MADISON - Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton today testified in support of Senate Bill 113 in the Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry, and Natural Resources. The bill restores the appointment authority of the Department of Natural Resources to the Natural Resources Board.
Below is her testimony:
“Let me make it clear from my opening sentence that my position in support of SB 113 is not an implicit criticism of Secretary Matt Frank, of DNR leadership, nor of DNR employees’ work. I have tremendous respect for them all.
But this bill comes back every year precisely because we insist on the deep public value of their work and we want every reason to trust that, in every instance, they advance their best recommendations for stewardship of our state’s natural resources, that their decisions are data-driven by trustworthy data.
This bill comes back every year because Governor Thompson secured the Secretary of the DNR as a gubernatorial political appointment without a public hearing, without giving every citizen’s legislative representative the opportunity to do her work properly: to inform the public about the implications of that move and weigh its cost to us.
The DNR’s first incarnation was in the Wisconsin Conservation Commission in 1926, whose creation was a visionary act by the legislature “to provide an adequate and flexible system for the protection, development and use of forests, fish and game, lakes streams, plant life, flowers and other outdoor resources in the State of Wisconsin.” Aldo Leopold was an early member.
Today, with global climate change a reality, as we consider what must be done to increase our energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the change already afoot, more than ever we need a non-partisan, independent DNR guided by the smartest citizen board Wisconsin can provide.
As Milwaukee explores how it will become the world’s center for fresh water research and technology; as scientists gather in a few weeks in Superior to explore cutting-edge technology that will turn indigenous plants into fuel sources; as our manufacturing sector innovates to create jobs and products to meet the demands of a green economy, their success and credibility is profoundly attached to the integrity of the DNR.
Politicization doesn’t just give the governor power to name the agency secretary, but also the deputy and an executive assistant and all six division administrators. They all owe their jobs to the governor. With every change in political leadership, a state’s priorities shift. Sometimes those changes reflect different values underlying the agenda.
Government civil service workers represent a body of always deepening expertise that endures the shifting winds of politics. We count on their work to be driven always by that sense of public accountability. They provide ballast to the rhetoric that swirls in the rotunda; they ground stewardship of water and air and all natural resources in democratic principles to anchor our work in the public interest.
Disruption with every change in administration affects continuity of policy and the possibility of building a strong staff through merit and attracting the best talent. It is our responsibility to reestablish a sturdy institutional framework that will ensure DNR staff and employees are never pressured to compromise the public good and the integrity of the agency.
Future governors will thank you for doing this. Tommy Thompson owes his bragging rights for the Nelson Knowles Stewardship Program that passed while he was at the helm to the then-independent DNR secretary Carroll “Buzz” Besadny. Thompson was initially opposed to the idea, but Buzz provided detailed research to the legislature, made them fluent in data-driven arguments that demonstrated the benefits to the state and the governor finally had to agree.
There is no way to isolate the DNR from political pressures, but when they wade into the fray –on issues around hunting and fishing and mining and ground water and triple-hulled barges etc.—we want complete confidence that the decisions that ensue are made by experts using the best data with full accountability, not to a single person to whom they owe their job, but to the people of Wisconsin, whose lives and livelihoods depend on it.”
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