Pushing for Change at DNR; Some Want Citizens Board, Not Governor, to Name Secretary

By LEE BERGQUIST

Since 1995, the power to appoint the Department of Natural Resources secretary has been in the hands of the governor. And environmentalists have complained about it ever since.

Now there appears to be a new-found momentum to return the authority to a citizens board.

In the past, bills to allow the seven-member Natural Resources Board to hire and fire the DNR chief have foundered.

But the measure is getting more traction with a big push by hunting and fishing groups.

That might not be enough to compete with other key issues, such as passage of the Great Lakes compact, economic development initiatives and a possible budget repair bill before the Legislature adjourns next month.

Feeding the sportsmen’s fire has been the appointment of three DNR secretaries since 2001.

Gov. Jim Doyle has named two of the department heads, and his first appointment, Scott Hassett, intimated on Friday that he might still be at his post if the board — and not the governor — controlled the position.

Those who want the board to control the secretary believe that air, water and wildlife issues should be managed for the long run — and when possible, above the partisan fray.

“Clearly, the turnover of secretaries has been a factor,” said George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, which represents 157 hunting and fishing groups.

When former corrections chief Matt Frank took over as DNR secretary Sept. 1, he and his top two lieutenants had a sum total of nine months of agency experience. (One official has since been replaced by a career employee.)

“That just drives people crazy,” Meyer said. “It really resonated with our members.”

On Wednesday, members of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters pushed an “independent DNR secretary” as one of three priorities at their annual lobbying day at the Capitol.

In other years, the issue had never generated enough interest to take to lawmakers, said Anne Sayers, program director for the league.

“I think the conservation groups have organized themselves much better,” said Rep. Spencer Black (D-Madison), who has sponsored a bill in seven legislative sessions.

‘So political’

“We are getting people in there who don’t know a walleye from a carp,” said Paul Kruse, president of the Green Bay chapter of Trout Unlimited. He added that he was not speaking for the organization.

“It makes no difference if the guy is a hunter or angler to me,” Kruse said. “But I want a guy who has gone to natural resources school or has experience — and experience is better.

“It’s all become so political, and that’s what we have to get away from.”

Meyer knows this better than anyone.

An attorney, he served as DNR secretary from 1993 to 2001. He had spent almost 30 years at the agency when Gov. Scott McCallum replaced him with Darrell Bazzell, the deputy secretary and a budget specialist.

McCallum was the first governor to replace a DNR secretary after Gov. Tommy G. Thompson proposed that the governor name the secretary.

Thompson had support from two former Democratic governors — Tony Earl, who served as DNR secretary, and Patrick Lucey. They said having the secretary in the cabinet would lead to greater accountability and better management of government.

Wisconsin’s business lobby agrees.

Scott Manley of Wisconsin Manufacturer & Commerce said the DNR has become more responsive because the secretary is answerable to an elected official.

Manley credited Doyle in June with pushing the DNR to ask federal authorities to redesignate eight counties, including metropolitan Milwaukee, as no longer violating federal standards for ozone pollution.

The request could help companies avoid spending more on pollution controls.

There had been pressure from environmentalists who wanted to see more efforts to cut ozone levels.

“We were convinced it was because of the governor’s intercession,” said Manley, Wisconsin Manufacturer & Commerce’s environmental policy director.

But Black said Wisconsin Manufacturer & Commerce and other business groups want the governor in charge because it’s easier to exert influence and steer campaign contributions. Manley rejected that charge.

Doyle has exerted more control over the DNR than previous governors, through his appointments and strong hand in environmental matters.

Doyle would sign bill

Frank’s ascension sparked interest in taking back the power from the governor.

On Oct. 30, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted to return control to the board by January 2011 — meaning Doyle would not lose his authority during this term.

The Republican-controlled Assembly Natural Resources Committee, where the bill has stalled in the past, voted Dec. 19 to give the power to the board immediately.

“I think that when Matt Frank was appointed secretary, we weren’t sure that it should have happened that way,” said committee chairman Rep. Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford).

Frank took over for Hassett, a former attorney in private practice and avid outdoorsman. Hassett resigned, but there is speculation that he was either pushed out or had tired of meddling from Doyle’s office.

At the time of his departure, Hassett said he had grown weary of the pace and the ceremonial aspects of being a DNR secretary.

But Friday he elaborated by saying, “with any agency, and like the DNR particularly, there is always the potential for friction between the secretary and the governor’s office.

“An independent board would provide some insulation — and it probably would have in my case.”

Doyle spokesman Matt Canter said the governor has long asserted that Hassett wasn’t pushed out.

Gunderson and others describe Frank, an attorney who spent much of his career in the Justice Department, as a quick study who has made efforts to reach out to various constituencies. “But with no background in conservation, that doesn’t help anyone,” Gunderson said.

Doyle’s fervor to change the law appears to have waned since he has become governor.

As attorney general he said, “I see this as a wholesale attack on the way we protect the environment. I think we’re playing with fire here.”

As governor, Doyle has said he will sign the legislation if it gets to his desk — but he has never championed it.

Christine Thomas, the chairwoman of the Natural Resources Board and dean of the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, has a unique perspective on the issue. She wrote her 269-page dissertation in 1989 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the role of the board in environmental decision- making.

“My personal opinion is that the whole process would work better if the secretary was supervised by the board,” Thomas said.

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