Secret MLPA Meetings Revealed

[PAL]

Just as everyone suspected.

SECRET MLPA MEETINGS REVEALED

SACRAMENTO – Meeting agendas and emails uncovered by a successful Public Records Act lawsuit demonstrate what skeptical members of the public have long suspected. The Marine Life Protection Act Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force pervasively and routinely met behind closed doors while directing the privately funded marine closure process.

“Public meetings of the BRTF have been an elaborately staged kabuki performance choreographed and rehearsed down to the last detail, even to the crafting of motions in scheduled private meetings held before the so-called public meetings of the BRTF. Clearly this has not been the ‘most open and transparent process ever’ as it has so often been described,” Partnership of Sustainable Oceans representative George Osborn testified during the February 2nd meeting of the California Fish and Game Commission.

Please read the rest at Western Outdoor News: http://bit.ly/gGBejh

[Matt]

So Paul before we all get our hopes up too high what does all this mean for us? And a huge THANK YOU for working so damn much to protect our rights!!

[Tman]

"The public record also supports the notion that the BRTF deliberated behind closed doors. In an unguarded moment at the beginning of the November 10, 2009 BRTF meeting, then-chair Cathy Reheis-Boyd said “we’ve got task force members running on empty after three nights of about three hours sleep.” At that meeting, MPA plans developed by the three Regional Stakeholder Groups suddenly became Options A and B, literally overnight and without action in the public eye."


Just as we suspected, love how they tried to change the players involved.


Hey Paul, thank you

[ibbeerbum]

I am writing a project paper for a Compostion class on the MLPA process at this time and trying to get all the info I can to prove some of the unfair things they are doing.

[PAL]

Want to see the entire 25-page set of BRTF private meeting docs? I have the perfect link for you. Thanks to SD Freedivers for hosting:

http://www.sandiegofreedivers.com/ML...umentation.pdf

What does it mean for us? It can't hurt our chances in court or politically. Stay tuned.

[mtnbykr2]

thank you for keeping us all in the know, very interesting info, and the "coming out" of all of this will be even better

[dsafety]

So Paul, I am curious about a couple things. As we have all known for some time, the BRTF did not play fair. They violated a bunch of rules. Their behavior is the smoking gun for those of us opposed to their MLPA recommendations. My question is, what are the potential consequences of these actions?

There is a big difference between improper and illegal. Were the private meetings and all the other improper activities illegal in a criminal sense? Can these folks be prosecuted for what they have done? Are they subject to civil suits for the economic losses resulting from tainted MLPA closures?

There is a legal concept known as "fruit of the poisonous tree". This concept is primarily applied to search and seizure issues. It seems to me that this concept could also be used to invalidate a multitude of actions, including laws that come to be as a result of an illegal act. Does this concept have any implications here?

There is a part of me that is happy and hopeful that the MLPA closures we fought against will be invalidated and the entire subject of fisheries management will get a fresh look. The pessimistic side of me remembers that this is all about politics and money. Our Government does not have a very good track record of coming in on the side of average guy when big money and powerful political forces are pushing from the other side.

Bob