Idaho Democrats denounce forest sale

BOISE – Idaho Democrats want the Legislature to tell Congress the state opposes any sale of its federal lands. They are calling on Senate Republican leaders to allow a hearing designed to send that message.

“Idaho’s public lands are not for sale. The public won’t stand for it, and the Legislature should be leading the way,” Senate Minority Leader Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, said Friday at a news conference attended by every House and Senate Democrat.

Stennett filed SJM 116 as a personal bill, but he said the chairman of the Senate State Affairs Committee told him Republican leaders are holding it, and he won’t get a hearing unless they give the go-ahead.

“It is time for this Legislature to stand up to this president,” Stennett said. “Are we really ready to sell off our most precious asset: access to our public lands?”

Former longtime Idaho Fish and Game Director Jerry Connelly joined Stennett, saying, “We don’t have such a thing as a Republican duck or a Democratic pheasant out there. It’s a non-partisan issue. Sportsmen are very concerned that these public lands not be lost.”

Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, said GOP leaders haven’t made a decision yet on whether to allow a hearing on Stennett’s measure, another similar measure sponsored by Rep. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, or a different bill.

“I was a little taken aback when President Bush made that announcement, and frankly I’m very concerned about that proposal,” Davis said. “I certainly find value in the concerns that Sen. Stennett is expressing.”

Stennett first drafted the resolution after U.S. Rep. Butch Otter co-sponsored a bill in Congress calling for selling off millions of acres of public lands to help pay for damages from Hurricane Katrina. Otter, who is running for governor, later reversed himself.

Stennett said Bush’s latest proposal has given SJM 116 new urgency.