Update on Mariposa County Supervisor concocting a scheme to essentially ban mining on private land in the County:
Many of you are probably aware of a scheme by a far left Liberal Supervisor in Mariposa who is pushing a C.U.P., a conditional use permitting scheme which would require anyone who wants to mine on their private property to obtain yet another permit through them. It would be costly, and they could just say NO. This is in addition to all the other regulatory agencies which already require extensive and expensive permitting, fee’s, regulations and oversight.
We have worked hard on this issue folks, and have been for nearly two months now. Here is where we stand currently.
Ms. Rosemarie Smallcombe, a far left Liberal (from the bay area originally) now based out of Yosemite is on the Board of Directors of a Enviro group called MERG. Mariposans for the environment or some such. They have the usual ties to Sierra Club and other radical environmental groups which I’m sure comes as no surprise to many. Her husband is also on the board of directors of MERG.
To give you an idea of Ms. Smallcombe’s ideology, she proposed banning smoking in the entire county. Let that sink in for a minute…….
The County Supervisors are comprised of two Liberals, one middle of the road Democrat and two Conservatives. One of the Conservative Supervisors has a brother who has a mining operation on his property and “someone” (one person) wrote a letter asking for him to recuse himself from this CUP issue claiming he has a conflict of interest. He did. We have no doubt this request probably came at the behest of Ms. Smallcombe and her company MERG.
We poured over every single piece of testimony on this issue dating back over a year ago and found two specific instances where a MERG board member testified in favor of this proposal. We printed copies of this testimony and hit the phones. We contacted many private parties who own property and mining operations in Mariposa county who were appalled at this attempt to essentially ban mining in the county. Due to the fact that Ms. Smallcombe and her husband both serve as Board of Directors of MERG and MERG’s constant testifying in favor of this scheme, it is in our, and our council’s opinion that this justifies a clear and present conflict of interest.
As of this evening, many, many letters have been sent demanding Ms. Smallcombe’s recusal from this issue. County rules stipulate it is her decision, but based on the sheer number of letters demanding her recusal, she opens herself up to liability if she does not. It will also result in contact being made with the Fair Political Practices Board for investigation and potential fines.
Ms. Smallcombe needs to recuse herself as she obviously has a blatant conflict of interest.
County rules also dictate that if two of the Supervisor’s are recused, then the remaining three must have a unanimous vote for the proposal to pass. That is not going to happen.
We firmly believe Ms. Smallcombe will recuse herself, hopefully by tomorrow. If she does not, perhaps she should hear from you, as we will post her contact information for you to voice your opinion to Ms. Smallcombe.
AMRA staff, fighting for your right to mine.
We appreciate this article and the effort.
This liberal agenda by Ms Smallcombe needs to be exposed.
Tyranny will occur if it goes unattested.
thank you.