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| Future Colorado convicts, Ken and Ted |
The Utah Legislature will hire three of the most respected and expensive local lobbyists to work on public land issues, but oddly enough the three won’t be able actually to lobby – since it is illegal under Utah law for the state to use taxpayer dollars to lobby.That's right, people; the Utah State legislature is aboout to devote Two Million Taxpayer Bucks to this "fool's errand."
Doug Foxley and Frank Pignanelli are well-known on Utah's Capitol Hill. They, along with former Utah Democratic senator Blaze Wharton, are part of the Davillier Law Group, a specially-grouped New Orleans legal/public relations team soon to be on an up to $2 million contract accepted Tuesday by the state Stewardship of Public Lands Commission.
Later in the day, (surprise of surprises) the Legislative Management Committee also approved the new contract. [Links added.]
On Monday, Republican Representative Ken Ivory (West Jordan) came under fire from the Campaign for Accountability (CFA), which accused Ivory, as the President of the American Lands Council (ALC), of being a “snake oil salesman” who was “engaging in an illegal scheme to defraud local government officials out of taxpayer funds.”Here's the full story, folks. Watch the embedded video, too:
On Wednesday, the ALC’s Board of Directors formally responded.
“This week a slanderous attack was levied against ALC President Ken Ivory by a mysterious new group seeking to derail our mission of transferring federal public lands to willing states,” ALC wrote in a press release, adding that the allegation are “an orchestrated publicity stunt, the group filed consumer complaints alleging that ALC’s efforts to discuss with and educate the public about state control of public land is somehow, ‘fraudulent’,”
OGDEN — Four northern Utah counties are paying members of the American Lands Council (ALC), a nonprofit formed in 2012 to help western states regain control of federally owned lands within their borders.Here's full story, WCF readers. We invite you to read up:
So far, 21 of Utah’s 29 counties have joined the organization — including Box Elder, Cache, Morgan and Weber, counties that each subscribe at the “silver level” of $5,000 per year.
Now the ALC and its president — Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan — have come under fire for allegedly engaging in a scheme to defraud local governments of taxpayer dollars.
On Monday, the Washington D.C.-based Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, calling Ivory’s claims “spurious” that contributions to ALC would result in federal lands getting transferred back to the states.
“We live in a state where nearly three-fourths of the land is federal land, and that has a huge impact on all of us — our schoolchildren, our families, our recreation, our economic development — all of those things are critical to us,” Weber County Commission Chairman Kerry Gibson said of the dilemma states west of the so-called “fault line” face because so much of their ground produces no property tax.Significantly, Commissioner Gibson twice refers to the federal government's "reneg[ing] on its promise," and failure to " fulfill the commitment that they made through the enabling act and through the Constitution to return those lands to state ownership,”
The ALC website, http://www.americanlandscouncil.org/whats_happening_in_my_state, displays a map of the United States showing the dividing line between eastern states that have very little federally owned land and those in the west that are drenched in red (signifying federal ownership) — Nevada being the biggest loser, with Utah ranking a close second.
By joining with other counties, Gibson said the western problem is finally beginning to gain some traction.
“This is an issue that’s discussed at every single National Association of Counties meeting we attend,” Gibson said.
That separation of east and west shows where the federal government reneged on its promise, Gibson believes.
“They [the federal government] stopped in the 1970s ... and did not fulfill the commitment that they made through the enabling act and through the Constitution to return those lands to state ownership,” Gibson said. (Emphasis added.]
Anne Weismann, executive director of Campaign for Accountability, said her nonprofit opened its doors about a month ago as a watchdog organization that uses research, litigation and aggressive communications “to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.”Our take? Even with the best of intentions, Commissioner Gibson and his gullible Commission colleagues have bought Rep. Ivory's flim-flam "hook, line and sinker."
Weismann had harsh words for Ivory, likening his marketing tactics to trying to sell people the Brooklyn Bridge.
“He’s been going around to the western states selling the idea that if you give money to his organization, states can pass laws to restore federal lands to states,” Weismann said of the land transfers she and others believe would be unconstitutional.
This is not the first time Utah Rep. Ken Ivory has been accused of selling "snake oil." But now his critics are calling him a crook.Check out the full story, peeps:
In formal complaints filed Monday in three states, a watchdog group alleges Ivory, a West Jordan Republican, uses phony facts and arguments to scam local governments into giving taxpayer dollars to American Lands Council (ALC), the nonprofit he started in 2012 to champion the transfer of Western public lands to states.
The complaints focus on Ivory's practice of traveling the West, promoting land transfers to county commissioners and conservative groups and signing them up as dues-paying members of ALC.
"It's not simply a question of Rep. Ivory speaking his mind about what he thinks should happen. He is soliciting on the promise that if you give us money, we can get public land returned to your state," said attorney Anne Weismann, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Accountability. "More than half of the money they raise goes to him and his wife [Becky]."
Weismann submitted similar complaints to Utah, Montana and Arizona, asking their state attorneys general to investigate ALC's fundraising. She contends, as have numerous other critics, that all reliable legal and economic analyses of transferring public land to the states concluded the idea has no legal foundation and could prove costly to the receiving states.
Since 2012, the American Lands Council has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to advocate and lobby for the transfer of federal lands to states. Such a move could dramatically change how these lands are managed, affecting anybody who makes a living in, lives near, recreates in, or simply loves the notion of public lands in the West. But who finances the demands?Read the full story, folks:
The Utah-based American Lands Council, or ALC, is mostly funded by memberships, the majority of which are county commissions—that is, taxpayer-funded dues. In 2013, the last year for which records are available, the non-profit raised around $200,000 in contributions. About $157,000 of that came from memberships; $134,000 of that came from the coffers of counties. (Much of the rest comes from contributions from individuals and corporations, including Americans for Prosperity, the right-wing think tank supported by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.) Membership ranges from a “bronze” level, which costs $1,000 a year, to “platinum,” which costs $25,000 a year [Emphasis added].
Below here is a list of counties where taxpayers have helped support the American Lands Council’s agenda — whether they know it or not:That's right, folks. Our "generous" Weber County Commission is kicking in $5,000 per year in Weber County taxpayer funds to help finance Representive Ivory's land-grab (whether you knew it or not). Here's the proof, straight from ALC's own website:
...Utah: Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Dagget, Duchesne, Garfield, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, Piute, Rich, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Washington, and Weber
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| Ivory: "Ethics? Schmethics!" |
Denver – A complaint has been filed against Utah Representative Ken Ivory’s (Republican – South Jordan) American Lands Council in Colorado, alleging that the organization has been illegally lobbying without registering in the state or reporting its income.Read Mr. Etherington's full story here:
Under Colorado law, organizations are required to register to lobby with the state before they begin trying to influence the outcome of any legislation or an election.
“It’s different than the federal law,” says Peg Perl, senior counsel for Colorado Ethics Watch – the nonprofit that filed the complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State. “Under [the federal law], there’s a threshold and you can do a little bit [of lobbying] before you register. But in Colorado, you must do it first and right away.
The complaint stems from an email Representative Ivory’s American Lands Council (ALC) sent to Colorado residents on April 22nd, asking them to contact specific state lawmakers to persuade them to vote in favor of a bill that could advance ALC’s goal of taking control of all public lands away from the United States and giving it to individual states to manage.
A proposal to seize and sell off America’s national forests and other public lands could make its way into the House GOP’s budget resolution when it is announced this week.Read the full story, Weber County Forum readers:
In a recent memo to the House Budget Committee, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, proposed that America’s public lands be transferred to state control. He then requested $50 million of taxpayer money to be spent to enable transfers to “start immediately.” The memo states that public lands “create a burden for the surrounding states and communities,” and “the solution is to convey land without strings to state, local, and tribal governments.”
Bishop’s plan and similar proposals to give away America’s public lands are controversial. A majority of voters in those regions believe the proposals would likely result in states having to raise taxes, open prized recreation areas to drilling and mining, or sell lands to private interests to cover the substantial costs of management.
Despite these concerns — and despite the fact that these proposals are extremely expensive, unpopular, and most importantly, unconstitutional — there is a strong likelihood that Rep. Bishop’s request will be included in the House GOP’s budget, thanks to intensive lobbying efforts by a handful of right-wing politicians and special interest groups.
As reported by E&E Daily, the American Lands Council (ALC), an organization founded by Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory (R), hired a lobbyist at the end of last year to “educate congressional lawmakers on the benefits of relinquishing federal lands to the states.” Federal lobbying disclosure forms show that the ALC paid the lobbyist, Michael Swenson, $150,000 for just three months of lobbying work.Cutting to the chase, we'll shine the spotlight upon this particularly disturbing paragraph:
A recent flood of state-level proposals to seize and sell off America’s public lands is the result, in part, of efforts by the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to disseminate ‘model legislation’ to conservative lawmakers in Western states.Perhaps some of us had previously believed that the ethically-conflicted Rep Ivory had been merely tilting at windmills, in his all-consuming (and seemingly comical) quest to pull off his proposed "sagebrush rebellion-style" land-grab:
There are plenty of examples over the years of Utah legislators sponsoring or pushing legislation that directly or indirectly benefits themselves financially. Bills promoting charter schools, reforming trucking regulations, requiring certain sex education agendas and auto insurance mandates come to mind.Read the full story, folks:
But when it comes to blatantly helping one’s self and one’s family through the legislative process, Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, must be going for some kind of record.
Ivory has generated unwanted publicity, including in this column, for his penchant for using his legislative position to promote causes and organizations that generate money for himself.
Now, he’s done it again.
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