From the October 1998 Idaho Observer:

Governer Wannabe Kempthorne to Push S 1180 Floor Vote Soon

Lame duck Idaho senator wants to reauthorize, strengthen ESA; create nation's first federal zoning law

To anybody who has ever had their property stolen or its value exponentially diminished through the Endangered Species Act, there is no question that the purpose of ESA is not to "protect" endangered species but to forment the extinction of one certain species: Property Owner Americanus. Through questionable science and multi-agency, dictatorial federal authority, hundreds of thousands of privately- held American acres have unconstitutionally been stolen from the American people as a result of ESA. The next governor of the state of Idaho seeks to reauthorize ESA so that it may continue its wanton slaughter of Property Owner Americanus.

BOISE_A FAXed communication from Boise-based property rights advocacy group Stewards of the Range stated that Senator Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) has been amassing support for his Endangered Species Act Reauthorization Bill S 1180. "All he needs is a few more votes and the leadership will probably allow his bill to come to the floor of the Senate," said Stewards of the Range.

Last fall the American Land Rights Association also put out the warning that Kempthorne's bill was another attack on property rights. Kempthorne, who has publicly stated plans to become the next governor for the state of Idaho, has been trying to convince legislators and property rights advocates alike that S 1180 will protect endangered species as well as property rights. "There are no property rights provisions in the bill and Kempthorne's promises to amend the bill to include property rights have never been kept," said the Stewards.

According to Stewards of the Range, "If he (Kempthorne) fails to bring the full bill to the floor, sources believe that he will attempt to amend the whole bill or parts of it into the Interior Appropriations Bill when Congress comes back after the August recess."

Kempthorne has approved the recent distribution of the $18 billion American contribution to the International Monetary Fund (The Idaho Observer, May, 1998), approves of the implementation of Outcomes-Based Education in Idaho public Schools (The Idaho Observer, April, 1998) and also publicly supported President Clinton's EO 13083 which intends to end states' rights (The Idaho Observer, July, 1998). Governor Wannabe Kempthorne apparently supports efforts that increase unconstitutional federal authority over the lives of state citizens.

The original Endangered Species Act (ESA) gave us the spotted owl controversy and has empowered the federal government to "steal" private property that it has determined to be "endangered" species habitat. According to Stewards of the Range, "since its inception in 1973, the (Endangered Species) Act has never recovered a single species_not one!"

Although he ESA has been a dismal failure regarding its stated purpose to save endangered species, it has successfully served the federal government's agenda to unconstitutionally "take" property without "just compensation" and has provided the federal government with the authority to enforce rules that determine such things as what colors a property owner can and cannot paint their own home.

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, who has proven to be a militantly environmentalistic enemy of private property rights, supports Kempthorne's bill which not only reauthorizes ESA, but strengthens it. "S 1180 retains each and every one of the current law's regulation of private property and adds new regulatory powers that have never been authorized before by ESA or any other federal law. Worse yet, because it uses the 'ecosystem' approach of managing land, it will become the nation's first federal zoning law," stated Stewards of the Range.

Kempthorne is pushing for passage of a bill that is bad for the property owners in America and is bad for the people in the state of Idaho. He is seeking to increase the power of the federal government in advance of his becoming governor of the state of Idaho. The ESA has already ruined the lives of thousands, if not millions, of innocent Americans who happened to own property that the federal government determined was the habitat of some endangered micoorganism or bug or worm or fictitious species. Please contact Governor Wannabe Kempthorne and tell him that you know what he is up to and that you are going to tell on him to everybody that you know in an effort to put an end to his political career. Also tell his office that you would like a copy of his bill.

Kempthorne's bill, just like the original ESA, has never been about saving species. It has been about stripping Americans of their property rights. Kempthorne's office can be contacted at: (202) 224-5893. Be sure to ask the senator's office what he knows about the Bruno Snail--one of the best examples of ESA absurdity that took place in his own state.

Stewards of the Range is one of the preeminent property rights advocacy groups in the U.S. with offices in Boise and affiliate offices in Austin, TX, and Gloversville, NY. The Stewards also publish a newspaper called the Cornerstone. Stewards may be contacted in Boise via FAX at:

(208) 336-7054, or through email at libertymatters@libertymatters.org.