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Having "matured" enough to have voted in 10 U.S. presidential elections, and many mid-term elections, I've developed a reaction to these events that is not unlike what happens when you put your hand on a hot stove. That is to say, it would be nice if they could be avoided. As necessary as elections are to maintaining a democracy, they bring out not only the good, but also the most mean-spirited, in us. I am always grateful when election day passes and the mud-slinging and name-calling get a long-overdue rest.

In an election year, politicians are least likely to cooperate with the congressmen or senators from the opposing party. Denying the competition even the smallest successes or accomplishments, seems to be at the top of political agendas. Sadly, it's against this backdrop that some very important legislation will be considered at the state and federal levels this year.

Closest to home, there will be a proposal to raise hunting and fishing license fees, which have remained unchanged for more than 10 years. At the federal level, there will be a proposal to raise the price of a federal duck stamp - required of every waterfowl hunter - from $15 to $25.

Both of these proposals will face political flak, and will be described as "tax increases," at a time when many politicians are under extreme pressure to abide by a "no new taxes" ideology, which for many lawmakers seems almost to reach to the level of an 11th commandment.

Some politicians do not make a distinction between a tax and a user fee. As long as I can remember, hunting and fishing licenses have been identified as fees, rather than taxes. That seems appropriate. A tax, such as the income tax, is a payment that commonly can be used for a wide variety of purposes. The same is true of our state sales tax.[[In-content Ad]]

Fees are something else altogether, and are generally paid for a privilege, with the proceeds being used for much narrower purposes. Motor vehicle license fees, for example, are used primarily for highway improvements. Tuition at a community, technical, or four-year college, is a fee, not a tax. The same is true of fishing and hunting license fees, which are used for game and fish-related programs.

Last year a proposal to raise the basic Minnesota fishing license fee from $17 to24 was floated, but it sank with the speed of a half-ounce jig, under political pressure, and the mischaracterization by some in St. Paul that it was a tax increase. This year there is more hope, and more urgency.

More urgency, because by mid-2013, the state's game and fish fund is projected to run out of money. More hope, because a very influential Senate Republican - Bill Ingebritsen, of Alexandria - is both Chairman of the Senate Environment and Natural resources Committee, and a supporter of the bill.

Being from Alexandria, a popular fishing and hunting destination, Ingebritsen knows about the value of outdoor recreation to the state's economy. Whether he, and his counterpart in the Minnesota House of Representatives, will see eye-to-eye, and will have the influence needed to bring together enough Republicans and Democrats to shepherd it through the legislative process, remains to be seen.

It certainly is needed. There are few things that can be bought today for the same price we paid in the year 2001. Anglers and hunters, and the associations and clubs to which they belong, have been vocal supporters of license fee increases for several years. It has been the politicians in St. Paul that have been the stumbling block.

At the federal level, one of the proposals in the Obama administration's budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior, is an increase in the cost of a federal duck stamp. The buying power of that fee is in even worse shape than Minnesota's fishing and hunting licenses. This stamp, whose proceeds go toward waterfowl habitat acquisition and improvement, has not increased in price since 1991. Its purchasing power is roughly one-third what it was two decades ago.

Ducks Unlimited has recommended a duck stamp price hike several times. Its Director of Government Affairs reported that this 21-year period is the longest without an inflation adjustment since the duck stamp program began in 1934. About 98 percent of national duck stamp proceeds go into habitat acquisition and management, with just two percent for program administration, which - by any measure - is a phenomenal result.

But in Washington, D.C., perhaps even more than in St. Paul, there is a disappointing shortage of political cooperation and decency. Even the most urgently needed, and the least controversial issues, can end up as casualties of each political party's commitment to beating down or outmaneuvering the other.

Knowing that is almost as depressing as preparing to endure the flood of negative political ads and speeches that are to come in the weeks and months leading up to November. Let's just hope that much-needed changes, like those described here, are not "civilian casualties" of the political battles of 2012.

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