Billboard Criticizes Rep. Lamborn
The 2,700-member Bull Moose Sports Alliance is making its displeasure with Congressman Doug Lamborn known in a very public manner.
The Denver-based national organization has posted a billboard above the IHOP restaurant at the intersection of Platte Avenue and Chelton Road in Colorado Springs. The alliance said the billboard will stay up for a month, and would not say how much it cost.
Alliance co-directors Tim Mauck and Gaspar Perricone said the alliance opposed an amendment recently proposed by Lamborn that would cut nearly $51 million in funds from several federal agencies that maintain or expand access on public lands for outdoorsmen. The money comes from oil and gas royalties, and is administered by the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
“Any effort that tales away the access and the opportunity to those public lands, or the quality of the hunting experience, is obviously not in the interest of our community,” said Perricone.
The amendment failed in the House, but could resurface later this session.
In a statement released Tuesday, Lamborn responded by saying, “The billboard has it all wrong. We are drowning in debt, and we have to draw the line somewhere. The federal government already owns more than a third of all land in Colorado. The people of Colorado enjoy tremendous opportunities to hunt and fish. Our priority must be on protecting and preserving the lands we already have. At a time when Washington is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends, there is simply no money for buying new land. My common-sense amendment would have saved taxpayers about $51 million.”
The alliance says the amendment also threatened to have an economic impact in Colorado by possibly reducing 22,000 jobs and $2 billion in annual revenue from hunting and fishing activities.
Meanwhile, the alliance thanked another Colorado Congressman, Rep. Scott Tipton, for supporting an amendment to increase funding to the LWCF by $5 million annually. The alliance posted a billboard supporting Tipton’s stance in Grand Junction.
