ICYMI: Rep. Borton Blasts Whitmer’s Hunting Fee Increases

This week, state Representative Ken Borton penned an op-ed in The Detroit News blasting Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s proposal to raise the fees for hunting and fishing licenses. He started by taking the governor to task for her department’s foibles and anti-conservation polices:

In recent years, we’ve seen the DNR secretly plot to clear-cut forests for massive solar installations, wage judicial warfare against farmers, carry out widespread euthanasia campaigns against Canada Geese, assassinate beloved Elk and target animal sanctuaries caring for vulnerable and injured animals. These abuses of state funding cannot be allowed to continue, and we cannot expect hunters to pay increased fees to bankroll these absurdities.

Rep. Borton also called out the insane logic the governor is using to try to justify the fee increases:

Trying to compensate for a declining number of hunters by increasing the cost of hunting is self-defeating. It might boost the DNR’s revenue temporarily, but in the long run, it’ll make the exodus of Michigan hunters even worse, which will, in turn, further decrease the DNR’s revenue. It’s a vicious cycle.

He finished the piece by sending Gretchen Whitmer a message about her proposed increase’s chance of making it through the House:

The DNR must either look inward to fix its funding problems or seriously consider overhauling its department. For as long as they continue to weaponize their department against outdoorsmen, they will not find agreeable partners in the Legislature.

You can read the whole piece here.