Apparently some members of the club he used to try to pull the wool over hunter’s eyes about his record are pissed. Members of Illion Fish and Game probably ought to think about changing their club leadership, since I can promise you they knew about it. If a member, or group of members, let Schumer and his people, and the camera’s in without board approval, that should be grounds for kicking them out of the club. Either way, those folks have some internal difficulties to work through. We can’t afford mistakes like this.
3 thoughts on “Schumer’s Election Time Schmoozing Backfires”
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It’s not a mistake. Schumer is able to do this because the NYS Conservation Council was co-opted and corrupted by the Democrats. NYSCC ostensibly represents sportsman/hunting clubs in the state. In an effort to be seen as being politically relevant, they essentially sold out to the Democrats. In exchange for Schumer (or someone else) being presented to the sportsman/hunting community as their best friend, NYSCC and their supporters will be tossed a bone like the venison donation tax deduction and get to appear at press conferences and be mentioned in press releases. This relationship gives Schumer a degree of street creditability which can get him into guns clubs for PR events like this.
Thanks for the background, Jacob. But wouldn’t it behoove clubs to break ties from NYS Conservation Council? That’s why I’m advocating those that are pissed to change their leadership.
NYSCC is seen by many Fudds as being an institution and it is more important to them to keep the institution going than it is to admit what they have been doing is wrong. Plus, they are worried they would be denied access to the hallowed halls of the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Their past legislative liaison Wally worked first as an aide to Rep. Maurice Hinchey then was appointed to a job by the Assembly Speaker to write legislation. He left that well paying job to work for free at the NYSCC. His first task was to get a “canned hunt†prohibition bill past that laid the groundwork for a later bill that would have banned all hunting as cruelty to animals. When Schumer ran for re-election in ’04 he appeared in a field with NYSCC officers for a photo op a couple of months before the election touting an open fields/land access bill. When Spitzer ran for Governor in ’06, Wally did an “interview†with him that made him out to be pro-gun. When Spitzer wanted to appoint to head the DEC Pete Grannis, a guy who spent his career in the Assembly sponsoring that bill that would have banned all hunting, Wally was out in front pooh-poohing his record. Wally was rewarded for all this with a job at the DEC. Even this was not enough to shame NYSCC supporters.
Here’s another example of the relationship they have with the Democrats. Their current pres. appearing at a DEC press conference earlier today: http://blog.syracuse.com/outdoors/2009/12/operation_jackhammer_nails_107.html
NYSCC membership is primarily made up of delegates from other organizations and county sportsmen’s federations which themselves are made up of delegates from local clubs. They have few individual members and little direct accountability to their constituency. They claim to represent 300,000 people through these affiliations, but I put their actual dues paying membership at about 600-700 statewide. They have lost some members, but it’s not like there was much there to begin with. They have always been a paper tiger. The Democrats were just smart enough to take advantage of it.