CHAPEL HILL, N.C., June 18, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Politics are playing out like a poorly scripted drama movie in the House Chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly. Representative Roger West, who rose to national prominence for his $75K possum drop bill, inserted pork language within the state's 2014 short session budget that would attempt to rewrite yet another wildlife law.
North Carolina's Constitution and law explicitly prohibit the sale of deer. Whitetails are recognized as a public trust asset, a benefit and enjoyed resource for all citizens. Representative West's language would begin to unravel the long-standing history with little debate from residents.
Food Lion's retired CEO, Tom E. Smith, turned deer farmer, has contributed to each of the Senate Bill 513 sponsors, Andrew Brock (Davie, Iredell, Rowan) and Brent Jackson (Duplin, Johnson, Sampson), which if passed moves oversight and regulation of North Carolina's wildlife (captive deer) to the Department of Agriculture.
Mr. Smith has heavily invested in Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler, with a $17,600 spend. All totaled candidate contributions are a staggering $96,885. In addition, separate contributions were made to the sponsor's caucus of $21,250, equating to $118,135 total political contributions made by the Salisbury, NC captive deer farmer.
It a twist of taxpayer irony, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) used $247,000 from its Wildlife Endowment Fund to buy out existing deer farms in an attempt to mitigate the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) risk. Senate Bill 513 currently sits in the House, and if passed would issue these same captive deer pen licenses for $50.00, allowing all bucks to be sold to high fenced enclosed shooting pens such as the Cherokee Hunting Preserve located in Robbinsville, NC.
The "Big Bucks" of deer farmers seem to buy influence where a handful of lawmakers are attempting to regulate wildlife policy "buy" subscribing to Political Science rather than Sound Science. Now that we have seen the "Bucks" where is the science?
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Video - http://youtu.be/0Y7fEdesCLs
SOURCE Citizen's Science
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