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Idea of the day on fighting back special interests that will ruin our state???

Sligh1

Administrator
Staff member
I get ideas everyday & sometimes they are junk. Sometimes they are decent. Throwing things against a wall on any topic known to man. Here’s one that popped into my head today. I’m just gonna say it how it is & ramble out loud off of my head here….

Special interests that want to pimp our state- crossbows, more tags, new seasons, etc. They all hire lobbyists. Good or bad (mostly bad ;) ) that’s how the system works.
I’m gonna put a figure on how many lobbyists work for special interests & against our fragile resource…. Guessing 2 to 8 depending on year & how many special interests want to sell our state out. Like this year- it’s BAD!!!!!! Worst it’s ever been!!!! Ever.

IBA has one lobbyist & that’s our only line of defense in that form. It makes a HUUUGGGGEEEE difference. Immense. Other states didn’t have that and why they went down toilet - period. Our defense with one guy at least is a line of defense that other states didn’t have. Add to it- citizens acting/writing in, it’s the only reason iowa hasn’t been flushed down drain with relentless attempts over last 20+ years. The attacks are getting worse though.

So- here’s my bottom line thought…. What if a “group of guys” pitched in to hire one more? Let’s say it’s about $40k per year. Let’s say 40 guys each through in a grand a year for a 3 or 5 year period to go on offense????! With specific goals in mind. Very loosely…. Off top of head, few goals…..
1) another major defensive lobbyist against the deer pimps that want to sell us out. Another pit bull to be there every day to fight back the “crazy’s”
2) stopping the celebrity tag disaster which is, in today’s #’s- reaching a collective audience of over >20m++ viewers EVERY SINGLE YEAR promoting our state & showcasing top tier managed farms to guys across the country while our draw time is 5 years & increasing in several areas. Give the DNR those tags to auction off (minimum of $20k each) to put towards walk-in land budget. Kills 2 birds - 1 stone.
3) calling for legislation that limits how often & how much legislature can keep pursuing all these crazy changes to regs. Long story on this one but it freezes most regs & seasons for up to 10 years. So we aren’t fighting same stuff over & over.
4) propose some bills counter to any they propose …. That’s a wild long list but fight fire with fire. Long story there. This is a bad example but analogy: crossbow companies continue to pimp us for sales, create a bill that removes them from late season to punch back. Bad example but u get my point.
5) get legislation in place where the GAG ORDER on dnr is lifted!!!! Back to old system where dnr could voice up & also speak out against regulations & management that’s bad for our resource. This needs reversed, DNR needs louder voice than politicians and gag order needs removed.
6) fight for balanced deer herd #’s & bills that aim to keep deer at current levels with a few exceptions. Our state is down 25% in about 10 years & most areas below carrying by a lot. There is some Pockets of high #’s (Se IA is main one) but it’s the vast minority. Also- further limit doe killing in northern areas that are almost void of deer now. We need some common sense back.
7) lot more discussion, bills or public awareness that all this madness of regs is actually to blame for declining new hunter #’s. Educate legislatures on why we are losing new hunters. Why states like MI have lost 1/3rd of their deer hunters in 25 years. More we do this crazy legislation like is happening now… access gone at far faster pace & new hunters will be out/done. Less hunters over time will mean less people to control deer #’s too & less revenue for state & dnr.
8) IBA does archery in school & we can continue to grow stuff like that with youth. But that’s iba’s baby too so just a side mention on more things to engage youth.
9) i would keep ONE BUCK in the cards. For 3 reasons: 1) it may be the right thing to do and any resident can still do a lot of killing with 1 buck. 2) if these crazy regs keep getting worse- we will have to do it because it’s going to degrade our quality, period. 3) it’s us on offense, finally, which we never are!!!!!


Whatever. This list could go on BUT A DEFINED FOCUSED LIST & GOALS WOULD BE CREATED (probably 5-8 goals for example) But fundamentally- have that list & say “guys, we need this accomplished & need the barrage stopped. Let’s hire lobbyist until our state is secure.” & guys- right now iowa is the Ukraine of the deer hunting world. It’s under attack by a much bigger force. Or it’s like our southern border, open season crazy. We need to stop this cold & get a wall up in legislature to stop this for good. My idea is fighting fire with fire & going toe to toe with the deer pimp’s strategy. They are hiring lobbyists. They know how to go on offense. Should we?? I do know guys where u say “can I count on u for $1k for 3 years”. Need “40 of them”. Could be Done. I really think it could be termed “$1k a year for 3 years to defend & secure this state!!” Thinking out loud. I really am. So- sorry on the ramble. Maybe I’m off base. Maybe not. That’s my idea of the evening. We can’t have year after year of attacks like we have this year. Can’t continue. Thoughts?
 
Skip, your passion is awesome. Two points. First, be surgical. To be surgical you need to focus on a few points and pound them. You can’t fight on every front.

Many are going to disagree with my next thought. Secondly, sometimes you have to give to get. Meet with Rozenboom and others who sponsor these bills to identify where the fight is. What can Iowawhitetail, the IBA, etc do to stop this or satisfy them. There may be compromise necessary. Having the lobbyist vote no on every bill does nothing but make the IBA look unapproachable.

Politics suck but sometimes you gotta play and appear to be flexible. If we’re not they will act. Matter of time.
 
Hiring a lobbyist I believe, is a great idea! Back when I was in business we would have gotten killed by large company's that had their lobbyist. We hired a great one and it paid off tremendously. The key to this is finding and hiring a smart ambitious one with very high people skills, that knows how to play the game. There are far more poor one's out there than good ones. Count me in!
 
All great ideas, love it. I think there are a lot of 'well to do' hunters/landowners etc that are passionate and would jump on the cost of this. Needing to educate and reach them would be the challenging part. I think there needs to be more educating current hunters on these topics. Most would agree and be on our side if they really took the time to learn. If we could get more hunters educated and spark some passion in protecting what we have that would be huge. IMO by far and large the majority of hunters are just casual, if they were to see these proposals they wouldnt see anything with it, many would probably think they are awesome, "crossbows? why not!". They dont think deep on the implications or want to listen. That is how several of my buddies are, just getting them to listen on why they should write is like pulling teeth.

There are all sorts of facebook pages and youtube channels all hunting related to Iowa, specifically deer. I'd love to see them get more involved and speaking on this subject to help get the word out. Just a quick mention etc and getting these pages and channels all doing it would quickly get people thinking and notice and help create a strong support I would think. I love the IBA and what it represents, but I have never understood why it seems like its never taken off a whole lot. I am willing to bet more hunters than not have never heard of the IBA or know what it stands for.

I like the fighting fire with fire. Instead of just completely being on defense on everything if the IBA or another group was formed in addition to the IBA and always being on defense if we not only played defense but started introducing bills etc going on offense and gained support that would be awesome. Legislators would see the voice, that we are not just sitting ducks that quack every now and then when we dont like something.
 
Skip, your passion is awesome. Two points. First, be surgical. To be surgical you need to focus on a few points and pound them. You can’t fight on every front.

Many are going to disagree with my next thought. Secondly, sometimes you have to give to get. Meet with Rozenboom and others who sponsor these bills to identify where the fight is. What can Iowawhitetail, the IBA, etc do to stop this or satisfy them. There may be compromise necessary. Having the lobbyist vote no on every bill does nothing but make the IBA look unapproachable.

Politics suck but sometimes you gotta play and appear to be flexible. If we’re not they will act. Matter of time.
Agree. I’ve discussed this with a bunch of legislatures. I want solutions for pockets of high deer #’s for example…. There already happens to be 3 go to solutions BUT I’ve expressed - I agree & here to help. I’ll meet with more of these people & agree we need a lot more discussion. Legislatures are almost entirely non-hunters.
Another example…. As much as I get disgusted with farm bureau - there’s some things we agree on…. We both don’t want the state dominated by NR owners. (Again, many of my good friends are NRLO’s - love em. Just don’t want the vast majority of the state to be owned by them). We both don’t want new hunter #’s to decline. Which they are. Due to access. It’s far worse in other states but we are dipping. It’s because of access & the lack of access is driven by a natural defense of hunters to buy land or lease to protect their hunting from the crazy legislation!!!! They need to understand that!!

Reality is: hunters & public actually do want many of the same thing - it’s just the education, representation of hunters & lots of discussion are very hard to have happen. Above is one more idea that could explode the amount of discussion & awareness to every single person in the legislature & that in turn could better public policy to improve all these issues with the public. Think both sides can find common goals. We can also find & solve these common goals while we work to DESTROY the efforts of the $ hungry sleeze bags that do just want to pimp our state out for a buck. Most people are good & we can work together. There’s also a slice of the pie that’s pure bottom feeding scum that needs the fight brought to them.
 
One more thought for the discussion. There are a handful of other similar interest groups out there that have lobbyist as well. One group that is sort of an accumulation of all the groups is the ICA. Iowa Conservation Alliance. I believe they have two lobbyist. I could be wrong on that though. Most groups like the IBA have some form of representation or support within the ICA. 100% accurate statement made above on certain lobbyist holding more weight than others. IBA is fortunate to have a great lobbyist that is very well respected. Same can't be said for other groups. With that being said sometimes it just doesn't matter. There are the Rozenboobs of the world that will do it their way to despite you.

Great ideas here.
 
1. Become the Fox in the hen house........run for Public office and be the person making the choices and forming bonds with other lawmakers(peers) guiding them in the decisions related to Natural resources. I know who really wants to do that a lot of headaches and heartaches involved but that is maximum presents. Skip I know you and you are a people person......a natural "sales man" so to say. You would be an ideal fit. Run Skip Run.....

2. If you are in the position and have a larger farm which require management bucks to be taken invite Iowa representitives to come hunt your farm. Sit with them in the blind number one to make sure they shoot the "right" buck :p and convey all the reasons those bad bills should never pass. My guess is that 1 on 1 encounter with them in person in the field would be more productive than a guy approaching them in the halls or meeting. Pick the ones that are on the fence that need a push in the right direction. 2 this year 2 next year now you got 4 guys you can call and maybe have some influence with.
 
1. Become the Fox in the hen house........run for Public office and be the person making the choices and forming bonds with other lawmakers(peers) guiding them in the decisions related to Natural resources. I know who really wants to do that a lot of headaches and heartaches involved but that is maximum presents. Skip I know you and you are a people person......a natural "sales man" so to say. You would be an ideal fit. Run Skip Run.....

2. If you are in the position and have a larger farm which require management bucks to be taken invite Iowa representitives to come hunt your farm. Sit with them in the blind number one to make sure they shoot the "right" buck :p and convey all the reasons those bad bills should never pass. My guess is that 1 on 1 encounter with them in person in the field would be more productive than a guy approaching them in the halls or meeting. Pick the ones that are on the fence that need a push in the right direction. 2 this year 2 next year now you got 4 guys you can call and maybe have some influence with.
I’d love to have them to my farm!!!! I’d do this all day long. Great idea. Wish more hunted or wish we even had a handful that hunted!

It’s crossed my mind since I was young & it’s been brought up since I’ve been a teenager. School teachers way back had even said this. What keeps me from doing it is probably what keeps most folks from doing it in some variation…. I’m at my farm everyday & I love it. I love what I do. To go into the political arena, I’d be leaving that to be surrounded by dirt bags! ;). & yes- I partially kidding. But, what can we agree on here??? 30-40% being slick lawyers? A big % never working in the real world?!? Career politicians that are owned by special interests & sell out to the highest bidder. I was laughing with one last week as he was telling me about his time owning a couple small businesses & having employees … I said “wait- u made it in the private sector with success & u decided to be a politician?!?” It was funny & he’s a great person who truly wants to make a difference & SERVE. That’s one obstacle to politics right now & it’s got worse…. The “best & brightest” - folks who run companies/businesses, successful inventors, problem solvers, creative thinkers, folks who went from rags to major successes….. they don’t want to get into politics cause it’s so toxic & their success in real world keeps them happy & driven. & those same people spend time figuring out ways to not have bad government policies impact them. We need to make politics about TEMPORARY SERVICE again. Not a career. Not for folks that have a degree in gender studies that couldn’t hold a real job for a week. Or folks that spent 5 years arguing case law in court- they couldn’t run a business or understand dynamics of the real world if life depended on it! Term limits & folks that go into it for the reason of serving & not to stay there & get wealthy. This is ONLY way we advance this broken system. We don’t have the best & brightest serving & running governent & that’s gotta change.
 
Running for political office …

Do you want to—
-get phone calls and emails all day long bashing your choices
-spend your days at the Capital in downtown Des Moines or in my case St. Paul ?
-spend all your free time reading up on the issues and on bills proposed
-shake hands and hon nob at parades in the summer when all your friends are fishing or drinking beer in a pontoon!
-while your friends are shed hunting you are debating a Democrat on whether Boys should be competing in girls sports.:rolleyes:

That’s a Hard NO for me !!

…..,& hear lies the problem !!
 
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