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New Leader of Sportsman's Alliance to Depend on Members

October 11, 2010 - JEFFERSON -- Tim Bell has traded the wild boar and alligators of Florida for the white-tailed deer and the wild brook trout of Maine.

Bell, 47, is the new executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, the state's largest hunting and fishing group. He's new to the state, but he brings a diverse background and lobbying experience that he believes will help him at the State House.

"I have large shoes to fill and I realize that," he said Sunday during an interview at the Damariscotta Lake home he is renting. "Being from away ... I know that's an issue and that's something I hope to overcome with my hard work."

Those "large shoes" belong to George Smith, who announced in May that he would be stepping down as executive director by the end of the year. Smith spent 18 years as the public face of the organization, and built a reputation as one of the most influential -- and at times controversial -- lobbyists at the State House.

Bell said he welcomes Smith's help during the transition, but realizes he must quickly establish himself as the new leader of the organization.

"I know SAM has influence, and George Smith is largely responsible for that," he said. "But what it really is all about are the members and getting them involved in legislative, regulatory and political issues."

One of Bell's immediate goals is to connect with the alliance's 12,000 members via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. He wants more women to join. He sees advantages in real-time lobbying directly from members to legislators and the new governor.

"I want to be able to communicate with them instantaneously if I need their help on a legislative issue," he said. "I want to be able to Tweet them or do a mass text message to them to say I need you to call senator so-and-so or governor so-and-so."

Bell most recently worked in Florida as director of governmental affairs for a physicians association, is a former House aide for a Florida Republican legislator and is one year shy of earning his law degree from the University of Illinois.

A native of Pennsylvania, Bell and his two brothers were raised by a single mother who moved the family to Florida when Bell was 15. His father left the family before Bell was born, so an uncle was the one who took him on hunting trips.

"I went hunting and fishing with him several times in Pennsylvania and West Virginia," he said.

As an adult, he went hunting for wild boar and alligators with his older brother in Florida.

After earning an associate's degree and working in the Florida House for five years, Bell returned to college to get a bachelor's degree in Asian studies from Florida State University. At the time, he saw China as an emerging world market and learned to speak Mandarin, at least enough to carry a conversation.

Then in 2003, he went to law school, but left before he finished his degree following the deaths of two close family members. He returned to Florida in 2008 to work as a lobbyist, and jumped at the chance to come to Maine.

Bell officially started his new job at SAM Oct. 4 and has a list of priorities recently approved by the board for the upcoming legislative session.

The group wants to work with the new governor to choose a commissioner for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and SAM is hoping to get a dedicated source of funding for the department. It also wants $100,000 for the department so it can control predators -- mainly coyotes -- that are killing deer.

Other goals include allowing nonresidents to hunt on the first day of the firearms season on deer and to commission a study of nonresident hunting and fishing fees.

When he left the SAM job interview a few weeks ago to head back to his hotel, Bell worried that he would get stuck in rush hour traffic at 5 p.m.

It was then he realized he wasn't in Florida any longer.

"In Florida, my office was 15 miles away and it would take 45 minutes," he said.

But here, in just 10 short minutes, he was in his hotel room where he could relax.

"I said I want this job," he said.

Later that same night, he was offered the position.

A few short weeks later, he sat at the kitchen table in the home he's renting on Damariscotta Lake that has large windows facing the water and a comfortable wood stove.

"I love Maine," he said, adding that he spent time as a child visiting family in Kittery. "I did a lot of research on the organization and saw it was very influential, but also had room to grow. I was interested in helping lead that."

By Susan M. Cover
MaineToday Media State House Writer


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