[BCNnet] possible (short term?) change at IDNR by gov

[casresearch at comcast.net]

>From Dale Bowman's Outdoor column today; wonder if State Senators can or will stop this, or if it'll just be a three-week change, until Quinn takes over. 



Alan Anderson, casresearch at comcast.net , Des Plaines, Cook Co. 


http://www.suntimes.com/sports/outdoors/1382841,CST-SPT-bowman18.article 

Blagojevich a menace to the end 
Exiting governor leaves us with Granberg as IDNR director 

January 18, 2009 
BY DALE BOWMAN Staff Reporter 

Even on his way out, Gov. Blagojevich has it in for Illinois outdoors. 



In a stunning move late Friday, Blagojevich named former Downstate legislator Kurt Granberg as director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. 



''I can't believe it,'' said a top outdoor professional who called with the news. 



''It sounds like Burris all over,'' an IDNR official said late Friday. ''But their resumes are far different.'' 



At least Roland Burris had a solid political resume before being named to the U.S. Senate in a similarly sneaky maneuver by Blagojevich. 





By contrast, Granberg has no particular qualifications to head the IDNR. 

Late on Fridays is traditionally when such bad news is spread or sneaky maneuvers announced. 



We can only hope Granberg's appointment will receive a tough review and not just meet automatic approval by the Illinois Senate. A source said Granberg was already checking with state senators to see if he could pass muster. 

''I just don't get it,'' the IDNR official said. ''What? Is it going to hold it for three weeks?'' 

It's widely expected that Blagojevich will be impeached by the Illinois Senate by next month. 



Granberg, a former Democratic legislator from Carlyle, was rumored for more than a year to be next to head the IDNR. 

Rich Miller at The Capitol Fax Blog reported late Friday that the $133,000-a-year post would be for a term set to end January 2011 and that ''Granberg has served in the House of Representatives since 1987 and was assistant majority leader under Speaker Michael Madigan. He resigned his seat before the House voted Jan. 9 to impeach Blagojevich.'' 

Sam Flood, a longtime Democratic power in Washington County, has been the IDNR's acting director for three years, filling in when Blago's first IDNR director, Joel Brunsvold, stepped down. 



Blagojevich has stuck it to Illinois outdoors and those concerned with it in a multitude of ways. His ''sweeping'' of special funds from the IDNR may end up costing the state millions of dollars in federal funding by the end of the month. 



He has gutted the personnel department, roughly a quarter of the staff is gone, many people with decades of institutional knowledge. 



Eleven parks were threatened to be closed late last year, seven of them were shut on Dec. 1. Programs and basic maintenance of the parks and state sites have slipped as funding was sliced to the IDNR. 



The mere fact that Flood, who also had no particular qualifications to head the IDNR, was allowed to linger in limbo for three years showed the utter disdain in which Blagojevich held the supporters of Illinois outdoors. Flood at least was a loyal soldier doing his duty and filling in, we had hoped, until somebody truly qualified could fill the position. 

What made this particularly galling was that two Republican governors for the 12 years before Blagojevich had a professional running the IDNR and its predecessor, the Department of Conservation, namely Brent Manning. 



Our best hope is with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who at least has a long history of championing outdoor and environmental causes. 



Two days after Blagojevich was arrested and it looked like Quinn might quickly become governor, his senior policy adviser, Marc Miller, said Quinn would open the closed ''state parks and state historic sites immediately'' and that naming a director of the IDNR would be ''promptly reviewed.'' 



Instead, we get Blagojevich on his way out with one last thumb in the eye of those who love Illinois outdoors. 

May the Illinois Senate have the sense to stop the madness. 


  


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