Clerical Error

Anybody want to explain to me, how in the hell, exactly, you can tell people that you did NOT sign a bill which will sell off millions of acres of federal lands, such as forests, nature reserves, etc for private use when, in fact, not only did you sign the bill- not only did you ENDORSE the bill...

but you CO SPONSORED IT. Somebody explain this one to me?

Because that's exactly what Wyoming's Representative Barbara Cubin (R) is saying. Her explanation?

"Clerical Error."

Seriously. As in "Oops, I accidentally signed a piece of paper co-sponsoring a bill I do not, at least publically and openly, support, because it goes against the values of my constituancy."

"I sincerely believe I did not put pen to paper to sponsor that legislation," she wrote in an opinion piece submitted to the Casper 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 Sept. 21 with a dozen original co-sponsors listed, including Cubin.

The measure would require the federal government to sell off quickly 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 originally told the Gazette Washington Bureau that although she had no intention of co-sponsoring the bill, in a shuffle of paperwork she accidentally may have signed papers that listed her as a co-sponsor.

"If (her signature is there) 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.

"I sincerely believe I do not read anything that I sign, even when it determines federal legislation."

Come on. What a joke.

"This is a fire sale of public lands. It is utterly unprecedented," said Char Miller, professor of environmental history at Trinity University in San Antonio, who has written extensively about the Forest Service. "It signals that the lands and the agency that manages them are in deep trouble."

The U.S. Forest Service has earmarked more than 300,000 acres for sale in 32 states.

In a companion proposal inserted into this week's massive 2007 budget, White House officials directed the U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials to sell off at least $350 million worth of public land, with the funds to go directly to the general treasury.