I don't think striper fishing on Murray is very political. User groups like the midlands striper club help to support DNR studies and contribute a lot of money for stockings. Regulations are changed frequently biased on science. Do you really think politicians would have come up with the 5 and done rule. True the DNR has no regulatory authority but most is based on science. I will say the santee cooper blue catfish laws are politically driven and not science based though. A lot of changes have public comment meeting sessions that are held and very few people attend.

I have cleaned a ton of striper and yes they will eat crappie, but not enough to affect the population, especially on Murray where there is a tremendous herring forage base. I have fished with just about every bait and can get my hands; bream, eel, perch, trout, mullet, and even a few largemouth and crappie before they made it illegal and I can say that striper are actually pretty picky and prefer shad and herring. If there's nothing else to prey on then they might start to consume other fish. I can tell you that there is tons of bait fish up in the rivers now.
Crappie buster next time you hang a couple striper while you are targeting crappie clean them and do a dissection. What better evidence, which ever way to turns out.