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House Natural Resources Committee Attacks Patagonia

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The House Natural Resources Committee is pushing back against a claim by Patagonia that President Trump "stole" land from Americans by moving to shrink two national monuments in Utah.

It's no secret that U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop dislikes The Antiquities Act and was thrilled to see President Trump move to dismantle the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. So it shouldn't be a great surprise that the House Natural Resources Committee that he chairs has publicly attacked Patagonia, which opposes the president's move.

Last week Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke branded the outdoor wear company as a "liar" for running ads saying President Trump stole land from the American people by issuing a proclamation that cut 2 million acres, combined, from the two monuments. And on Friday the Natural Resources Committee used its Twitter feed to claim that "Patagonia is Lying To You."

"A corporate giant hijacking our public lands debate to sell more products to wealthy elitist urban dwellers from New York to San Francisco," the tweet added.

Perhaps this shouldn't be surprising in the brash, pushback, smack down political world the Trump administration has ushered in, but the tweet has raised more than a few eyebrows.

"When a federal government official publicly calls you a liar on an official social media account, without any due process whatsoever, the first thing you should do is call a lawyer. The second thing you should do is find out the name of the official who posted this tweet," wrote Walter Shaub, who formerly directed the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, in a tweet of his own.

"I don’t know if there’s any legal recourse, but I hope Patagonia has a law firm research the issue," he added. "The federal govt officially and publicly calling a company a liar for political reasons is a bizarre and dangerous departure from civic norms. It’s also decidedly anti-free market."

The matter raises the question about whether it's appropriate for a federal government entity to publicly attack a company. What will be interesting to see is whether it boosts sales for Patagonia, as President Trump's criticism of Nordstrom earlier this year did for that company.

Comments

Perhaps the President should have a lawyer look into Patagonia for calling him a theif.  

 


I only wish that Patagonia was a publicly traded corporation so I could've bought stock on my Ameritrade account yesterday.


thats a non starter.  First Amendment protects speech. 


First it seems like you're disputing that the original land grab was NOT for financial gain by claiming they needed a lawyer after this tweet...

"A corporate giant hijacking our public lands debate to sell more products to wealthy elitist urban dwellers from New York to San Francisco," the tweet added.

Finish by reading the LAST PART of THIS statement then ask youselves how returning the land to the state is "anti-free market" if it wasn't grabbed to do EXACTLY WHAT THE FIRST STATEMENT SAID !!

"I don't know if there's any legal recourse, but I hope Patagonia has a law firm research the issue," he added. "The federal govt officially and publicly calling a company a liar for political reasons is a bizarre and dangerous departure from civic norms. It's also decidedly anti-free market."

Some times it's tough to sort through the B.S., but in this instance, NOT SO MUCH...

The FEDS (mostly the BLM) has been stealing land from the people for DECADES.  It's about time we had a president that saw the theft for what it is!



The FEDS (mostly the BLM) has been stealing land from the people for DECADES.  It's about time we had a president that saw the theft for what it is!

 

So...stealing federal land for Canadian mining interest fits within your imaginary but oh-so-typical San Juna County B.S. narrative how?



Aren't those conservative individuals the ones saying "corporations are peope"? Of course, consistency has never been an issue for them.


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