It’s well known that Maine voters are an independent lot, who place a high value on fairness and transparency during the campaign season.
That is exactly what is at stake with Question 1 on the Maine ballot, a referendum that, if passed, would put an end to one of the best bear management programs in the country and undermine 40 years of nationally recognized research at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Since June of last year, the Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States has contributed more than $1.6 million to the campaign, according to Maine Ethics Commission campaign finance reports.
This war chest of campaign funds will allow HSUS to do what they do best: buy loads of television air time to distort the record and further push their national agenda to eventually outlaw all forms of recreational hunting, according to their CEO Wayne Pacelle, who once bragged: “We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States.”
But what does Pacelle’s agenda mean for Maine?
If HSUS is successful, Maine will lose jobs, and our fragile economy will take another blow. That probably doesn’t matter much to a Washington-based special interest group, but it matters a lot to the hardworking people of rural Maine.
It’s not surprising that more than 99 percent of the proponent’s money is coming from outside of Maine.
Beyond the severe economic impacts it would create, this referendum would also cripple the ability of state biologists and game wardens to effectively and professionally manage Maine’s bear population.
Maine’s bear management program is nationally recognized, and its objectives and guidelines are driven by public input from people right here in Maine, not Washington.
An elimination of Maine’s successful bear hunting practices will also lead to more dangerous bear-human interactions.
In 2012, there were roughly 500 bear nuisance complaints. Kennebunk schools kept children indoors because of bear sightings in the area. And in the state of New York, lawmakers are now considering legalizing all three forms of bear hunting because of nuisance bear complaints.
Despite raising a war chest of campaign funding from out-of-state donors, the HSUS has not fooled very many people in Maine.
In fact, all three gubernatorial candidates ”“ Eliot Cutler, Gov. Paul LePage and Congressman Mike Michaud ”“ oppose this misguided referendum. They are joined by a growing coalition of voices that includes the Maine AFL-CIO, the Maine Tourism Association, the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, and Maine’s biologists and game wardens. Never in Maine history have we seen such a diverse and distinguished group of policy leaders unite behind a position like this one. The No on 1 campaign is one for Maine people to be proud of, and extends far beyond traditional partisan boundaries.
Two questions are vitally important: Can your vote be bought and paid for by a special interest group in Washington? And, who you trust more: Maine’s wildlife biologists and game wardens, or Wayne Pacelle?
If you agree that Maine’s biologists and game wardens should be trusted with these management decisions, join our tremendous coalition and vote no on question 1 in November.
— James Cote represents the Maine Wildlife Conservation Council and lives in Farmington.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
