Ignorance isn’t bliss

DUNCAN HUNTER, the Republican congressman representing El Cajon, Calif., is not one to let his ignorance get in the way of making major federal legislation. Take, just as one example, Santa Rosa Island.

Driving along the California coast one day with a carload of Marines, Hunter had a brainstorm. Because the second-largest of the Channel Islands chain, 40 miles off Oxnard, was already owned by the federal government and populated by herds of deer and elk transplanted there a century ago, why not turn it into a hunting preserve for disabled veterans?

In June, a group of disabled veterans did something that Hunter, chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, hadn’t bothered with before slipping his proposal into a massive defense appropriations bill approved by the House in May: They actually visited the island. There they found a rugged hunk of hilly terrain where getting around on a wheelchair is next to impossible.

Not only does Hunter’s plan grant access to a group that doesn’t want it, it indefinitely extends the existence of nonnative island mammals (that were scheduled to be removed by 2011) and interferes with non-hunters’ access to the land.

Recognizing this idea as daft didn’t require a personal visit, though that might have been nice. The National Park Service, which manages the island, was opposed, as was relevant Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara), resident locals, plus the 21,000-member Paralyzed Veterans of America. No matter.

Thankfully, California’s Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer provided some adult supervision to Hunter’s childish whim by passing a Senate resolution Thursday prohibiting usage that would harm native species or deny access to the public.

And the Senate’s version of the defense appropriations bill -- quite appropriately -- does not include any mention of how to manage recreation in Channel Islands National Park.

You’d think that a local legislator would be more serious about stewardship of California’s precious natural resources. But Hunter’s record is filled with head-scratching antics.

He was the ringleader behind the xenophobic quashing of the Dubai Ports World purchase of a container-operating company. He once cited the prison menu at Guantanamo Bay as proof that inmates weren’t being mistreated. He thinks parents should be able to sue distributors of entertainment products that he says could be harmful to 17-year-olds.

If Hunter is serious about helping disabled veteran hunters, perhaps he could look into nearby islands that are more accessible and already owned by the military, such as San Nicolas.

More likely, El Cajon’s resident political whiz will go on taking aim at an easier target -- his own foot.