The Senate confirmed, by a vote of 50-45, Tracy Stone-Manning to be the new director of the Bureau of Land Management. That Stone-Manning has espoused radical environmental views should not be a surprise.
But the new BLM director was also a declared sympathizer and member of the radical eco-terrorist group Earth First! and admitted to retyping and sending a letter warning the U.S. Forest Service of a tree spiking in Idaho.
The purpose of tree spiking is not to save trees but to strike fear and terror in the hearts of loggers and the companies that hire them. At the time of the tree spiking, Stone-Manning was an active member of Earth First! and was described as “extremely anti-government.”
Former Forest Service Special Agent Michael Merkley, the lead agent on the tree-spiking case, wrote to members of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee informing them that Stone-Manning was not only “an active member of the original group that planned the spiking to the Post Office Timber Sale Trees,” but that she was “vulgar, antagonistic, and extremely anti-government,” only choosing to cooperate after she was informed that she could face charges if she did not comply with the orders of a federal grand jury.
Stone-Manning also lied during her confirmation hearing, according to GOP Senator John Barrasso.
“This investigator has confirmed what I have been saying,” said Barrasso. “Tracy Stone-Manning collaborated with eco-terrorists who had booby trapped trees with metal spikes. She mailed the threatening letter for them and she was part of the cover up. She did not cooperate with investigators until she was caught.
“Tracy Stone-Manning lied to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by claiming the tree spiking was ‘alleged’ and that she was never investigated. Now, we have confirmation that neither of those things are true. President Biden must withdraw her nomination.”
Her nomination was opposed by two past BLM directors, including Barack Obama’s BLM chief Bob Abbey, who said, “To put someone in that position that has this type of resume will just bring needless controversy that is not good for the agency or for the public lands.” Another former BLM head, Jim Caswell, said, “If she’s confirmed, it’s just going to be impossible … It’s a detriment to the employees.”
With questionable integrity, radical views (she said the U.S. would do well to follow Communist China’s population control measures), and a dismissive attitude toward other points of view, what is Tracy Stone-Manning doing anywhere near an office of any federal agency?
Stone-Manning’s nomination was a payoff to the radical green groups that worked tirelessly to get Joe Biden elected. Biden had to give the radical greens something, so he threw them a bone with the BLM nomination of an eco-nut.
Surely there are better ways to pay a political debt than rewarding a member of an eco-terrorist group with a job. But in Joe Biden’s Washington, this is how it’s done.
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