Can you say "copycat legislation"?
    First Representative Mark Udall, D-Colorado, proposed legislation to allow for an elk hunt in Rocky Mountain National Park, and now a congressman from North Dakota is taking the same approach to allow hunting in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
    U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan introduced legislation to that effect this week after Park Service officials at the park refused to endorse a public hunt of elk.
    “If we need to thin the herd, I don’t see any sense in spending millions of dollars to bring in federal sharpshooters and helicopters when we have qualified hunters in North Dakota that would do it free of charge,” Dorgan said in a story carried by the Minot Daily News.  “This bill would allow the Park Service to set up some standards to make sure we use only qualified and responsible hunters to thin the herd and still protect the national park.”
    Any idea why both Dorgan and Udall point out that their proposals would involve "only qualified and responsible hunters..."? Are they suggesting that not all hunters are qualified or responsible?
    Beyond that, it's kind of a shame, don't you think, that congressfolk think they can do a better job of managing the parks through legislating actions?