PORTLAND, Maine - A Cumberland County Superior Court judge is expected to rule early next week on a motion for an injunction brought by the group Mainers For Fair Bear Hunting against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. At issue is the department's role in the campaign against the bear hunting referendum on the November ballot. Attorneys for both supporters and opponents of Question 1 staked out their arguments at a court hearing Friday morning.
Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting think bear biologists and other IF&W employees who've been speaking out on Question 1 for weeks in television ads and YouTube videos have overstepped their bounds. Attorney Rachel Wertheimer says it's OK for department staff to state their opposition. What's not OK, says Wertheimer, is for the department to use taxpayer resources to participate in a coordinated political campaign against the referendum to ban the use of bait, hounds and traps in Maine's annual bear hunt.
Wertheimer wants the department to be stopped from political activity. "We expect our public officials, unless they are specifically authorized by the Legislature to be non-partisan, to speak out fairly," she says. "They can take a position, but they have to do so fairly. They have to provide fair comment and they have to let dissenters' positions be heard as well."
Speaking outside the courthouse Friday morning, Wertheimer said IF&W doesn't have explicit authority to participate in political campaigns, and hasn't allowed for alternative views on its website. James Cote, a spokesman for the opposition, disagrees. He says the statutes creating IF&W broadly mandate that the department work to protect and enhance Maine's wildlife resources.
"If they're not able to do that, I don't think they're able to fulfill their mission," Cote says, "and I think it would be irresponsible if they weren't out in front of the public talking about the impacts of this campaign."
Cote says state bear biologists speaking out about the importance of keeping the state's bear population stable through the use of bait, hounds and traps, is no different than the IF&W - or any other state agency - appearing before a legislative committee and providing expertise.
Attorneys for the department and for Cote's group argued that if the judge grants an injunction and forces the No on 1 ads to come down she will be stifling the free speech rights of all of those involved in the campaign against Question 1.
But as both sides await the judge's decision on the matter, the department is being ordered to produce documents requested by Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting under the state's Freedom of Access Act.
"We know that there is going to be additional information in there demonstrating this coordinated political campaign that's being done by Inland Fisheries and Wildlife improperly with public funds and goverment resources," says Katie Hansberry, of Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting.
The department has been ordered to turn over two sets of documents, beginning Oct. 22. A ruling on the requested injunction is also expected next week.
