Posted on 02/23/2016 12:44:52 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Of all the controversies associated with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, his position on federally owned land tends to attract less attention.
But the issue of public land ownership is important to Nevadans, where federal government agencies manage and control around 85 percent of state land.
And it's partially why Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is slamming Trump on the issue in a campaign ad airing just days before the Nevada Republican presidential caucus on Feb. 23.
"Eighty-five percent of Nevada is owned and regulated by the federal government," says Cruz in the ad. "And Donald Trump wants to keep big government in charge. That's ridiculous."
The ad has aired dozens of times in Reno through the lead up to Nevada's caucus, according to Political TV Ad Archive. We thought Cruz's claim merited fact-checking, because public lands management is a critical issue with Nevada voters.
An on-screen graphic refers to a January interview with Field & Stream magazine, where Trump said he would be hesitant to give federal land over to state and local governments.
"I don't like the idea, because I want to keep the lands great, and you don't know what the state is going to do," he told an interviewer. "I mean, are they going to sell if they get into a little bit of trouble?"
Trump's campaign offered a slightly more detailed explanation of his proposed policy in an answer to a candidate questionnaire, but said the bigger issue was land management and not transfer of ownership.
"The issue is not that so much of the state is public land; it is how that land is managed," the campaign wrote, promising to cut "needless bureaucratic red tape."
The Trump campaign didn't return emails seeking comment.
Cruz, on the other hand, takes a more libertarian stance on public land issues and said the amount of land owned by the federal government is "unacceptable."
"I believe we should transfer as much federal land as possible back to the states and ideally back to the people," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in December.
Cruz fought with the Bureau of Land Management over the agency's efforts to "claim 90,000 acres of disputed land near Texas's Red River," and for a time supported Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy's standoff with the federal government over his unpaid grazing fees.
And many of the Texas senator's Nevada supporters pushed for a failed bill in the state Legislature that "would lay claim to almost all federally managed public lands and water rights in the state."
It's worth noting that Nevada's state constitution expressly gives up the state's rights to all "unappropriated public lands" to the federal government, which is why it's worth quibbling with candidates like Cruz and Rubio promise to "return" control to its citizens - who have never held a claim to the federally owned land in the past 151 years of Nevada statehood.
Our ruling
Cruz says that Trump wants to keep "big government" in charge of Nevada's public lands.
Trump has answered questions on public land management twice. He has not advocated for transferring ownership, but he has focused on cutting bureaucratic red tape. Cruz exaggerates Trump's position slightly by saying Trump favors "big" government.
We rate the ad's statement Mostly True.
There’s nothing like Trumpians talking about how the other candidate (always Cruz, because he’s a threat) is obnoxious and such.
Never mind Trump’s behavior ever since he and his mouth owned the New Jersey Generals of the USFA.
Of course, Trump negotiated a great deal through litigation with the NFL over fall football TV rights. Yuge. Amazing.
He was awarded $1. And anti-trust legislation trebled it to $3. Three dollars. Then the USFL cuoldn’t compete with the NFL and folded, causing many millions of dollar losses.
But Donald Trump negotited an amazing deal, and won three dollars!
Just think of what a Trump presidency can accomplish!
Cruz is running for president, not for the governorship of Nevada.
Besides, if he wins (from my post to God’s ears!) then Nevada’s land surrender can become void, with the approval of Congress.
Well, because Trump.
You confuse “natural born” with “naturalized”.
LOLOL!!!!
Starting to cough a lot again. Maybe I'll be back later.
“and most of it is a desert”
So? That does not mean we like having the feds control it.
My immediate problem is with the present regulations which sc*** the people in every state....things like wetlands...and historic preservation
One of my most hated politician’s lines:
“I will fight day and night...”
He doesn’t say he will actually do anything except he won’t be getting much sleep.
I guess that means no? I don’t know what you regard as being conservative, I believe a true conservative defends the Constitution of the United States. I totally believe that the Constitution should never have been altered beyond the Bill of Rights. No man has the right to alter that sacred document which I took an oath to defend. I still honor that oath. Our framers gave everything to start this country. Who are we to amend what they created, the sacrifices made and the hardships they endured? Our government today is not consistent with our Founders dreams. Conservative enough for you?
By the way, according to that very same Constitution, your guy Cruz is not a natural born citizen and neither is Rubio.
Yes, see my comment above #170.
Trump can’t even keep track of his own lies. Why does anyone take him seriously?
Nope. I do not.
You are funny. I meant what I said and have done the research into the law, the Founder’s documents and the references in court cases to back it up. If you have the curiosity I have linked the documentation on many earlier posts on the subject. Have a good evening.
I have no information that he changed. Maybe he did hold the opposite opinion without putting much thought into the matter. He did talk about it in his Las Vegas rally:
“There were phony adds. I have one going on now—Cruz! He’s got an add—something to do with I want to take away your land and I want to keep it in the Federal Government. I don’t know what the hell they are talking about. It’s an add. It’s a Cruz add. It’s a Cruz scam. I’ll tell you, so, the evangelicals didn’t vote for him. You know why? Because they don’t like liars. They are really smart people. They don’t want to vote for a liar.”
“But it is true, I have an add running right now. It’s a Cruz add—something to do with, and a couple of people tell me this—that I am backing the Federal Government to keep the land that is currently owned by the Federal Government and we should give that land to everybody and divvy it up or something. And I am saying to myself, well, it’s not a subject I know anything about. It’s a hell of an add. But this is a Cruz add. This guy is sick. There is something wrong with this guy!”
Cruz has spent his career defending the Constitution in court including the Supreme Court. Trump is a crony capitalist authoritarian who believes in top down solutions.
It is sad you understand nothing about the constitution.
I’m convinced it’s jealousy and envy that drives the hate towards the Trumps.
I picked Regan and Cruz is the closest I've see to Regan since then.
"I don't like the idea because I want to keep the lands great, and you don't know what the state is going to do," Trump said during a talk with Field & Stream magazine earlier this week.
You can cling to that if it gives you comfort. The truth is the man has been a liberal all his life. He's a braggart that collects trophy wives. He left his first wife and kids to live with Marla Maples because he had an itch. There is nothing in his past that screams "Conservative" or proves he's trustworthy. Even in his book he calls lying "exaggerating" and thinks it's ok in order to sell a deal. He lies and gets away with it and believes he's entitled because "He's GREAT". He has no manners or morals and said if Ivanka wasn't his daughter, he'd date her. He disgusts me.
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