Apparently U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo is having trouble figuring out why she signed a bill that would sell off our nations public national forest land. Even very red Wyoming residents aren't too happy about the proposal to sell of our national forest land, where 60 million Americans get their drinking water, where we recreate, and where local and tourist families can spend quality time free of charge.
Rep. Cubin has even gone so far as to completely deny that she meant to sign the bill ,saying she meant to sign "something else". Also, "there is no way anyone can prove that she signed the bill".
wilderness-sportsman.com (news section - Feb 12 Wyoming)
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., says she doesn't think she signed paperwork to co-sponsor legislation would sell off federal lands in the West -- a proposal she opposes.
"I sincerely believe I did not put pen to paper to sponsor that legislation," she wrote in a commentary published in today's Star-Tribune. "I believe the error that occurred was clerical in nature, but how do I prove a negative? How do I prove I did not sign?"
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., introduced the bill on Sept. 21, 2005, with a dozen original co-sponsors listed, including Cubin.
The measure would require the federal government to quickly sell 15 percent of national forest lands and 15 percent of lands managed by Interior Department agencies, except national parks, to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina and other disaster relief.
Cubin's staff told the Star-Tribune last month that, though she had no intention of co-sponsoring the bill, in a shuffle of paperwork she accidentally might have signed a document that listed her as a co-sponsor.
If Cubin's signature was on such a document, "we can only surmise that what happened is the wrong piece of paper got signed at a weekly members' lunch meeting when a number of bills and letters get passed around to sign while speakers are giving their presentations," Cubin spokesman Joe Milczewski said in early January.
"She meant to sign something else, she didn't mean to co-sponsor this bill n in fact, she opposes it n and her name is being removed," Milczewski continued in that statement. "Twenty pieces of legislation were introduced that day alone. ... A mistake was apparently made that day."
But Cubin reversed that conclusion on Friday, saying there was no evidence she had signed such a document, and she challenged the Star-Tribune to produce the document. A spokesman for Tancredo's office, where the only copy of the document would be kept, said Friday the document could no longer be found.
Just who is Rep. Cubin trying to fool?? Isn't this in fact what Republicans have been doing to this country for six years?
The " I signed the bill but I didn't sign it" line seems to be the Republican motto. No accountability. No responsiblity. Incompetence.
" I didn't know the levees could break, but I did know"
" I didn't know Iraq would have an insurgency, but I did"
" I didn't know the domestic spying was illegal, but I did"
" I didn't know Jack Abramoff, but I did"
Perhaps we should make our great nation aware of this simple fact. Time for the grown ups to run things again.
edit:
Cubin has voted for public land auctions before, so this is no "mistake":
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/11/18/news/329652a8d07abc6a872570bd00673896.txt
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Reps. Denny Rehberg and Barbara Cubin, Republicans who represent the states of Montana and Wyoming, both sided with their party by voting for controversial budget-cutting legislation this week.
Democrats and environmental groups immediately criticized the bills, saying they would cut rural health care and allow public lands to be sold off.
The first piece of legislation was a routine spending bill that Republicans expected would pass. But a cadre of moderate Republicans opposed the legislation Thursday and helped defeat it 224-209, surprising party leaders and threatening GOP credibility in the House.
Opponents said the measure, a compromise between the House and Senate, would cut rural health care and education programs. The legislation would cut dollars for rural health research and rural emergency medical services, for example, along with money to attract health care professionals to rural areas."
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/11/19/montana/a09111905_01.txt
"Supporters and opponents hotly contest how many acres of public land could be affected by the measure. Environmental groups say all 5.7 million acres of public land currently under claim could be affected. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., who led efforts to pass the measure, says that only 360,000 acres of land would qualify for purchase.
The measure passed as one component of a broad five-year budget plan called the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The Senate version of the bill does not include the mining provisions, so House-Senate negotiators must now hammer out whether to include it in the final version of the bill. That process may stretch into December.
Both Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont., and Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., voted for the bill. But Rehberg, reacting to a campaign against the provision by hunters and outdoors enthusiasts, first won a concession from Pombo.
In a letter to Rehberg, Pombo promised that he "will work to include language in this legislation, when it goes to a Conference Committee, clearly stating that access to hunting and fishing opportunities will be protected as under current law."
Cubin said, "The real benefit of this provision, beyond generating funds for the government, is the economic engine it will create for local mining communities where mineral resources have been depleted," she said."