DEC appointment remains a hot topic

When the NYS Conservation Council's (NYSCC) annual March on Albany takes place next Tuesday, March 13, it should prove to be more interesting than usual. The event, which invites both individual and organized sportsmen and women to the Capitol to meet with legislators, has an added attraction this year – the proposed appointment of Assemblyman Alexander Grannis (D-NYC) to the position of Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) commissioner. Grannis was one of Spitzer's choices for comptroller, but when that fell through, he switched to the DEC position.

Unfortunately, Grannis's three-decade Assembly record smacks of support for anti hunting and trapping and anti firearms ownership, and he's used these primarily urban environmental issues as his primary platforms. Of course, what would you expect from a long-term New York City politician? Now that fellow Big Apple urbanite and Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer has picked him to head DEC, while also supervising the state's management of our natural resources, who would be better qualified? Well, how about someone already in DEC?

Obviously, any appointee's qualifications and experience with the natural resource and conservation programs that fall under his or her stewardship weren't a priority in Spitzer's choice for DEC commish, because Grannis's interest and knowledge of these appear to be lacking. The conservation and wise use of our state's natural resources are equally as critical as a cleaner environment, especially in upstate.

Prior to the March on Albany, the NYSCC will host an All Conservation Organization Conference and luncheon on March 12 at which both Spitzer and Grannis have been invited to speak, the latter being asked to field questions from attendees. Both the current NYSCC president and vice-president have repeatedly said they were neither for nor against Grannis's appointment. Now, what signal does that send to both politicians? You can bet that they, especially Grannis, will tell their captive audience exactly what they want to hear, for isn't that what career politicians often do?

As the primary representative and lobbyist for the state's sportsmen and women, wouldn't it have made more sense for the NYSCC leaders to have flatly said that the NYSCC was not supporting the appointment, based on the obviously hostile-to-sportsmen record of the appointee? What I perceive Grannis telling the group will be that his legislative actions were based on what his NYC constituents wanted, and were not based on any personal agendas. He will then probably say that, as DEC commish, he will happily don an entirely different agenda hat, one that will be supportive of sportsmen and women and sound natural resource management. After all, we've heard the same jargon from several previous DEC commissioners, who then went on to run the department's natural resources divisions into the very ground they'd sworn to protect and manage.