Fish and Game commissioner may be removed from post
By Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News
Six months after one of California’s top wildlife officials faced a fury after shooting a mountain lion in Idaho, fellow commissioners are expected Wednesday to remove Dan Richards as president of the state Fish and Game Commission.
But the unabashed hunting enthusiast isn’t going down without a fight.
“This originates from the enviro-terrorists being threatened by me,” Richards said in one of his first interviews since his mountain lion hunt enraged environmentalists.
“They see a guy who is paying attention to the issues, and who calls them out on the crap they throw out. Their involvement is important but by and large it’s a farce, and I’m not afraid to call it that.”
The state Fish and Game Commission will vote on “election of new officers” at its meeting in Ventura, a vote that is expected to dethrone Richards, a San Bernardino County real estate developer and big-game hunter, but leave him as a member of the commission.
“The president of the commission should be someone who has the confidence of a majority of his peers,” said Mike Sutton, vice president of the commission, and executive director of Audubon California.
Richards said he plans to attend the meeting. If he is replaced as president — a role that allows him to set the agenda, speak for the commission and run its meetings — he said he will remain on the commission until his term expires in January.
The powerful five-member commission sets rules for fishing, hunting and endangered species in California.
What a railroad job. This man has done nothing wrong or illegal. What a load.
I think we covered this last time….I’ll re-post this response:
California Fish & Game Commission President Dan Richards going to Idaho to shoot the mountain lion is like a drug enforcement czar going someplace where marijuana is legal and having a photo of himself taken smoking a big doobie, grinning. Poor judgement, inappropriate, and unsettling.
…and wildly inconsistent with California state policy. Dan Richards needs to find a new profession. Maybe he can move to Idaho where they call it ‘sport’ to tree animals with dogs and, flat footed, blast them out of the branches.
Pathetic. Fire him.
Atomic, hunting and doing drugs are two wildly different things. A drug enforcement czar is there to bust drug dealers. Supposedly Fish and Game is paid for by us hunters to manage legal hunting. There is no comparison, not even close. There are lots of people who travel to vaious parts of the country to hunt and inevitably hunt animals that are either illegal to hunt and out of season in their home state. Its not a crime and it is not a moral failing.
Atomic, at least be honest, this isnt about him violating California law, this is about hunting in general.
John, I’ll be fair for sure, I think hunting represents some failing in hunters’ personal lives.
He’s free to go to Idaho and blast animals out of trees, noone is saying that he can’t, it’s legal after all, pathetic, but legal.
Problem is Dan Richards is not ‘lots of people’. As part of a state appointed position , he is expected to exercise good judgement and make decisions that reflect a deeper understanding of his duties. He can blame whoever he wants about this backlash, but bottom line is he blew it, killed the cat and killed his credibility.
Atomic, how long have you been a vegetarian? Paying someone to do the killing, doesn’t give you the moral highground.
By referring to
enviro-terrorists” and “Robbers and thugs in Sacramento” (Richardson’s words) are enough to show he is not guiding a department for all Californians. The mission of Fish and Game is ““The mission of the Department of Fish and Game is to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.”
Don’t see that hunting is even mentioned and while it is a part of the whole, hunting fees bring in only about 1/5 of the dept budget. What he did was not illegal, but it sure was stupid and yes it was exactly like a drug cop going somewhere else to smoke… not illegal but really dumb.