Apparent FPPC Violation by Fish & Game Commission President Dan Richards Yet Another Bad Judgment; He Needs to Go

It's never been about the hunting of a mountain lion in Idaho.

But it is all about an endless series of bad judgments by Fish and Game Commission President Dan Richards that makes him unfit for public service.

Today we learn about yet another, this time involving his alleged acceptance of a gift of more than $6,800 that far exceeds the $420 gift limit allowed for California officials. The gift was the now infamous hunting trip that Richards took in Idaho, where he had hounds track down a mountain lion before shooting it. (View this example of "hunting" at the ranch in this video http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2012/03/01/see-video-from-idaho-ranch-where-ca-official-shot-cougar/ posted by the San Francisco Chronicle, which called for his resignation today http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/01/EDJD1NEQU5.DTL

According to the San Jose Mercury News http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_20084120, the FPPC complaint filed by former California Democratic Party chair Kathy Bowler caught Richards with his hands in the cookie jar. Richards, who has had a FPPC compliant filed against him before, failed to reimburse the ranch for the gift within the required period of time. And that's against the law.

But that's not the only bad judgment by Richards within the last 24 hours.

If his letter bashing the Legislature a day earlier wasn't enough, Richards took to the airwaves of KFI's Jon & Ken Show in Los Angeles. In less than 30 minutes, Richards slapped Lt. Gov. Newsom and the Senate President pro Tem (who earlier in the day had called him a jackass. He also launched into a black helicopter theory about environmentalists, smacked the Humane Society, and compared the taste of mountain lion to pork.

If Richards had any sense whatsoever, he would have taken steps to quiet his critics. But every day this controversy rages, he seems to want to pour more gasoline on the fire.

Oddly, there seem to be a few Democrats in the Legislature that have been resistant to ushering Richards out the door, even after they've been attacked by him and he's attacked Legislative leaders. Now that it appears he has broken the law in our state in addition to mocking it, they'll also tell him it's time to go.

Print this report | Send to a friend

About Steven Maviglio | All Reports by Steven Maviglio

---

Browse in : [ Reports ]

There are no comments attached to this item.

Ratings