDermott said the governor has historically reappointed F&G commissioners when their terms expire if they are still in good standing with his office, but this time commissioners Doerr and Naillon are being asked to reapply for the position.

When asked if this was standard operating procedure for the reappointment of F&G commissioners, Otter’s office would not respond directly.

“There is some misinformation going around,” said Otter spokesman Jon Hanian, in a voicemail message on Wednesday. “The governor did not fire these commissioners. They are welcome to reapply.”

COMMISSION DIGS IN

According to Sherman’s letter, the most recent controversy began during the 2015 legislative session when the F&G Commission — with the full support of Idaho sportsmen’s groups — introduced a fee increase bill as a “clean bill” to the legislature for approval, but that went sideways when “some of the legislators ran wild using the department’s funding (request) as leverage to pursue the issues of both special interest and personal desires.”

Sherman said legislators attached three amendments to the bill to that would allow private landowners to sell special hunting tags — given to them by the state for private use — to the highest bidder. They attached a bill that would have weighted the way controlled hunts are awarded through Idaho’s random drawing system, and tried to force the commission to issue a number of nonresident hunting tags through a bidding system that was created by the legislature in 2012.

McDermott explained in his analysis that there has been tension between the F&G Commission and a handful of legislators over those three major issues for more than a decade. Causing the tension is the desire on behalf of a few legislators to have more of a say in how hunting tags are either distributed or auctioned in certain areas of the state.

In the first instance, McDermott said, more than 2,200 Landowner Appreciation Permits, or tags, are issued to large private landowners in Idaho where very little public land exists to manage game through the normal hunting tag program.

Currently, those large landowners are allowed to distribute the tags to hunters, who they charge for access to hunt on their land.

“For the past 10 years the Senate Resource Committee has pushed the commission to be able to sell these tags supported by large landowners on the open market to the highest bidder rather than giving the tag and charging an access fee which is what the program has morphed into,” McDermott explained.

He said Sens. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, and Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, along with Rep. Marcus Gibbs, R-Grace, and others on the Senate Resource Committee have pushed for the sale of these tags for a number or years.

“The issue has been hotly debated by members of the IFG wildlife board, IFG seven member commission, sportsman and landowners since as far back as 2005,” McDermott said. “The only thing that all could agree on was that there would be no consensus that would satisfy either side with respect to existing LAP tag program.”

As a consequence, McDermott said the owner of Tree Top Ranches located south of Salmon posted a sign on his ranch property with commissioner Naillon's and Doerr’s picture saying sportsmen were "no longer" welcome to hunt there.

Sherman’s letter said it is a well-known fact the owner of Tree Top Ranches has never allowed the public to hunt on his property in the first place.

Sherman said some legislators not only want the ability to sell the Landowner Appreciation Permits for financial gain, they want more distributed to them.

Sherman said some of the lawmakers pushing for the sale of those tags are ranchers and farmers who receive a number of the LAP tags themselves.

Mike Keckler, spokesman for Idaho Department of Fish and Game, could not confirm whether any legislators receive Land Appreciation Permit tags because a recently legislated exemption in Idaho's public records law prohibits the release of that information without the written consent of the hunting tag recipient. 

He said the commission has struggled to resolve the legislative concerns, while protecting the interests of Idaho sportsmen in the process. The issue has come up repeatedly over the years.

“The history of controversy of the LAP program has been going on as long as the program has been in existence,” Sherman’s letter explained. “But two new commissioners sitting in on their first meeting and eager to be involved, suggested to supply the landowners with more tags.”

According to Sherman, Commissioners Doerr, Naillon and another former commissioner from Region 6 opposed that action informing the new commissioners that the issue was more involved than the simple fix they were proposing.

The F&G Commission is also dealing with legislators who would like to auction off a number of nonresident hunting tags through a fairly new program that was created in 2012, but never implemented.

“Although sportsmen have long opposed the auctioning off of tags to the highest bidder, one man doesn’t care to stand in line with the commoners on a level playing field and simply wait for the luck of the draw,” Sherman’s letter stated. “(The) owner of Premier Technologies, a man with too many political connections to mention, hired lobbyist and former (F&G) Commissioner Jon Watts to institute a governor’s tag program in which tags would be taken from non-resident sportsmen and auctioned off, thus creating an avenue to put the wealthy at the front of the line.” Sherman said that effort was successful and legislation was passed to give the commission the unrequested authority and discretion to put up to 12 tags per year for public auction.

Sherman said every year since then the commission has reviewed that authority and decided to use its discretion — “largely on behalf of sportsmen input” — to not distribute any tags to the program.

The third major rub between the legislators and the commission involves implementing a point system that would essentially establish a seniority system for Idaho’s current controlled-hunt tag-drawing system. Currently hunters are awarded controlled hunting tags using a computer drawing system to randomly select the winners.

Both Sherman and McDermott said Rep. Moyle has consistently pushed for a point system that would give preference to hunters who apply more often for those hunts.

Sherman’s letter said over time the F&G Commission has reviewed point systems and even surveyed the public multiple times, but the commission has always reached the same conclusion.

“They have felt that instituting any such program does little more than sell the applicants false hope and waste sportsmen dollars,” the letter said. “There is one legislator however who feels very differently.”

Sherman said Moyle has been quoted on at least three separate occasions of allegedly saying, “I don’t give a f**k what sportsmen want, I want bonus points.”

According to Sherman’s letter, the last person to repeat Moyle’s alleged quote actually gave it as testimony at the recorded January commission meeting in Boise. It was also said in the presence of former F&G Commissioner Fred Trevey, outgoing commissioner Mark Doerr and F&G Director Virgil Moore. Sherman said Moyle has also said that to him, and he shared the quote on social media.

Sherman’s letter also said Naillon and Doerr told more than one of the other commission members that they had received a call from a legislator who told them if the commission would concede to the sale of LAP tags then the new F&G funding bill would undoubtedly be approved.

The controversy surrounding those issues and amendments eventually tanked the commission’s effort to increase hunting fees during that legislative session. Rather than let the bill go to vote, the commission pulled its request, which would have been the first fee increase in 10 years.

LEGISLATIVE PUSH BACK

Fast forward to this year’s legislative session, when the Senate Resource Committee took up the controversial Senate Bill 1344, which forces the commission to use a third-party private company to randomly select tag winners in future controlled hunt drawings.

Sens. Bair, Brackett and Siddoway, as well as Rep. Moyle co-sponsored the bill, among others.

After some testimony was heard on the bill, F&G Commission Chairman Doerr penned a letter to Resource Committee Chairman Sen. Bair to communicate his personal opposition to the bill and to correct some of the insinuations made by members of that committee, which he said were not based in fact.

“This is my opinion and does not represent the opinion of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission in its entirety,” Doerr wrote in the opening of his letter. “The Commission has not had the opportunity to weigh in on or discuss this bill due to the speed it has moved through committee. I oppose Senate Bill 1344.”

He gave several reasons for doing so. He especially took exception to specific testimony from Sen. Brackett that he felt insinuated the commission’s drawing system appeared to be unfair, biased and needed more transparency.

“The part of this I have the most concern with is that the claims of lack of transparency, commissioners and IDFG employees drawing controlled hunt tags unfairly or in a biased manner, is thick with the implication that there is corruption in the commission, IDFG and the Auditor's office,” he wrote. “No facts to back up these assertions exist.”

He also took exception to Sen. Siddoway’s testimony that appeared to insinuate corruption in the drawing system by pointing out that two IFG commissioners were selected for controlled hunts in a recent drawing.

“He is correct. One (commissioner) had been applying for over 20 years. The other drew a tag the first time he applied. The odds of drawing a sheep tag in Idaho vary from 1 in 5 to 1 in 263,” he wrote defending the random selection process. “So the odds are not that high that two commissioners could draw in the same year. To imply that the system is therefore biased and in need of change is not supported by fact.”

Doerr said in his letter that there has been no demonstrated problem with the current system other than assertions that it is not transparent and is corrupt.

“If there are no facts to back this up, then I ask two questions: Why does the legislature need to make this change?” he wrote. “Why does the legislature desire to strip the commission of its history of properly implementing this program?”

Despite his letter of opposition the legislation passed both chambers of the legislature and was signed into law by the governor on March 22.

If that weren’t enough, Doerr was also interviewed by journalist David Hart for a story that was published in Peterson’s Hunting Magazine on April 28 entitled “Are Politicians Crossing the Line?”

The story delved into how state legislatures across the country are increasingly becoming more involved with legislating the management of game in their respective states.

In the article Doerr told the reporter that pulling the commission’s request for funding to kill the legislative amendments was the right thing to do.

“Once tags become a commodity, it becomes ‘pay-to-play,’” Doerr told the reporter. “Landowners start closing their land to the public, and hunters are either forced to pay big money or hunt public land, which will then become more crowded. We don’t want to see that happen in Idaho. Our sportsmen are pretty happy with the way things are now. They were pretty opposed to the amendments.”

McDermott said those two moves will likely have a negative impact on Doerr.

“Pouring gas on the desk of legislative leadership is not a good idea unless you’re intending to commit professional suicide, which is what has occurred,” McDermott said.

In fact, Sherman said that is exactly what happened.

“When the legislative session began, Commissioner Doerr was called into the statehouse with the fish and game’s director for an explanation,” his letter states. “What was said in the meeting is (as of now) unknown, other than Senator Bert Brackett’s vow to show the fish and game commission who makes the rules.”

NO COMMENT

The Press attempted to contact Commissioners Doerr and Naillon for comment. Doerr did not return the message. Commissioner Naillon said he wanted to reserve comment until after the commission’s meeting in Coeur d’Alene this Monday and Tuesday.

Region 1 IFG commissioner Brad Corkill also declined comment in light of the upcoming meeting.

Sens. Bair, Brackett and Siddoway did not return phone calls, nor did Rep. Moyle.

When the Fish and Game Commission meets in Coeur d’Alene on Monday, members will be touring properties the agency is considering acquiring. They will hold a public hearing Monday at 7 p.m. at the Idaho Panhandle Hunter Education Center, 2885 W. Kathleen Ave., Coeur d’Alene.

On Tuesday the commission will have a Sportsman’s Breakfast at 6:30 a.m. at the Lake City Center, 1916 N. Lakewood Drive.

Then they will return to the Idaho Panhandle Hunter Education Center by 8:30 a.m. for a full day of business, commencing with the election of next year’s commission chairman and vice-chairman, who take over on July 1.