While I agree that Jim has a financial interest in the lawsuit, some of the accusations are pretty serious for a state run agency that uses my tax dollars (i.e. licenses). This is typical of most government run organizations with no accountability. If they are making policies that we all have to abide by, but they profit from then it's a very serious issue. It appears that Jim was trying to expose some dealings by the commissioner and key members of the KDFWR. While I despise a lot of the media, they are very powerful in exposing corruption in government. In fact, in many cases, it's the only way. Neither you nor I can put together all of the pieces of the puzzle or have the sounding board to hold organizations accountable. The media can do this (see the Herald Leader KAC/KLC articles). It wasn't until the HL ran the articles that the state auditor got involved. Probably would never have gotten involved. I know there's two sides to every story and a jury will have to figure this one out. Given Gassett's political connections however, I doubt Strader will win.

On a side note, while I agree that the state's deer population is very healthy, the telecheck system is a joke. I've been on-line several times and there are blanks in the system where someone killed a deer, but for some reason it didn't record their name and info. Not saying the old system is that much better (people could still poach and not bring the deer in), but we lost a piece of our heritage when they went to the telecheck. I remember the comradery as a kid going to the local country store and seeing all of the deer and hearing the stories. This was a huge influence on me as a kid and one that came back to me after many years of being away from hunting.