Do Your Research

The November election is just 3 1/2 months away. In ads and speeches, candidates for elected office often talk about their hometown roots to convince citizens they will serve their wants and needs. In two of his ads our current district House of Representative member and candidate for Governor Tom Tiffany plays on this theme.

It is noteworthy then that Mr. Tiffany called on a Texas based group to help him oppose a conservation project, the Pelican River Forest easement, that was designed to protect natural

resources in three northern Wisconsin counties.

The project was built on a model that keeps in place private property rights and local tax base support while protecting resources and sustainable land use into the future.

Hunters and fishermen who form the core of a network of Wisconsin conservation groups favored the project. Also in support were members of two sectors that make up the heart of the northern Wisconsin economy, the local timber and recreational industries.

The American Stewards of Liberty, the Texas group that Mr. Tiffany enlisted to oppose the project, is funded in part by billionaires and works across the country to open land to natural resource extraction, including mineral mining.  It claims to empower local government but in some important areas actually strengthens the hand of the federal government.  No court has upheld the legal arguments it uses to alter land use policies.

Over Mr. Tiffany and this group’s efforts to block it, the conservation project was approved. One citizen echoed the voices of many when he said, “Wisconsin has always done a good job of managing its own natural resources.”

It’s important before casting our votes in the November election to look beyond ads and speeches.  We must consider candidates’ actions that have and will affect our families, friends and communities.