Post by eaglerock814 on Jun 9, 2009 16:31:54 GMT -5
HSUS Gloats Over Sham Illinois Dog And Pet Law Task Force
ASDA Petition Asks Gov. Quinn To Intervene
by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
www.americansportingdogalliance.org
asda@csonline.net
This report is archived at eaglerock814.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=43
SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is gloating over its political success of turning certain defeat into probable victory in Illinois.
HSUS has successfully used a series of political maneuvers to override the voices of the vast majority of Illinois dog owners, sportsmen and farmers, who have expressed clear opposition to legislation that would take away many rights of dog owners without any proven reason, in order to further an extremist animal rights agenda.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance (ASDA) is asking Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to intervene. We are asking Gov. Quinn to use his power of executive oversight over the state Department of Agriculture to halt this dangerous task force in its tracks. The Department is part of the Executive Branch of Illinois state government, and Gov. Quinn thus has direct control of its activities.
We also are asking Gov. Quinn to investigate the role of HSUS in Illinois politics, which is to try to take away animal owners’ most basic rights to live as they choose without unnecessary interference from government.
ASDA is asking all Illinois dog owners, cat owners, farmers and sportsmen to sign our petition asking Gov. Quinn to intervene. We also are asking you to contact Gov. Quinn directly. It is vital for us to let Gov. Quinn know the positions of Illinois dog and cat owners, farmers and sportsmen about the animal rights movement and the laws they are attempting to use to cancel out our basic rights as citizens.
Last month, dog ownership rights advocates had effectively neutralized two pieces of onerous animal rights legislation, when it became clear that the HSUS agenda contradicted the will of the citizens of Illinois to continue to responsibly raise dogs as they choose. The legislators and senators were flooded with an outpouring of opposition to the HSUS-inspired legislation by dog and cat owners, farmers and sportsmen.
We regard animals as private property, and also believe that dogs in America live the best lives of any time in human history. This is because virtually all dog owners love, respect and provide the highest possible quality care of the animals they own.
HSUS has failed to provide even a shred of evidence that a problem exists in Illinois that is not completely addressed by current state kennel and animal cruelty laws, which are among the toughest in the nation, and also by federal laws that regulate commercial kennels.
The strong and vocal opposition of dog owners toward repressive and intrusive breeding legislation, and a truly draconian bill defining tail docking as animal cruelty, had effectively prevented either bill from passing. They were essentially dead in committee.
We were lulled into believing that we had successfully defended our rights from the HSUS attack on them.
Then, we saw our victory fade from our grasp when HSUS skillfully exploited weaknesses within our ranks. HSUS lobbyist Jordan Matyas began to work privately with a handful of self-appointed spokespersons for dog owners, whose clubs hired a lobbyist to advance their own private agenda.
HSUS and its apologists deliberately mislead the Legislature into believing that dog owners’ organizations supported the task force. In fact, most dog owners staunchly oppose it.
The result was the creation of a task force that is designed to call for new, unfair and burdensome laws next year, and HSUS is ebullient over the results. HSUS has succeeded in turning the task force into a stacked deck that undoubtedly will recommend repressive legislation, and a recent press release gloats over this political victory.
These self-appointed people, inaccurately claiming to represent dog owners, agreed behind the scenes to support and participate in the task force.
In public, these people say that dog owners have no choice. If we don’t negotiate, they claim, we will get worse legislation next year. They say that a negotiated compromise is our only choice.
In private, however, they may have had other motivations.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance has received reports from informed and reliable sources indicating that some of these very few people have been promised seats on the task force, in return for being willing to work with HSUS. We also have spoken directly with one of these people, who clearly and repeatedly showed support for some HSUS positions on animal rights issues, including restrictions on people who raise dogs.
Moreover, we have documentation that these HSUS apologists have had access to much insider information about the task force, even before the resolution was approved, such as the names of proposed members and the locations of three public hearings (which are in addition to the three meetings in Springfield called for in the Senate Joint Resolution to create the task force). This information also has been shared with HSUS, intercepted emails show, but yet has been denied to other prominent Illinois activists who are fighting to preserve dog owners’ rights, and to the public.
An HSUS news release unabashedly brags that the task force is meant to accomplish the purposes of this extreme animal rights organization.
While HSUS and the HSUS apologists have been given insider knowledge about the task force, long-established and highly respected Illinois dog ownership advocates have been kept in the dark. For example, one of the people who reportedly has been kept in the dark officially represents 71,700 Illinois dog owners through two major organizations, and has earned a national reputation for her dedication to fighting for dog owners’ right. In contrast, the HSUS apologists represent only a very small number of people who belong to two local dog clubs.
We strongly believe that the task force is a deliberately stacked deck designed to reach a foregone conclusion favoring many of the positions of HSUS. Dog ownership advocates will be placed on the task force only to create the illusion of fair representation, even though the deck will be stacked completely against them. Token membership is not fair representation.
Thus, ASDA urges Gov. Quinn to put an end to this sham task force as quickly as possible.
The Governor has the power to stop this task force, as he directly oversees the state Department of Agriculture, which has been assigned to form and administer the task force through Senate Joint Resolution 56.
At the very least, we see the membership of this task force as inherently biased against animal owners, and believe some of the nominees clearly will lack the expertise and experience to fairly evaluate these issues.
We also are asking Gov. Quinn to restore major budget and personnel cuts to the Department of Agriculture that were made by his predecessor. The former governor crippled the work of the dedicated professionals in the Department of Agriculture. The American Sporting Dog Alliance is fully supportive of restoring those budget and staff cuts to help the Department to do its job.
Please inform Gov. Quinn that HSUS is the political arm of the animal rights movement, which has the goal of the eventual elimination of animal ownership in America. We support the rights of all Americans, including members of HSUS, to freely express their opinions and act on them politically.
However, we do not support allowing extremist groups to be nominated to an official task force that is likely to attempt to ride roughshod over the rights and lives of millions of Illinois citizens.
Allowing HSUS to sit on a task force about animals would be akin to having the Nazi Party sit on a task force to promote racial equality. It is patently absurd and offensive.
Please contact Gov. Quinn to express your opposition to this task force.
Here is a link to Gov. Quinn’s email contact form: www.illinois.gov/gov/contactthegovernor.cfm. Here is his other contact information: Gov. Pat Quinn, 207 State House, Springfield, IL 62706; Phone: 217-782-0244, toll-free 888-261-3336.
Here is a link to our online petition: www.petitiononline.com/asda3/petition.html
Our petition says:
We the citizens of the State of Illinois do hereby respectfully petition Governor Pat Quinn to disqualify the task force created by Senate Joint Resolution 56 to study dog breeding in the state and recommend new regulations and laws.
We oppose the formation of The Joint Task Force On Breeders and Pet Stores because:
1. The Humane Society of the United States, which is the political arm of the radical animal rights movement, has been the driving force behind new laws and regulations. The goal of the animal rights movement is the eventual elimination of animal ownership in America, and this philosophical viewpoint contradicts the beliefs and wishes of the mast majority of the citizens of Illinois. Virtually all Americans support the right of people to have pets and raise animals for companionship, hunting, competition and food..
2. HSUS has failed to demonstrate that there is any need for new laws and regulations, as not one shred of evidence has been presented to indicate that existing Illinois kennel and animal cruelty laws have failed to completely address actual problems that have been found. Illinois already has some of the toughest animal welfare laws in America. In every reported case that has been investigated, people who have violated existing laws have been prosecuted and penalized for violations, and all affected animals have been removed to safety. There is no evidence whatsoever that this task force, or new laws and regulations, are needed in Illinois.
3. This task force creates a dangerous precedent that is likely to result in further legislative action that has the strong potential to harm Illinois farmers and sportsmen. It sends a chilling message to pet owners, farmers and sportsmen that their most basic rights as citizens – and, for many people, their traditional way of life and economic lifeblood - are subject to unprovoked assault by the government that represents them.
4. While we acknowledge that the Illinois Department of Agriculture does not have adequate funding and staffing to implement its mission, this is not a reason for passing new laws and regulations that are not needed and will further burden the Department’s staff and budget. We support the complete restoration of Department of Agriculture funding and staff.
5. Illinois taxpayers cannot afford an increase in unnecessary government spending, especially during the present recession. Likewise, we cannot support legislation that will harm many businesses in Illinois that rely upon spending by pet owners. These include pet stores, retail chains that handle pet products, veterinarians, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers, building material vendors, businesses that rely on travelers with dogs, publishing firms and many service industries. People who responsibly own and raise dogs add many million dollars a year to the economy of Illinois, hundreds of jobs are at stake, and many responsible kennel owners will be driven out of business by laws and regulations that are impossible to follow.
6. As structured in S.J.R. 56, the task force totally fails to provide adequate and fair representation to dog owners. We believe that the composition of the task force has been deliberately structured to place animal ownership advocates in a minority position. Thus, the outcome of the task force has been predetermined to call for new laws and regulations that will seriously and irrevocably harm the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Illinois pet owners and businesses, and also have a strongly adverse impact on the welfare of dogs.
For these reasons, we the undersigned residents of the State of Illinois respectfully urge Gov. Pat Quinn to refuse to implement the terms of S.J.R. 56 and act decisively to protect the rights, lives and livelihoods of thousands of Illinois dog owners, businesses, workers, farmers and sportsmen.
That is the text of the petition that we are asking Illinois pet owners, farmers and sportsmen to sign. We also ask you to contact Gov. Quinn directly through emails, phone calls, faxes and/or letters.
We ask dog owners to be aware that this petition probably will be attacked by the small minority of dog owners who either believe the task force is necessary, or who sympathize with or apologize for HSUS positions. We expect them to allege that online petitions are ineffective, and that elected officials find them offensive.
We must strongly disagree. It is our belief that, while online petitions are not perfect, elected officials want to know the opinions of their constituents and would not reject any means of expressing those opinions. Moreover, we also believe that an American Sporting Dog Alliance petition against new laws earlier this year, which was signed by 3,400 people, played a positive and productive role in persuading legislators and senators not to support proposed kennel legislation.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, breeders and professionals who work with breeds of dogs that are used for hunting. We also welcome people who work with other breeds, as legislative issues affect all of us. We are a grassroots movement working to protect the rights of dog owners, and to assure that the traditional relationships between dogs and humans maintains its rightful place in American society and life. The American Sporting Dog Alliance also needs your help so that we can continue to work to protect the rights of dog owners. Your membership, participation and support are truly essential to the success of our mission. We are funded solely by your donations in order to maintain strict independence.
Please visit us on the web at www.americansportingdogalliance.org . Our email is asda@csonline.net .
PLEASE CROSS-POST AND FORWARD THIS REPORT TO YOUR FRIENDS
ASDA Petition Asks Gov. Quinn To Intervene
by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
www.americansportingdogalliance.org
asda@csonline.net
This report is archived at eaglerock814.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=43
SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is gloating over its political success of turning certain defeat into probable victory in Illinois.
HSUS has successfully used a series of political maneuvers to override the voices of the vast majority of Illinois dog owners, sportsmen and farmers, who have expressed clear opposition to legislation that would take away many rights of dog owners without any proven reason, in order to further an extremist animal rights agenda.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance (ASDA) is asking Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to intervene. We are asking Gov. Quinn to use his power of executive oversight over the state Department of Agriculture to halt this dangerous task force in its tracks. The Department is part of the Executive Branch of Illinois state government, and Gov. Quinn thus has direct control of its activities.
We also are asking Gov. Quinn to investigate the role of HSUS in Illinois politics, which is to try to take away animal owners’ most basic rights to live as they choose without unnecessary interference from government.
ASDA is asking all Illinois dog owners, cat owners, farmers and sportsmen to sign our petition asking Gov. Quinn to intervene. We also are asking you to contact Gov. Quinn directly. It is vital for us to let Gov. Quinn know the positions of Illinois dog and cat owners, farmers and sportsmen about the animal rights movement and the laws they are attempting to use to cancel out our basic rights as citizens.
Last month, dog ownership rights advocates had effectively neutralized two pieces of onerous animal rights legislation, when it became clear that the HSUS agenda contradicted the will of the citizens of Illinois to continue to responsibly raise dogs as they choose. The legislators and senators were flooded with an outpouring of opposition to the HSUS-inspired legislation by dog and cat owners, farmers and sportsmen.
We regard animals as private property, and also believe that dogs in America live the best lives of any time in human history. This is because virtually all dog owners love, respect and provide the highest possible quality care of the animals they own.
HSUS has failed to provide even a shred of evidence that a problem exists in Illinois that is not completely addressed by current state kennel and animal cruelty laws, which are among the toughest in the nation, and also by federal laws that regulate commercial kennels.
The strong and vocal opposition of dog owners toward repressive and intrusive breeding legislation, and a truly draconian bill defining tail docking as animal cruelty, had effectively prevented either bill from passing. They were essentially dead in committee.
We were lulled into believing that we had successfully defended our rights from the HSUS attack on them.
Then, we saw our victory fade from our grasp when HSUS skillfully exploited weaknesses within our ranks. HSUS lobbyist Jordan Matyas began to work privately with a handful of self-appointed spokespersons for dog owners, whose clubs hired a lobbyist to advance their own private agenda.
HSUS and its apologists deliberately mislead the Legislature into believing that dog owners’ organizations supported the task force. In fact, most dog owners staunchly oppose it.
The result was the creation of a task force that is designed to call for new, unfair and burdensome laws next year, and HSUS is ebullient over the results. HSUS has succeeded in turning the task force into a stacked deck that undoubtedly will recommend repressive legislation, and a recent press release gloats over this political victory.
These self-appointed people, inaccurately claiming to represent dog owners, agreed behind the scenes to support and participate in the task force.
In public, these people say that dog owners have no choice. If we don’t negotiate, they claim, we will get worse legislation next year. They say that a negotiated compromise is our only choice.
In private, however, they may have had other motivations.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance has received reports from informed and reliable sources indicating that some of these very few people have been promised seats on the task force, in return for being willing to work with HSUS. We also have spoken directly with one of these people, who clearly and repeatedly showed support for some HSUS positions on animal rights issues, including restrictions on people who raise dogs.
Moreover, we have documentation that these HSUS apologists have had access to much insider information about the task force, even before the resolution was approved, such as the names of proposed members and the locations of three public hearings (which are in addition to the three meetings in Springfield called for in the Senate Joint Resolution to create the task force). This information also has been shared with HSUS, intercepted emails show, but yet has been denied to other prominent Illinois activists who are fighting to preserve dog owners’ rights, and to the public.
An HSUS news release unabashedly brags that the task force is meant to accomplish the purposes of this extreme animal rights organization.
While HSUS and the HSUS apologists have been given insider knowledge about the task force, long-established and highly respected Illinois dog ownership advocates have been kept in the dark. For example, one of the people who reportedly has been kept in the dark officially represents 71,700 Illinois dog owners through two major organizations, and has earned a national reputation for her dedication to fighting for dog owners’ right. In contrast, the HSUS apologists represent only a very small number of people who belong to two local dog clubs.
We strongly believe that the task force is a deliberately stacked deck designed to reach a foregone conclusion favoring many of the positions of HSUS. Dog ownership advocates will be placed on the task force only to create the illusion of fair representation, even though the deck will be stacked completely against them. Token membership is not fair representation.
Thus, ASDA urges Gov. Quinn to put an end to this sham task force as quickly as possible.
The Governor has the power to stop this task force, as he directly oversees the state Department of Agriculture, which has been assigned to form and administer the task force through Senate Joint Resolution 56.
At the very least, we see the membership of this task force as inherently biased against animal owners, and believe some of the nominees clearly will lack the expertise and experience to fairly evaluate these issues.
We also are asking Gov. Quinn to restore major budget and personnel cuts to the Department of Agriculture that were made by his predecessor. The former governor crippled the work of the dedicated professionals in the Department of Agriculture. The American Sporting Dog Alliance is fully supportive of restoring those budget and staff cuts to help the Department to do its job.
Please inform Gov. Quinn that HSUS is the political arm of the animal rights movement, which has the goal of the eventual elimination of animal ownership in America. We support the rights of all Americans, including members of HSUS, to freely express their opinions and act on them politically.
However, we do not support allowing extremist groups to be nominated to an official task force that is likely to attempt to ride roughshod over the rights and lives of millions of Illinois citizens.
Allowing HSUS to sit on a task force about animals would be akin to having the Nazi Party sit on a task force to promote racial equality. It is patently absurd and offensive.
Please contact Gov. Quinn to express your opposition to this task force.
Here is a link to Gov. Quinn’s email contact form: www.illinois.gov/gov/contactthegovernor.cfm. Here is his other contact information: Gov. Pat Quinn, 207 State House, Springfield, IL 62706; Phone: 217-782-0244, toll-free 888-261-3336.
Here is a link to our online petition: www.petitiononline.com/asda3/petition.html
Our petition says:
We the citizens of the State of Illinois do hereby respectfully petition Governor Pat Quinn to disqualify the task force created by Senate Joint Resolution 56 to study dog breeding in the state and recommend new regulations and laws.
We oppose the formation of The Joint Task Force On Breeders and Pet Stores because:
1. The Humane Society of the United States, which is the political arm of the radical animal rights movement, has been the driving force behind new laws and regulations. The goal of the animal rights movement is the eventual elimination of animal ownership in America, and this philosophical viewpoint contradicts the beliefs and wishes of the mast majority of the citizens of Illinois. Virtually all Americans support the right of people to have pets and raise animals for companionship, hunting, competition and food..
2. HSUS has failed to demonstrate that there is any need for new laws and regulations, as not one shred of evidence has been presented to indicate that existing Illinois kennel and animal cruelty laws have failed to completely address actual problems that have been found. Illinois already has some of the toughest animal welfare laws in America. In every reported case that has been investigated, people who have violated existing laws have been prosecuted and penalized for violations, and all affected animals have been removed to safety. There is no evidence whatsoever that this task force, or new laws and regulations, are needed in Illinois.
3. This task force creates a dangerous precedent that is likely to result in further legislative action that has the strong potential to harm Illinois farmers and sportsmen. It sends a chilling message to pet owners, farmers and sportsmen that their most basic rights as citizens – and, for many people, their traditional way of life and economic lifeblood - are subject to unprovoked assault by the government that represents them.
4. While we acknowledge that the Illinois Department of Agriculture does not have adequate funding and staffing to implement its mission, this is not a reason for passing new laws and regulations that are not needed and will further burden the Department’s staff and budget. We support the complete restoration of Department of Agriculture funding and staff.
5. Illinois taxpayers cannot afford an increase in unnecessary government spending, especially during the present recession. Likewise, we cannot support legislation that will harm many businesses in Illinois that rely upon spending by pet owners. These include pet stores, retail chains that handle pet products, veterinarians, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers, building material vendors, businesses that rely on travelers with dogs, publishing firms and many service industries. People who responsibly own and raise dogs add many million dollars a year to the economy of Illinois, hundreds of jobs are at stake, and many responsible kennel owners will be driven out of business by laws and regulations that are impossible to follow.
6. As structured in S.J.R. 56, the task force totally fails to provide adequate and fair representation to dog owners. We believe that the composition of the task force has been deliberately structured to place animal ownership advocates in a minority position. Thus, the outcome of the task force has been predetermined to call for new laws and regulations that will seriously and irrevocably harm the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Illinois pet owners and businesses, and also have a strongly adverse impact on the welfare of dogs.
For these reasons, we the undersigned residents of the State of Illinois respectfully urge Gov. Pat Quinn to refuse to implement the terms of S.J.R. 56 and act decisively to protect the rights, lives and livelihoods of thousands of Illinois dog owners, businesses, workers, farmers and sportsmen.
That is the text of the petition that we are asking Illinois pet owners, farmers and sportsmen to sign. We also ask you to contact Gov. Quinn directly through emails, phone calls, faxes and/or letters.
We ask dog owners to be aware that this petition probably will be attacked by the small minority of dog owners who either believe the task force is necessary, or who sympathize with or apologize for HSUS positions. We expect them to allege that online petitions are ineffective, and that elected officials find them offensive.
We must strongly disagree. It is our belief that, while online petitions are not perfect, elected officials want to know the opinions of their constituents and would not reject any means of expressing those opinions. Moreover, we also believe that an American Sporting Dog Alliance petition against new laws earlier this year, which was signed by 3,400 people, played a positive and productive role in persuading legislators and senators not to support proposed kennel legislation.
The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, breeders and professionals who work with breeds of dogs that are used for hunting. We also welcome people who work with other breeds, as legislative issues affect all of us. We are a grassroots movement working to protect the rights of dog owners, and to assure that the traditional relationships between dogs and humans maintains its rightful place in American society and life. The American Sporting Dog Alliance also needs your help so that we can continue to work to protect the rights of dog owners. Your membership, participation and support are truly essential to the success of our mission. We are funded solely by your donations in order to maintain strict independence.
Please visit us on the web at www.americansportingdogalliance.org . Our email is asda@csonline.net .
PLEASE CROSS-POST AND FORWARD THIS REPORT TO YOUR FRIENDS