Often said to be feckless in
discharging its duties, the eight-person Ohio Wildlife Council stood
up Wednesday to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Instead of rubber-stamping several
last-minute and politically motivated changes to the already-set
2013-2014 Ohio deer-hunting regulations, the council did what few
people ever expected: Four of the council member said “no” and
three said “yes.”
The four who voted nay were Horace Karr
of Meigs County, Charlie Frank of Newark, Paul Mechling of Ashtabula
County's Pierpont Township, and Tim Ratliff of Winchester in Brown
County.
Voting yea were Karen Linkard of Xenia,
Larry Mixon of Columbus, and George Klein of Akron.
Council member Stephen Seliskar of Lake
County was not present and consequently did not vote.
Thus while the council's Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse may feel the political wrath of some state
lawmakers who demanded things be done their way, the four members
showed the legislators the highway.
Which led three of the other council
members to do what sportsmen have long regarded they would do, that
being, always say “yes” if you want to keep this really cool job.
At issue were several key last-minute
changes brought to the table late last week by Wildlife Division
chief Scott Zody.
Among the proposals was to first tack
on two days of firearms allowance immediately prior to the start of
the three-day, statewide muzzle-loading-only deer-hunting season.
As put forth by Zody the prior firearms
hunt would run Friday, Jan. 3 and Saturday, Jan. 4, while Sunday,
Jan. 5 through Tuesday, Jan. 7 was to be reserved exclusively for
those hunters who use primitive weapons such as muzzle-loading
rifles.
Had the Council approved Zody's
recommendation – and few doubted the council would ever say no to
anything - the net result would have resulted in a major mid-course
correction to the state's deer-hunting regulations.
Importantly for many sportsmen, Zody's
push was made without the usual series of open houses and public
hearings designed to solicit the opinions and thoughts of hunters of
all stripes.
In a classic case of double-speak, Zody
called the piggybacking of a gun hunt with a muzzle-loading hunt a
“blended gun/muzzle-loading season.”
The thing is, the additional proposals
were launched following political arm-twisting.
Among those politicians flexing their
elected muscles was state Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield.
Widener is a member of the state
Senate's extremely powerful Ways and Means Committee.
And Widener even went so far as to send
a letter to Zody, opining on the-then proposed deer-hunting
regulation changes. Among Widener's protestations was the elimination
of the two-day mid-December firearms deer-hunting season.
As mentioned previously in this blog,
somewhere along the illuminated path Zody saw the light. He then
followed up by instructing his staff to reexamine the proposed (later
approved) refined deer-hunting regulations to see if there is
anything we want to adjust.”
And it is Widener who found himself
linked closely with the highly divisive proposals.
Of course, when it comes to hardball
politics revenge is a dish best served cold. Which stands to reason
the four “nay” Ohio Wildlife Council members may very well have
sealed their own status as overseers of the Ohio Division of
Wildlife's rule-making authority.
Yet if they are keel-hauled for
misbehaving and sawing against the grain, at least the four properly
and correctly discharged their duties.
Can't ask any more of a non-elected
government appointee.
After all this being said, there is
still a huge hurdle, maybe two, that must be jumped over.
The original proposed 2013-2014
deer-hunting regulations now move to a bipartisan group of state
legislators called JCARR, which approves administratively established
rules of all kinds and by all state agencies.
Should JCARR reject the proposals the
matter then is required by law to be taken up by the full Ohio House
and the Ohio State Senate.
If the Ohio General Assembly rejects
the proposals then the entire matter of deer hunting regulations
enters uncharted and even deeper politically muddy waters.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
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