On Endangered Species: RightMarch.com or ModerateMarch.com?

Why is RightMarch.com asking visitors to its website to send their Congressmen a pre-written letter (“As your constituent, I’m writing to urge you to support the ‘Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act,’ Rep. Richard Pombo’s effort to reform the Endangered Species Act, and help restore American property rights…”) when…

1) The legislation has not been introduced;

2) Drafts of a bill made available to independent property rights advocates (who mostly are being kept out of the loop — never a good sign) show it could be a property rights disaster?

A better approach seems to be one along the lines suggested in a letter signed by over 60 conservative leaders to Rep. Pombo in which Americans are compensated for any endangered species-related taking of their property (unlike any draft of the Pombo bill we’ve seen or heard of).

I’m also wondering about something else.

Isn’t it a little disingenuous of RightMarch.com to quote Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center as if DeWeese supported the as yet non-existent “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act” when the American Policy Center’s website headlines a strong attack on drafts of the proposal (“Due to recent confusion and half-truths concerning the coming effort to reauthorize Endangered Species Act, the American Policy Center feels it is time to clear the air a bit. Some of our frequent allies on property rights are playing word games with grassroots property rights advocates in hopes of deceiving them into supporting what appears to be a bad bill…”)?

Wouldn’t it be better for RightMarch.com to quote someone who actually thinks it is a good deal for Americans to be paid 50 cents on the dollar as compensation for the government taking their land against their will?

I expect I agree with RightMarch.com 99 percent of the time, but their work on this matter has me puzzled.

Addendum: I stand corrected. Over 70 leaders/institutions, not 60, have signed the letter to House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo that calls for, among other things, “compensating landowners for any [emphasis added] taking of their property or loss of use of their property resulting from the ESA.”



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