Free Republic

VENTURA, Calif. -- The California Fish and Game Commission has removed its president after he was criticized for killing a mountain lion in Idaho. Commission members voted Wednesday to replace Dan Richards. Richards, who was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008, has said he plans to remain on the five-member commission until his term expires in six months.

California regulators have given a warning letter to the president of the state Fish and Game Commission over a mountain lion hunting trip he took earlier this year, but they decided against issuing a fine. . . . It says he violated the state's $420 gift limit when he accepted an Idaho hunting trip in January worth $6,800.

Democratic Assemblyman Ben Hueso said Friday that he is dropping his effort to oust Fish and Game Commission President Dan Richards. Richards recently came under heavy fire from animal-rights groups and Democratic lawmakers after a photo in a hunting publication showed him posing with a mountain lion he shot in Idaho. Unlike in California, where voters banned killing cougars in 1990, Idaho allows the animals to be hunted. Critics said his actions, while not illegal, raised doubts about his ability to lead the commission. But hunting and fishing groups, as well as GOP lawmakers, have come to Richards' defense. Hueso,...

Dan Richards, who chairs the California Fish and Game Commission, is under fire in the Capitol because he killed a mountain lion in Idaho and posed with his trophy for a picture that was later published on a hunting publication website. Forty Democratic legislators signed a letter to Richards saying he should resign. "Your actions raise serious questions about whether you respect the laws of the people of California and whether you are fit to adequately enforce those laws," the lawmakers told Richards. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom later joined the chorus. So let's get this straight.... Mountain lion hunting is...