Don Thomas has been fired by DU

Civil debate like this thread is a real strength of this site. No hurt feelings or knee-jerk decision for me, I switched my support to Delta 5 or 6 years ago after supporting DU and serving on my local committee for 15 years or so.

- Mark
 
Pete:

I am a little late on the draw. But I, too, was appalled by DU's actions with respect to Dr. Thomas. So I got around to sending this e-mail, and I got this response which is somewhat disingenuous to say the least. I tried to impress upon them that their actions have significant consequences from a conservation perspective. Must have missed my mark.

Rather not post on the Forum, but feel free to share with your friends and Dr. Thomas-he deserves the support.
Be well.
JCW



Mr. Woods,

I did indeed receive your email below. Regarding Mr. Thomas, I would like to make it perfectly clear that at no point did Mr. Kennedy ask us to take any action against Mr. Thomas. Further, the outcome would have been the same had Mr. Thomas belittled and berated any other DU volunteer in such a public manor.

I hope you will continue your membership, and should you have further questions, I'll be in the office the remainder of today and will then be out until after the first of the year.

Enjoy the holidays, and thanks for your email.

Sincerely,
Matt


Matt Coffey
Senior Communications Specialist
Ducks Unlimited
Office: (901) 758-3764
Cell: (843) 263-7445
mcoffey@ducks.org

-----Original Message-----
From: James Woods [mailto:jwoods2544@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2015 7:22 PM
To: Matt Coffey <mcoffey@ducks.org>
Subject: E. Donnall Thomas

If Dear Messieurs Hall and Coffey:

Your recent dismissal of Dr. Thomas as a contributing editor of the DU magazine does a profound disservice to you both, the DU organization, the DU management, and the DU Board. I have read Dr. Thomas’s offending article. I have also read the Montana Court’s various decisions, different magazine articles, and I have also done a fair amount of research on the internet. Finally, I have read, Mr. Coffey, your remarks in response to a member of the Duck Boat Forum.

Cox’s efforts to circumscribe public access to Montana’s waters are despicable and your cow towing to his caterwauling about Dr. Thomas’s article is really poor form. Dr. Thomas advocates on behalf of public access, and established legal access rights which the Courts have consistently upheld. If not to you, the merits of Dr. Thomas’s position in his article are self evident, I am sure, to most of your membership.

A disservice you have done is readily apparent in my perception of the “DU family.’’ For 35 years I have practiced environmental law in the public sector. In the early 90s my colleague and I at the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Northern District of New York resolved a wetlands case against the Iroquois Gas Transmission Pipeline Company with several criminal pleas and a monetary settlement of 22 million dollars. Up until the Gulf spill, it was the largest wetlands settlement in the United States. As part of the civil settlement I worked with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to set up matching grants. I approved the largest grant to DU of several hundred thousand dollars for grasslands in the St. Lawrence Valley. That grant, and many other matching grants were to enhance wildlife and public access to the same. Given DU’s explicit support of an individual who actively works to restrict such access, and your implicit approval of his activities, I am confident I would not support approval of a like project today.

I also add that I am great proponent of private ownership and the rights of private property owners. I have hunted and fished on many large private properties, including at least one individual who has sat on your Board. However, certainly that individual never sought to circumscribe the public rights to public land, and my guess is that most of your other Board members have not done so either.

Lastly, let me say, I have always considered myself part of the “DU Family.” Silly me. After all, I have been a member for most of the last 50 odd years. I guess not having many of millions dollars clearly excludes me—and I might add most of your membership.

Messieurs Hall and Coffee, if I misapprehended the facts, please advise. I would also appreciate an acknowledgement of receipt by both you Mr. Coffey and Mr. Hall.


Sincerely,

James C. Woods
 
Still challenged by this technology. Had meant this to go to Pete on a PM. But having said that, that I welcome any responses or alternative views.
 
I attended my first and last DU banquet a couple of weeks ago. Luckily a buddy's company sponsored the table, so I didn't have to pay.
Completely unimpressed, it was all about the $$$.
Once my "free" DU membership runs out, I wont renew. Will be sending my money to Delta from now on.
Click to expand...


Carl

Just buy extra federal state duck stamps. Less skimming there than about anywhere.

Eric
Click to expand...

Yep, That's what I have been doing for years. Mainly if my daughter comes home but sometimes someone forgets to get one during the early sept season and it keeps everyone legal
 
From the January 16, 2014 article I posted above:
The Supreme Court rebuffed Kennedy’s challenge to the stream access law as part of its overall decision.

“Kennedy has offered no convincing reason to disrupt what has long been settled constitutional law in Montana,” Justice Mike Wheat wrote for the court.

Justices Laurie McKinnon and Jim Rice dissented in part from Wheat’s decision and concurred in part.

A portion of an AP story this week:
Donors to dark-money group include media mogul, broker
HELENA — Donors to a secretive conservative group accused of breaking Montana's campaign laws to influence the 2012 elections include a media mogul, a famous investment broker and leaders of the energy industry, according to records released Monday by the state.
The Montana Growth Network run by former state Sen. Jason Priest was registered as a tax-exempt, issue-advocacy group not required to report its spending or donors.
However, Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said the group was required to disclose its spending and donors because of its ads supporting the winner of the 2012 state Supreme Court election, former District Judge Laurie McKinnon, and opposing the two other candidates.
"I never got past the fact that it was so few people giving so much money in a Supreme Court race in Montana," Motl told the AP. "To have this amount of money spent in a judicial race is pretty stunning."
The biggest checks came from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Charles Schwab of Charles Schwab Corp., each of whom gave $200,000. James Cox Kennedy, board chairman of media giant Cox Enterprises, donated $100,000.
Kennedy owns property along eight miles of the Ruby River and has been involved in a long-running litigation against public access, which has already gone to the Supreme Court once and may find its way back there. Kennedy was recently in the news after Ducks Unlimited fired longtime columnist Donnall Thomas after Thomas criticized Kennedy's anti-access stance. Kennedy is a former DU board member and significant donor.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/donors-to-dark-money-group-include-media-mogul-broker/article_cbb71946-9854-5f20-9ae9-20bf1b18c351.html
 
I am an east cost Atlantic Flyway guy but if there is no access there is no hunting except for the rich and eventually there wont be enough conservation voters if there are no hunters, so then not even the rich.
I guess the Izaak Walton League can use the money I have been sending to DU, I am pretty disgusted with this. Been a DU member for about 30 years and my company regularly sponsors a table at the local banquet.
 
Very relevant issue to public access on all flowing waterways. Hard to understand why DU would frown on free speech except when it comes to a large private donor who wants to hoard what most of us can't afford to buy. Very sad day for DU. Don Thomas is a great friend of the hunter and an excellent writer who deserves to have his voice heard.
 
Thanks for that link Dave. Excellent discussion. Didn't think I would listen all the way through but couldn't turn it off.
 
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