Gov. Phil Murphy managed to anger both sides in the never-ending debate over bear hunting with his decision to ban hunting on state lands; Whatever future problems we have with bear attacks and home invasions are now officially on his tab
There is an axiom of politics stating a politician should never create a new problem for himself when he has an old problem that remains unsolved.
Actually, I just made that up. But it still represents good advice for our new governor.
Phil Murphy still hasn't solved the problems at NJ Transit. But that didn't stop him from starting a fight over the annual bear hunt, one he can't possibly win.
Murphy had one excellent option on the hunt: He could have done nothing.
Sure, he made campaign promises to end the hunt. But there's a state Supreme Court ruling that the governor can't overrule the Fish and Game Council, which has called for a hunt. The Guv could have said he will replace the council members as soon as possible, but till then his hands are tied.
Instead Murphy decided to cancel the hunt, but only on state lands. Hunting will still be permitted on private lands and on county and municipal lands where allowed.
This angered both the hunters and the bear-lovers. The governor is now stuck in the worst possible position politically. The hunt will go on, but so will the demonstrations by the people who love publicity almost as much as they love bears.
Meanwhile the hunters probably won't kill enough bears to curb the population explosion that causes so many confrontations between bears and humans.
One such human is Bob Ehling of Sparta. If hunters are going to be able to hunt on private lands, his balcony would be a good place to start, the 81-year-old Ehling told me.
"If another one comes by, the shotgun is still sitting by the door," he said.
That's the shotgun he used to shoot a 300-pound bear that in 2014 climbed a pole up to his balcony and began scratching at the sliding door that was the only thing separating the bear from his wife, who was cooking breakfast.
Ehling used the shotgun to dispatch mama bear as well as two cubs that were racing to her rescue.
The state should have given Ehling a medal for abating a nuisance in his Lake Mohawk neighborhood, which has an urban-like housing density. Instead he got citations for shooting the bears.
After being convicted in municipal court, Ehling appealed to Superior Court, which affirmed the convictions for shooting the cubs but reversed the conviction for shooting the mother bear on the grounds that the bear was "reasonably perceived as posing a risk of harm to his wife." The judge added that "the concern that perhaps the bear would use its muscle power and force and its weight to break through the sliding glass door, I don't think that was fantasy."
No, it wasn't. The fantasy is that there's enough room for 3,500 bears in crowded New Jersey. Take a good look at a map of the northwestern part of the state and you see there are few spots that are more than three miles from a road. A bear can roam more than 25 miles a day.
State Sen. Steve Oroho, a Republican whose office is in Sparta, said he thinks it's laughable that Murphy cited safety as the reason for his decision.
"If a bear is spotted in an urban setting, they lock down the schools," he said. "People hide indoors and multiple squad cars respond to the scene. If they're not concerned about that bear hurting someone then what is their concern."
Oroho said Murphy's call for "non-lethal" remedies overlooks the fact that the state's non-lethal approach to such encounters is "they tranquilize the bear and send it up to us."
But his district, which runs north to High Point, already has so many bears that they are frequently found hanging around school-bus stops as the kids await the bus. Bears have become so accustomed to being around humans that they will walk across a local shooting range, forcing a temporary halt in target practice.
"The only way they can control the bear population is the bear hunt," he said. "There's no other way."
Ehling notes that shortly before he was charged for shooting bears in his back yard, a black bear killed and partially ate a 22-year-old Rutgers student who was hiking through a state forest.
"If they claim the bears are the property of the state, then why didn't the state take responsibility when the bear killed that Rutgers student?" he asked.
Someone has to take responsibility for the next attack or home invasion.
And when that happens, that someone will be the governor who couldn't do the only thing a governor is supposed to do: Make a decision.
ADD - A SONG THAT TIES MURPHY'S TWO PROBLEMS TOGETHER: If you were a fan of the late Jean Shepherd's WOR radio show, you no doubt recall him playing kazoo along with a song whose title brings together both of Governor Murphy's current problems, "The Bear Missed the Train."
