June 4, 2014 Statement: Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine on claims made recently about Sen. Raye and his vote for LD 353. Several ads in the Second District Congressional race by the Poliguin campaign have implied Sen. Raye is somehow anti-sportsmen for his vote to raise hunting and fishing license fees in the 2009 legislative session. In order for sportsmen to accurately assess Sen. Raye’s vote we believe this vote should be put into proper context. In 2009, then Governor Baldacci faced an $800 million dollar shortfall in the biennial budget. In order to close the shortfall, Governor Baldacci gave the legislature two options: consolidate the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife with the Department of Conservation or raise hunting and fishing license fees. For sportsmen, this ultimatum was the equivalent of asking, would you like your left hand cut off or your right? The Joint Standing Committee for Inland Fisheries and Wildlife recognized at the time that consolidation of the department was unacceptable and with the support of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine structured a minimal fee increase distributed fairly across the board. This quote from a Bangor Daily News article in 2009 illustrates the concerns with consolidation of natural resource agencies, “Underlying some of that opposition — whether among sportsmen or farmers or commercial fishermen — is the fear that those constituent groups would lose funding, dedicated staff or political sway in a consolidated department.” Bangor Daily News, 2009. bangordailynews/2009/01/30/news/sportsmen-weigh-higher-fees-merged-agencies/ In 2009, SAM asked Sen. Raye to support LD 353 and to help us stop the consolidation of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife with Conservation. Our organization does not view Sen. Raye’s vote as anti-sportsmen. SAM has worked with Senator Raye for many years and we feel he has consistently supported sportsmen and gun owners. Both candidates, Sen. Raye and Bruce Poliquin filled out their SAM questionnaires and each scored 100 percent on the issues our organization deems important. To view the questionnaires, please contact the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine at: [email protected]. The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine has not endorsed a candidate in the Second District race, we feel both candidates will be strong on the issues important to gun owners and sportsmen.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 16:55:10 +0000
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