Let governors keep appointing DNR secretaries

I read with interest your editorial Jan. 31 concerning the appointment of the Department of Natural Resources secretary by the governor. Few people enjoy our outdoors as much as I do, so I recognize the need to protect our environment. In addition, as a builder, last year I built one of the first homes that qualified as a “Green Built” home in Rock County. I would like my grandson to enjoy our world as much as I have been able to enjoy.

However, the answer is not to have the DNR secretary appointed by a board.

I will be installed as president of the Wisconsin Builders Association this weekend. The WBA was in favor of the change in 1995 for the governor to appoint the DNR secretary and remains so today. We believe this authority should be with the governor regardless of party or who the occupant of that office might be because of one major issue: Accountability.

The WBA believes government must be responsive and accountable to the citizens of this state, and we believe the cabinet form of government is the model that best accomplishes this important goal. We therefore support the governor to appoint, with the consent of the state Senate, the DNR secretary because making the position accountable to the oversight of elected officials will ensure that agency decision-making reflects the will of the people.

The governor’s ability to appoint the DNR secretary has served our state well the last 14 years, and we should not give back to a board that is not directly accountable to the citizens of Wisconsin the right to pick the head of one of the most powerful state agencies in Wisconsin. The WBA does not believe there is anything unique about the DNR’s regulatory functions that should preclude the agency’s secretary from being appointed by the governor.

The DNR of Wisconsin regulates much more than our forests, parks and lakes for our sports and outdoor enthusiasts. It also regulates our water, air and many factors that go into regulation of a construction site. We need a DNR that is responsive and accountable to not only the sports enthusiasts of this state but the businesses that the department regulates.

Builders, sports enthusiasts, environmentalists and members of both political parties agree that we must do whatever we can to encourage Wisconsin-based businesses to grow and also recruit new businesses to locate to our great state. A DNR secretary who is accountable to the governor gives Wisconsin the best opportunity to keep our environment clean in addition to helping to streamline the permitting process and get our economy going again by creating good-paying jobs.

While I’m quite certain that The Janesville Gazette does not intend, by advocating this change, to affect the ability to attract businesses and jobs to our state, this would occur. This happened in the past, and it would again in the future.

Doug Scott can be reached at Amwood Homes Inc.,
2017 N. Harmony Town Hall Road
Janesville, WI 53546
(608) 756-2989;
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