Victory over Environmental Extremists

In a little reported case, a rancher had sued and won a $600,000 defamation suit against the radical Center for Biological Diversity.

The People for the West Newsletter has an excellent review (no link available):

On September 25, 2007 the Arizona Supreme Court denied review of the verdict and $600,000 damages awarded in Chilton Ranch and Cattle Company v. Center for Biological Diversity (the Center). In January 2005, an impartial jury of ten found the Center had maliciously defamed the rancher. An appeals court upheld the jury’s findings.

Overthe previous seven years Jim Chilton had contracted, at considerable personal expense, Dr. Holechek along with world-class experts in hydrology and native fish biology. They conducted dozens of fullday hands-on management consultations. The scientists regularly monitored the natural resources and made recommendations, all of which Jim Chilton followed…

During the seven years preceding the trial, the Center launched four formal attempts to legally prohibit grazing on Jim Chilton’s allotment, arguably with no scientific foundation for their litigious and procedural attacks. By the end of 2005, however, the Center was able to pay the punitive damages, having received $500,000 that year from taxpayer-funded legal settlements.

The fact that Chilton went out of his way to safeguard the environment leads one to wonder if the Center’s objective is to protect nature or control private business.  I’ve sent an email to the editor of the PFW asking him to clarify the taxpayer-funded legal settlement.

None of the major papers are reporting this landmark decision.  But the Flagstaff-based Arizona Daily Sun has background on the appeal.

This is a typical tactic of the left: put out false facts and smear your opponent.  Two weeks ago, MoveOn.org’s “Gen. Betray-us” ad back-fired, forcing the party that MoveOn had “bought and paid for” to condemn them.  Last week, the Clinton backed “Media Matters” outfit was caught creating a phoney controversy over Rush Limbaugh’s criticism of phoney Ranger Jesse MacBeth.  Now the CBD is fined for faking photographs.

I hope this is the begining of a more aggressive campaign by the cente right against the radical left.