By forcing Idaho Fish and Game Director Rod Sando to quit,
the Fish and Game
Commission has exposed itself as hopelessly politicized.
Sando was brought in to restore stability and professionalism
at the agency, and
he succeeded.
Where did he go wrong?
Sando simply stood up for his department's biologists. Those
scientists noted
that declining game herds reflected a loss of habitat. That got
in the way of the
Fish and Game Commission's political decision to kill off predators.
Then Sando got into more trouble by doing his job. Fish and
Game officers
ticketed a Mountain Home rancher for killing three cougars. There
was no
convincing evidence that the rancher needed to kill the cougars
to defend nearby
horses. But the Idaho Cattle's Association applied pressure. Consider
what ICA
President Dave Nelson had to say at the Jan. 16 Fish and Game
Commission
meeting.
"There is a storm on the horizon. The problem stems from
some of the people in
the department," Nelson said. "You (the commission)
need to take whatever
means possible to straighten these people out."
Sando refused to fix the ticket.
So Fish and Game Commissioners John Burns of Salmon, Marcus
Gibbs of Grace
and Roy Moulton of Driggs lined up Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's support
for this
dictum to Sando: Resign or be fired.
Sen. Laird Noh, R-Kimberly, a sheep rancher and a lonely voice
of environmental
balance in the Legislature, lamented Sando's firing. Noh noted
that "Idaho will
have a difficult time attracting anyone qualified for that job
now."
There is indeed a "storm on the horizon," as Nelson
said. But this storm will come
from the thousands of sportsmen who have lost patience.
It's happened once before. In 1938, sportsmen rebelled against
cronyism within
Fish and Game and passed an initiative to insulate the department
from partisan
politics.
Ever since, politicians have been chipping away at that independence.
After Phil
Batt became governor in 1995, he began an era of unprecedented
interference.
Now the Idaho Wildlife Federation is moving to transform frustration
into action.
It can't expect much help from the Legislature, which prefers
to support
industries and special interests to wildlife. The Wildlife Federation
may go
directly to the voters through an initiative
True reform requires the following:
Give an independent panel the ability to screen applicants.
That's how Idaho
selects judges. The Idaho Judicial Council reviews applicants
and gives the
governor a list of finalists from which to pick. In the case of
the Fish and Game
Commission, the nominating council should be composed primarily
of sportsmen
whose license and tag fees pay for most of Fish and Game's operations.
The terms of individual Fish and Game Commission members should
be staggered.
That would deprive Idaho governors of the opportunity to stack
the commission.
The law should shield Fish and Game Commission members from
arbitrary
political pressure. It should state that no commission member
can be fired without
cause.
No initiative campaign is easy. But the Wildlife Federation
starts with three
advantages. Sando's firing will galvanize sportsmen. Most Idahoans
- more than
80 percent according to a 1997 survey - want politics removed
from Fish and
Game decisions And a federal district judge's recent ruling may
make it easier to
place initiatives on the Idaho ballot.
Sando's firing is a genuine loss, but it could provide Idaho
citizens with the chance
to finally get their Fish and Game Department back.
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