WTP takes aim at wolf hunt ruling
‘Our jobs, our freedoms and our native elk are being wiped out by two invasive foreign species – radical greens and Canadian gray wolves.’

BILLINGS – America’s largest grassroots advocate of property rights and sensible environmental policies differed sharply with Thursday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy striking down managed gray wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana.

“Our jobs, our freedoms and our native elk are being wiped out by two invasive foreign species – radical greens and Canadian gray wolves,” said Dan Fuchs, Western Tradition Partnership’s Director of Government Affairs and term-limited former Montana state representative.  “Invasive wolf populations are booming.  It’s the rights of ranchers that are endangered.”

“The tremendous toll on our livestock and declining elk herds from these invasive pests requires we listen to reason, not radical green activists.  The gray wolf is not endangered and it is human meddling by radical greens that is killing our native species.  Their numbers are beyond what they should be in nature, and this ruling will further eradicate our native herds of majestic elk,” said Fuchs.

“The Canadian gray wolf must be removed from the so-called ‘endangered species’ list.  Their numbers are beyond what is natural and they are under no threat of extinction.  The same cannot be said for our jobs, our livestock and our game herds, all of which are threatened by radical greens,” said Fuchs.

Molloy, a Clinton appointee, ruled the Endangered Species Act does not allow authorities to manage wolf populations differently in different states.  Strictly monitored hunts to control wolves are allowed in Montana and Idaho, but no hunts are allowed in Wyoming. 

“Malloy’s ruling is flawed and contradictory. It is not pragmatic or reasonable and is without regard. The only thing endangered is common sense within our judicial system,” said Fuchs.

Supported by grassroots members, WTP is a fast-growing, non-profit organization dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources. 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 2, 2010
Contact: Donny Ferguson, donny.f@westerntradition.org or 703-200-3669

WTP challenges lawmakers to oppose lame duck energy tax plan – in writing
Written pledge faxed to every House, Senate office with Sept. 10 deadline

WASHINGTON — America’s largest grassroots advocate of property rights and sensible environmental policies has sent every member of Congress a written pledge committing them to oppose a plan by congressional leaders to use a “lame duck” session of Congress to impose a national energy tax.  Senators and representatives have until Sept. 10 to sign and return it.

“If Congress thinks Americans were angry about ‘deem and pass,’ just wait until WTP tells their constituents about the lame duck national energy tax plan.  American overwhelmingly oppose Barack Obama’s national energy tax, and they’ll hold accountable any lawmaker who goes along with plans to wait until after the election to use legislative tricks to impose one.  Any effort to impose a national energy tax during a lame duck session doesn’t just damage our economy, it damages what little trust Americans have for their lawmakers in the next few months,” said Donny Ferguson, Western Tradition Partnership Executive Director.

“Lawmakers have a duty to give their word, in writing, that they answer to their constituents and not Barack Obama’s radical green agenda,” said Ferguson.  “Between now and the lame duck session WTP will hold accountable lawmakers who refuse to return their pledge, by speaking directly to their constituents.”

WTP’s “’No Cap and Tax’ Lame Duck Pledge” was faxed to every House and Senate office beginning Friday.  Senators and representatives are asked to give their written promise to oppose proposed efforts to wait until after the November elections to impose a national energy tax plan.

The pledge reads: “I (name of lawmaker) pledge I will oppose any and all efforts to impose any form of cap, price, limit or tax on carbon or other so-called ‘greenhouse gases,’ including all procedural votes and motions, in any ‘lame duck’ session of Congress.”

Numerous experts and media outlets report Democrat leaders like Rep. Henry Waxman will take advantage of a conference committee that will hammer out differences between House and Senate energy bills to insert a national energy tax the Senate did not approve.  John Fund of The Wall Street Journal, for example, writes Obama “wants to pass a modest energy bill this summer, then add carbon taxes or regulations in a conference committee with the House, most likely during a lame-duck session.”

Supported by grassroots members, WTP is a fast-growing, grassroots-supported non-profit organization dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.  The citizens’ group educates the public and lobbies legislators on issues of environmental extremism and promotes responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.

For more information on WTP, go to http://www.westerntradition.org.  For more information on this issue, or to schedule an interview, contact Executive Director Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or at donny.f@westerntradition.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Contact: Donny Ferguson, donny.f@westerntradition.org or 703-200-3669

Public opposition to Kagan’s radical green views fuels near-historic low approval ratings
Polling data show Kagan’s support mirrors that of SCOTUS flop Harriet Miers

WASHINGTON — Public support for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is among the lowest ever recorded for a potential justice, a disturbing lack of faith fueled by national opposition to President Barack Obama’s radical green policies, the nation’s largest grassroots opponent of environmental extremism noted Tuesday.

“With economic recovery long overdue and delayed by Obama’s radical policies, Americans do not want an activist like Kagan on the Court whose job is to enforce the ‘green’ belief that American prosperity is a threat that needs to be eliminated,” said Donny Ferguson, Executive Director of Western Tradition Partnership.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Kagan’s nomination Tuesday by a 13-6 vote, with “cap and trade” advocate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) joining the panel’s Democrats.

A Gallup poll released July 15 shows public support for Kagan’s nomination stands at just 44 percent.  Only Robert Bork (38 percent) and Harriet Miers (42 percent) recorded lower approval than Kagan.  Bork’s nomination was defeated and Miers’ was withdrawn.  Gallup cites historical ratings showing public support for a Supreme Court nominee virtually never increases, but opposition usually grows.

“It’s no coincidence Harriet Miers and Elena Kagan are identical twins when it comes to approval ratings.  One was an unqualified presidential crony whose only purpose on the Court would have been to enforce the president’s personal views.  The other was Harriet Miers,” said Ferguson.  “Elena Kagan is being sent to the Supreme Court with marching orders.  ‘Use your lifetime appointment to impose a job-killing Cap and Tax system, give the EPA unquestioned authority and kill any constitutional challenges to radical green authority.’”

“Americans know the radical green agenda calls for the downsizing of American prosperity and our standard of living and they’re angry Obama is actively working to make a bad economy even worse.  Americans aren’t supporting Obama’s pick because they know her job is to eliminate theirs,” said Ferguson.

As president of Harvard University, Kagan created the school’s “environmental law” program.  “She left a nationally visible mark on environmental law at Harvard,” Jim Rossi, a visiting environmental law professor at Harvard, told The New York Times upon her Solicitor General nomination last year. “For many years, Harvard was not known for a primary expertise in the environmental jurisprudence, and that changed under Dean Kagan’s watch.”

The Times reported “expanding regulatory enforcement of wetlands under the Clean Water Act and broadening the applicability of the Endangered Species Act to include the effects of climate change” may be at the top of her agenda.

“Under Kagan, we are likely to see the government take a less hostile approach to environmental enforcement,” a jubilant Matt Kenna of the Western Environmental Center told the Times. 

“If confirmed, Kagan would be the first successful nominee in recent years whose nomination was backed by less than a majority of Americans in the final poll before the Senate confirmation vote (or, in the case of Harriet Miers, before her nomination was withdrawn),” Gallup notes.

Supported by grassroots members, WTP is a fast-growing, grassroots-supported non-profit organization dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.  The citizens’ group educates the public and lobbies legislators on issues of environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.

For more information, go to http://www.westerntradition.org.  For more information on this issue, or to schedule an interview, contact Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or at donny.f@westerntradition.org.

Link to Gallup poll: http://www.gallup.com/poll/141329/Americans-Favor-Confirming-Kagan-High-Court.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_term=USA

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Contact: Donny Ferguson, 703-200-3669 or donny.f@westerntradition.org

Congress challenged to repeal Obama drill ban

WASHINGTON – The nation’s largest grassroots opponent of environmental extremism urged Congress Tuesday to take action to rescind the Obama administration’s latest ban on deep-sea energy exploration, reminding them the ban will thwart economic recovery.

“Obama’s energy jobs ban will directly cause the elimination of tens of thousands of jobs, as well as the elimination of hundreds of thousands of jobs that depend on those energy jobs in this interlocked economy.  Banning critical energy jobs in the Gulf is the start of a chain reaction as the loss of tens of thousands of energy jobs leads the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs tied to them, and so forth.  Energy prices will be inflated, making goods and services more expensive and forcing employers to cut back to stay afloat.  What jobs may have been created over the next few months will die as Obama’s reckless policies give job creators are given another reason not to invest in recovery,” said Donny Ferguson, Western Tradition Partnership’s National Director of Media and Public Relations. 

 “This is a deliberate attempt by Barack Obama to thwart economic recovery and eradicate badly-needed working class jobs in an industry he harbors a radical green hatred for.  This ban on energy jobs is not supported by responsible science and has nothing to do with protecting the Gulf.  The Deepwater Horizon accident was an odds-defying act on a rig attempting a new type of drilling.  The offshore rigs Obama banned have nothing in common with Deepwater Horizon.  They are no different than the thousands of rigs that have operated for decades without incident,” said Ferguson.

WTP does not advocate the election or defeat of candidates.  Supported by grassroots members, WTP is a fast-growing, grassroots-supported non-profit organization dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.  The citizens’ group educates the public and lobbies legislators on issues of environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.

For more information, go to http://www.westerntradition.org.  For more information on this issue, or to schedule an interview, contact Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or at donny.f@westerntradition.org.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Contact: Donny Ferguson, 703-200-3669 or donny.f@westerntradition.org

WTP:  Here’s what the Judiciary Committee should be asking radical green Kagan
Nation’s largest grassroots opponent of radical greens urges closer examination of Kagan’s extremist agenda

WASHINGTON – The nation’s largest grassroots opponent of environmental extremism and advocate of property rights urged members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday to more carefully examine Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s radical green agenda, and how it will threaten Americans’ lives, prosperity and freedoms should she be given a lifetime Court appointment.

“There is no bigger threat to your property and liberties than a radical green extremist with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court,” said Donny Ferguson, WTP National Director of Media and Public Affairs.  “Barack Obama is waging an all-out war on American jobs and prosperity, and Elena Kagan is his nuclear option.”

“She’s going to the Supreme Court with marching orders – enforce the Obama administration’s radical green agenda and stop any constitutional challenges to his authority,” said Ferguson.

As creator of Harvard’s “environmental law” program and a committed radical green, Judiciary Committee members should pay careful attention to Kagan’s agenda of unquestioned government control over private property and employers.

Specifically, Judiciary Committee members should ask Kagan:

Where in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to create environmental regulations?

Do you agree the Constitution does not give the EPA the authority to issue its own regulations?

Do you agree the White House and Congress have no authority to enter into global environmental treaties that supercede state laws and constitutional limits on federal power?

Do you agree the Court violated states’ rights in its 2004 Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. Environmental Protection Agency ruling that stated the EPA could override state environmental regulations if the EPA feels they are not strict enough?

Do you agree the Court was in error in its 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA ruling that stated the EPA must regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant?

Do you agree the Constitution’s “commerce clause,” which was written to prevent states from engaging in trade wars with each other, does not give the federal government the authority to create a “cap and trade” system?

The radical green community was thrilled when Barack Obama named Kagan to his administration last year.

“Under Kagan, we are likely to see the government take a less hostile approach to environmental enforcement,” a jubilant Matt Kenna of the Western Environmental Center told The New York Times upon her nomination as Solicitor General.

The Times reported “expanding regulatory enforcement of wetlands under the Clean Water Act and broadening the applicability of the Endangered Species Act to include the effects of climate change” may be at the top of her agenda.

A darling of the “green” activists who believe courts and judges should actively prosecute and punish employers, Kagan spearheaded the development of an “environmental jurisprudence” program while dean of the Harvard Law School.

“She left a nationally visible mark on environmental law at Harvard,” Jim Rossi, a visiting environmental law professor at Harvard, told the Times. “For many years, Harvard was not known for a primary expertise in the environmental jurisprudence, and that changed under Dean Kagan’s watch.”

As an advocate of aggressively using courts to legislate the radical green agenda, many of Kagan’s hires at Harvard are now shaping policy for the Obama administration.  One, Jody Freeman, is now Obama’s counselor for energy and climate change in the Obama White House.

Supported by grassroots members, WTP is a fast-growing, grassroots-supported non-profit organization dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.  For more information, go to http://www.westerntradition.org.  For more information on this issue, or to schedule an interview, contact Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or at donny.f@westerntradition.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 14, 2010
Contact: Donny Ferguson, 703-200-3669 or donny.f@westerntradition.org

WTP phones 35,000+ Loudoun voters ahead of Board worksession
Residents warned of tax hikes, loss of property rights under Chesapeake Bay Act

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The nation’s largest grassroots advocate of property rights and opponent of radical environmentalism phoned over 35,000 Loudoun County voters Saturday afternoon, warning them of a plan by the Board of Supervisors the media report will lead to higher taxes, more regulation and a loss of property rights.

“The Chesapeake Bay Act was never meant to be adopted here, but the local radical green activist community that controls the Board has found it to be a convenient weapon in their War on Loudoun.  It means big tax hikes and the loss of jobs and tax revenue to surrounding counties not controlled by radical greens.  Worst of all, it means the total loss of your right to enjoy your home or business,” said Donny Ferguson, Western Tradition Partnership’s National Director of Media and Public Relations. 
 
“The misapplication of the deeply flawed Chesapeake Bay Act, with as little citizen review or input as possible, is a deliberate attack on the property rights of Loudoun homeowners.  It is, in fact, a harsh Home Improvement Tax intended to make Loudoun inhospitable,” said Ferguson.  “Decades ago, radical environmentalists declared war on suburbia, promising ‘if you build it we will burn it.’  Realizing that using Molotov cocktails means prison time, they now prefer to use draconian legislation and massive tax hikes to carry out their agenda.”

“If you look at the list of wealthy radical groups pushing this Home Improvement Tax, it’s a who’s-who of the ‘get out of Loudoun’ crowd,” said Ferguson.  “This is all about driving out human development and providing a safe habitat for hordes of new bureaucrats and tax-gobbling government employees.”

WTP called over 20,000 Loudoun homes Saturday evening warning residents of the June 15 Board meeting on the plan.  The call briefly quotes a May 31 Leesburg Today editorial critical of the Board’s planning process that warned the Board’s actions could lead to higher taxes and lost jobs.  Over 20,000 homes means roughly over 35,000 voters were contacted.

Residents in the Blue Ridge, Catoctin, Leesburg, Potomac and Sugarland Run districts were urged to call their supervisor at home.  Residents in the Broad Run and Sterling districts, whose supervisors have already registered their opposition, were urged to instead contact County Chairman Scott York at home.

Roughly 5,300 Dulles District residents represented by the frequently-moving Supervisor Stevens Miller, whose business phones have been cut off and does not list a reliable home phone number, were urged to contact him on his cell phone. 

“We weren’t sure which one of Miller’s homes he’s declaring residency in this week.  It was just easier to ask 5,300 people to call his cell,” said Ferguson.

“The people have a simple message for their supervisor and chairman.  You’re wrong to raise my taxes and you’re wrong to take away my property rights.  There are more of us than there are of you, and you’d better change your position,” said Ferguson.  “Unlike the activists who get paid by rich donors to push these radical green crackdowns on private property, the people targeted for these Home Improvement Taxes have to work on weekdays.  We hope they can show up and voice their opposition.”

Ferguson served as a Board staff aide to Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio from 2002 to 2007.  Delgaudio had no involvement in or input into WTP’s lobbying effort.  “This is what I did for nine years before working for the Board, it’s what I’ve done for three years since working for the Board, it’s what WTP has successfully done at the county and state level for two years now and it just so happens this Board is adopting the very kind of radical legislation we oppose,” said Ferguson.

WTP is a fast-growing, grassroots-supported non-profit organization advocating rational, responsible natural resource development and land use policy.  WTP is an IRS-approved 501(c)(4) public information and citizen lobbying organization founded in 2008.  Unlike radical environmental groups funded by a small cabal of rich activists, WTP is supported by a broad, diverse national membership making generally small donations.

For more information on WTP, go to http://www.westerntradition.org.  For more information on this issue, or to schedule an interview, contact Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or at donny.f@westerntradition.org.

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