We had very high hopes for Assemblyman Kelly Seyarto. The then-mayor of Murrieta answered our question while he was still a candidate for the state Assembly. His campaign Facebook page is now removed or I am blocked from it. This communication was promising:
Kelly Seyarto sent December 17 at 9:04 AM
Sorry, The offices are just being set up so maybe the mail isn’t working right. If it was sent to the capitol office I am not sure why it would be returned, they know where to find me, even if the office isn’t officially set up yet. No worries, I will eventually get it and look it over. Like I said before, I want to meet with the wildlife agency and find out why it is listed as it is first and also look into any previous attempts to address this. Thanks for your patience. KS
Two attempts to send him information failed. The package contained a copy of our Environmental Report, a cover letter, the 2021 LegalizeFerrets.org calendar, our 2021 National Ferret Day t-shirt, and a baseball cap.
Did he meet with the wildlife agency? We’ll never know. On Friday this email arrived:
Hello Pat and thank you for contacting our office. I apologize that we were unable to receive your package at our office. Being new, the mail was still being redirected.
We will not be introducing this legislation but we thank you for your interest and communication and wish you the best as you move forward.
Thank you and have a Happy New Year.
Kristy MacDougall
Chief of Staff
Assemblymember Kelly Seyarto, 67th DistrictPH: (951) 894-1232
I have one big problem with this email. There is no explanation. Assemblyman Seyarto’s office didn’t even allow us to present our documentation.
When we started communicating with Assemblyman Seyarto, before he was even elected, I thought we were dealing with someone of quality. After he was elected I was hoping for a ferret legalization bill. To his credit, he never promised us anything. But his honesty and integrity were implied. If he didn’t want to introduce a ferret legalization bill I was expecting an honest explanation. And hopefully some insight.
That email from Ms. MacDougall is a giant FU.
To add insult to injury this appeared on his official campaign website at the same time:
There is no form on the website to request certain legislation. My comment about him being a phony was promptly removed from his Facebook page.
So the question here is what happened? I still think that there must integrity and sincerity in Mr. Seyarto – but why did he give it up so quickly? Why do legislators express an interest in our cause only to completely disappear as time goes by?
I understand why Democratic legislators don’t want to deal with us. It takes a lot to stand up to the Sierra Club and the HSUS. I know a few Republicans who just don’t care for ferrets or believe the misinformation. But why did Gov Schwarzenegger veto a ferret legalization bill? He knew ferrets. What external pressure causes this to happen?
This is more discouraging than you think. It means that California ferret lovers and the effort to change such a stupid law is not really possible. There just isn’t enough integrity in our state capitol.
I will leave our Change.org petition asking Assemblyman Seyarto to sponsor a bill up. Who knows – maybe he’ll reconsider. But my very depressing gut feeling is we will never get a legislator. Our opponent’s goal of making sure ferret legalization is never discussed and ferrets just remain misclassified as wild animals look pretty solid. If neither the Legislature nor the Fish and Game Commission is willing to discuss the matter – we may have to search again for legal assistance. We did already try that – click here
However, in my non-legal mind, if domestic animals are allowed as pets by our state constitution and there are no zoological texts that list domestic ferrets as wild animals – our best bet may be to try again.
In the meantime, I encourage people to continue to contact Assembyman Seyarto’s office.