Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield ruffled feathers and was blasted by Republicans this week for describing a situation in which a hunter sits drinking a beer while hounds chase a bear or bobcat.
The Woodland Hills Democrat later apologized. The flap occurred during debate Wednesday on Senate Bill 1221, ultimately passed by the Assembly, to ban use of dogs in hunting bears or bobcats.
The fiercely contested bill includes exceptions for scientific research, responding to a nuisance, or defending crops or livestock.
In introducing SB 1221 on the floor, Blumenfield said current law creates situations in which hunters have little or nothing to do while the hounds chase their prey.
"While the hunter relaxes, perhaps opens a cold one, packs of dogs are released to chase the bears and bobcats to the point of exhaustion," Blumenfield said.
Republicans Linda Halderman, Dan Logue and Brian Jones bristled.
"You might as well have just said that my constituents are dumb rednecks," said Halderman, of Fresno.
Before the vote sending the bill back to the Senate for concurrence, he offered a mea culpa: "I do apologize for suggesting that hunting and alcohol are mixed."
BILL WATCH
The Assembly on Friday passed and sent to Gov. Jerry Brown legislation to bar law enforcement officers from detaining undocumented immigrants for federal authorities when released from criminal custody, unless they have a history of serious or violent crime. The 44-23 vote on Assembly Bill 1081, by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, was strictly along party lines.
>WORTH REPEATING
"I don't get the vote changing thing in the #CALeg. It's a red button or a green button. How do so many get it wrong so many times?"
PHILLIP UNG,
a policy advocate for California Common Cause, via Twitter
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.