Elitist leadership declines

Increasing revelations of de­ceit, inconsistency, and the lack of ethics, credibility at the federal level of gov­ernment, Clinton administra­tion, all the way down to the local level of the environmen­tal elitist special interests in Larimer County, continue to denigrate the elitist leader­ship.

First, we have Bill's and Hillary's personal involvement in land speculation, commodity trading and an S&L scandal which they themselves, condemned others for as greed of the Eighties.

The same character defi­ciency by the administration concerning environmental poli­cy is also standard practice by Bruce Babbitt and Jim Baca in regard to the promotion of the administration's 1994 BLM-Forest Service Range­land Reform Plan. The contents of an internal Interior memo made public last fall by Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico confirms that scientific fact and responsible policy is of no real concern to the present administration. Kevin Sweeny, the director of com­munications at Interior, and Lucia Wyman, the director of external affairs, admitted that the reality of regulatory changes proposed concerning riparian protection and graz­ing committees is different than their agenda. They admitted that to Babbitt and Baca, saying it would take some creative selling and media manipulation to get the regulations passed. Quote from memo "Un regard to ri­parian zones,) our own (Inte­rior) statistics can be used to show the range is in better shape than at any point in this century. With that in mind, we must make deliber­ate and public attempts to prove how bad the conditions are in many riparian zones."

Clinton's reinvention of the Forest Service consists of breaking the tradition of bas­ing selections on competence and qualifications as demon­strated by making the Forest Service chief a political appointment. He appointed Jack Ward Thomas as a regard for his nonscientific, fraudulent report on the spotted owl of Northern California, Oregon and Washington. Even though a report on "NBC Nightly News" in September revealed that it is now known that there are far more spotted owls in old and second growth forests than Thomas said were necessary for them to survive, fraud was rewarded.

 While cutting timber on his own property for profit, the Sierra Club's Pacific Northwest Regional Director, William Arthur, said, "You cannot save a forest and cut it down, too." Quote from The Oregonian, July 9, 1993.

 At the local level, the elit­ists opposed the Seven Utes project which is in most part a result of their efforts to elimi­nate agricultural use of fed­eral land and their promotion of recreational land use as the panacea for all land protec­tion.

 Even though the Pleasant Valley Master Plan (MP) pro­vides open space and scenic vistas for wildlife and future generations, and the Land Li­ability Co. works to swap land for open space, a Loveland environmentalist said, "Certainly you cannot leave it to the maket to provide open space. They never have done it and never will do it." Quote from The Coloradoan, March 25, 1994.

 Last fall elitist newsletters, letters to the editor and meet­ing comments advocated the democratic process, public input and planning to save ridge lines, open space: and sensitive areas from develop­ment. Conservationists believe that reasonable, responsible, innovative planning is a must. Now that conservationists oppose excessive laws and regulation in favor of private initiative, incentives, and cooperation, the elitists condemn the democratic process, public input and cooperation. They are now demanding laws and regulations immediately to im­plement their ideas. Opposi­tion and more innovative, cre­ative proposals l1ave revealed the elitist's real goal and agenda.

The efforts of the elitist citi­zen group leadership at the 30 March Bellvue meeting to quiet and shout down support for responsible ridge line and open space protection was an­other revelation of their lark of ethics and credibility.

Larimer County citizens should get all of the facts be­fore signing any petitions to oppose environmental protec­tion and the cluster develop­ment proposal of Mr. Graves., Citizens must realize that natural resource and environmental protection will require some minor sacrifices and in­convenience.

 Environmentalists still fail to understand what conserva­tionists have always known: Credibility requires practicing what one preaches, and preaching what one practices!

Tom Bender is a tree farmer in Bellvue.