DENVER—Over the weekend, Sen. John Barrasso, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, launched a bad-faith attack on Tracy Stone-Manning, President Biden’s nominee to run the Bureau of Land Management. The attack was based on a 30-year-old incident in which Stone-Manning warned officials about activists spiking trees in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest, and later testified against two people who were convicted in the case.
Barrasso did not bring up the incident during Stone-Manning’s confirmation hearing last week, even though it has been public knowledge for three decades. However, over the weekend, Barrasso claimed Stone-Manning “collaborated with eco-terrorists,” and called her actions “disgraceful.”
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Jennifer Rokala:
“Thirty years ago, Tracy Stone-Manning did the right thing by helping to convict eco-terrorists and warning land managers of their actions. If Senator Barrasso is so worried about terrorism, he needs to clean up his own house first. Barrasso voted against a bipartisan investigation into the attempted coup of January 6th, but he thinks that someone who did the right thing three decades ago should be disqualified from a Senate-confirmable job.
“Barrasso’s hypocrisy would be laughable if the issues at hand here weren’t so serious. He’s simply carrying water for Steve Daines, another senator who is happy to look the other way when his own party foments insurrection against the United States. During the last election Stone-Manning supported her former boss, Montana Governor Steve Bullock, in his campaign against Daines.
“It’s clear this entire bad-faith attack is nothing more than Daines and Barrasso holding a political grudge rather than doing the right thing for the people of Montana and the West, who deserve a leader like Tracy Stone-Manning at the Bureau of Land Management.”