PROFILE SUBJECT: Todd Ambs
TITLE: Administrator, Division of Water Programs, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, since 2003.
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Nov. 28, 1958, Jackson, Mich.
EDUCATION: Bachelor of Arts, political science with speech and history emphasis, Eastern Michigan University, 1980.
OTHER JOBS: 25-year career in public policy work for six government agencies and seven non-profits, as well as some campaign positions. Worked for nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C., from 1980-82, and in the state of Michigan from 1982-84. Served as spokesman for Ohio's Public Utility Commission from 1984-86. Served as communications head for Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste's campaign in 1986, and served as spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources from 1987-90. Served as deputy campaign director for Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher in 1990, and as his policy director from 1991-94. Worked for Rivers Unlimited in Ohio from 1994-96. Senior policy analyst for then-Wisconsin Attorney General Jim Doyle, 1997-98. Served as executive director for the River Alliance of Wisconsin from 1998-2003.
FAMILY: Single
STAFF: Supervises 640 in the water division
OFFICE ADDRESS, TELEPHONES: 101 South Webster St., Madison 53702, (608) 264-6278.
Todd Ambs' father was a longtime teachers' union organizer before he became a school district administrator, allowing him to see down both sides of the negotiating table.
"There are no permanent friends and there are no permanent enemies," Ambs, the state's top water official, says of the lessons learned from his late father.
From his grandfather, also a former parks superintendent, Ambs learned how to prune bushes and put a worm on a hook. "Because when he wasn't working in the woods, he was fishing," Ambs says of the man whose passion for the outdoors lives on in him.
Another life event: The night before Ambs was going to take those dreaded law school entrance exams, his father called with news that Todd's mother had a blood infection that exploded into a series of strokes that has left her disabled. Ambs rushed to the airport and shelved the law school exams - permanently. "Fate dictates where you wind up," he concludes during a recent interview.
Love brought Ambs to Wisconsin in 1996. That particular love is gone, but Ambs' heart is doing quite well these days. And we'll leave it at that.
A native of Jackson, Mich.,
Ambs' name became more widely known in Wisconsin when he served as the executive director of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. However, some might not known that Ambs' first job in Wisconsin was as a state employee, working as a senior policy analyst for then-Attorney General Jim Doyle from 1997-98. In 1998, he joined the River Alliance and stayed until 2003, when he was tapped by now-Gov. Doyle and Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Hassett to be -- as Hassett put it -- the state's top water boy. That'd be charming if things weren't always so controversial on the water job.
The elder Ambs, who ended his career as an administrator for the public school system in Jackson, Mich., later negotiated contracts with the unions he helped form. "He taught me a lot of good lessons that way. He recognized - and led by example - that there is definitely two sides to every issue. He was a mediator and an arbitrator. He taught me a lot of good lessons about how to comport yourself in life."
Just like his teacher-union-organizing father, Ambs has changed chairs at the negotiating table. Now he faces the environmentalists as a bureaucrat who realizes there is nothing permanent about relationships forged during policy debates.
When his mother was healthy, she worked as a substitute teacher and also in real estate. His sister is an administration assistant for the Jackson Public Schools in his hometown. The household encouraged social responsibility. "Other kids had cartoons on their fridge; we had a list of what we were boycotting," Ambs jokes of his childhood.
"I always knew I'd be engaged in public policy in one way," Ambs says. "And I've always had a passion for the outside."
In recent weeks, Ambs has been on the front lines at the Capitol, dealing with peeved lawmakers on the pier issue. It started with Act 118 - the so-called Job Creation Act that also put into the statutes the DNR's pier planner and called for the agency to write act-conforming rules. The intent is to standardize pier size and prevent future construction of piers with decks the size of a single-family house. The DNR says these huge piers are harming the fish habitat and aquatic plant life and says they're likely in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine, which mandates the public's right to access the state's waters.
The DNR, with Doyle's backing, has completed the latest version of its pier rules, arguing it has fulfilled the Legislature's mandate to regulate future pier size while offering 99 percent of the state's existing piers a free pass.
The major sticking point between the agency and Republican legislative leaders is the category of existing piers with loading docks larger than 200 square feet -- and that includes an estimated 1 percent with very large decks in existence before Act 118 took effect in February 2004. The DNR, which strongly objects to charges it wants to apply rules retroactively, wants to give the owners of these larger piers three years to come into compliance. Republican leadership says applying the rules ‘retroactively’ to piers in place before Act 118 took effect is unfair.
Another point of contention is the number of boat slips allowed per property. Assembly Bill 850, recently passed by the Assembly, seeks to ease the boat slip restrictions sought by the DNR as well as grandfather in more of the existing piers with larger loading platforms.
At the DNR, Ambs attempts to bring in his outside world experience to his government job. He knows firsthand the pressure points and the concerns of "average folks who want to protect the resources.
"My job was to advocate for rivers. Period. That's not the hat I wear anymore," he says of switching from the River Alliance to the DNR.
Ambs says Wisconsin handles its resources the right way. "We treat the waters as if they belong to everyone," he says, noting the constitution emphasizes it. "We have tremendous water resources in the state. Because it belongs to everybody, we have a lot of
competing desires and wants for what people want to do with that water. And lucky us (DNR),
we get to break the ties. We figure out where the balance is."
And his guide for balancing remain lessons learned from his father. Those include realizing there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies - especially in the public policy world. An issue that separates groups may unite them in the next. "And that credibility is deemed by the thimbleful and not by the bucket." That means, Ambs says, following through on all commitments.
This isn't the first time Ambs has switched chairs at the table. Only 47, Ambs has worked in three states and the District of Columbia for seven nonprofits and six state agencies - as well as a few key campaign jobs. Ambs started his diverse career path after his 1980 graduation from Eastern Michigan University with a bachelor of arts in political science with a speech and history emphasis. "I charged off to Washington, D.C. with my poli-sci degree to take on the world," he says with a laugh.
That lasted a couple of years before he moved back to Michigan in 1982 to continue his work with nonprofits. He stayed there for two years. And in 1984, he moved near Cleveland, where he landed his first state government job - as the spokesman for the Ohio Public Utility Commission.
Being the
political junkie that he is, he ended up doing communications for the 1986 reelection campaign for the last Democratic governor to serve in Ohio -- Richard Celeste. After that, he served as the spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources until 1990, when he returned to the campaign trail as deputy campaign director on behalf of Democratic Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher; Fisher won by 800 votes. Ambs joined his staff as his policy director from 1991-94. After the Republican landslide victories in 1994, Ambs worked for
Rivers Unlimited in Ohio from 1994-96 before he ended up in Wisconsin.
Ambs had gotten to know Doyle through a national attorneys general group during his years with Ohio's AG Fisher. So when he landed in Wisconsin, he contacted Doyle and learned of an opening on his staff. He applied for the classified position and got it. "And then I was given the job opening for the
executive director of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. I certainly have a passion for the environment and water issues in particular," he recalls. "So I went back to the nonprofit and did that for four years until 2003."
After winning the 2002 gubernatorial election, Doyle asked Ambs to serve on his transition committee, helping to assess the DNR and top agency appointments "Through that process, I frankly became much more intrigued of going back into government."
Madison attorney Scott Hassett was selected as secretary; Hassett in turn selected Ambs, who accepted the job of supervising 640 staffers in the water division.
"We have the broadest scope of any water division in the country."
The division is responsible for anything water -- including drinking water, nonpoint pollution rules, habitats and more. "
So, basically, if it is wet we have something to do with it."
Besides the pier issue, another big one that kept Ambs occupied since joining the agency was shoreline development. Those rules dealt with what happens on the land right next to the water. Another giant issue on Ambs' plate is the agreement involving eight states and two Canadian provinces to protect the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin. Signed on Dec. 12 by the governors and Canadian leaders, the agreement is to attempt to ward off large-scale water diversion out of the basin. "It is a very big deal," says Ambs, who also represents the state on several Great Lakes issue panels. "Nobody has ever tried to do this on this scale."
Four years in the making, the rules next must be approved by the eight Legislatures, Congress and two Canadian provinces. There also is bipartisan support for the rules in the Wisconsin Legislature, Ambs says.
Still, critics contend the rules are written to actually allow for diversions - such as into Waukesha; critics fear that will lead to even more sprawl and loss of Great Lakes basin water. Ambs says the deal will likely still be a discussion topic 50 years from now.
Most days, Ambs says he likes his job. "I can't say I enjoy it every day, but I feel like it is important that I am there every day," he says, adding that seeing the DNR's field staff in action ``is some of the most rewarding time.''
Adds Ambs:
"We're one of the few states left that has all the resources left in one agency. And I think that's the best model."
When he's not the ``water boy'' at DNR, Ambs is liable to be on the water - fishing, paddling and camping on the shore along any of Wisconsin's rivers. In addition to the state's plentiful water resources, Ambs notes Wisconsin's fine selection of beers. "Life is too short, and there is way too much beer to drink,'' he says.
