I'd posted and updated over the last few weeks a long look inside the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - -
The experts including DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, GOP Governor Scott Walker who put her there to bring a "chamber of commerce mentality" to theenvironmental protection easy permitting agency and GOP Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald who has been similarly invaluable in cutting the agency budget, staff, mission, scientific standing, reputation for fairness and overall credibility are all on the record saying Stepp is doing a bang-up job, reports the Wisconsin State Journal in a long Sunday takeout.
It's an echo chamber complete with reflecting mirrors and state-paid PR staff, to boot!
Call me reassured!
Group hug!!
And also, no doubt!! are staff and the many state residents who live near the factory farms or sand mines she's helped expand and deregulate at the the same time! who are reading the big Sunday story and, while brewing their morning coffee don't have to debate anymore whether Stepp is happy, enriched, or the best person for the job and can now focus on another question:
Inside the WI DNR: poor morale, fear, despair over lost mission- - but hey, Bucky - - such good news today:
The experts including DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, GOP Governor Scott Walker who put her there to bring a "chamber of commerce mentality" to the
It's an echo chamber complete with reflecting mirrors and state-paid PR staff, to boot!
As DNR woes grow, former critic says she's its best protector
Waving off mounting signs that the agency’s enforcement of existing laws has faltered, top Republican leaders say they are focused of easing unneeded burdens on private companies. And they say they are unreservedly happy with Stepp.
For her part, Stepp insists she remains uniquely qualified to represent the agency before a Legislature that is skeptical of the way it protects the state’s air, water, wildlife and other natural resources.Also good to learn that Stepp, in addition to being the agency's best advocate, also believes she's grown as a person and a leader of the professional staff she's helped diminish!! - - reports the State Journal - -
“I am a far more enriched person than I ever could have imagined being at this time in my life,” Stepp said.- - so no easy feat!!- - as she would say in her inimitable writing style!!
Call me reassured!
Group hug!!
And also, no doubt!! are staff and the many state residents who live near the factory farms or sand mines she's helped expand and deregulate at the the same time! who are reading the big Sunday story and, while brewing their morning coffee don't have to debate anymore whether Stepp is happy, enriched, or the best person for the job and can now focus on another question:
The extra dark coffee today - - manure or mud?
This is hilarious: "I am a far more enriched person than I ever could have imagined being at this time in my life," Stepp said.
ReplyDeleteYeah, enriched to the tune of what? Over $120,000 a year plus expenses? And she gets a car too. Meanwhile her employees, the folks who are providing the experiences that "enrich her life", the people who actually cared enough to study and learn about the environment, seem to be leaving in droves for more friendly environs.
Good to know that DNR staff are able to provide you with the education you never bothered with and state taxpayers are giving you a salary you can live so well off of.
James, I've been reading this blog for years and have noticed that of late your posts have been veering into a very darkly comedic vein. I for one love it and hope you'll keep it up. If there was ever a time that called for sharp-edged sarcasm, this is it.
ReplyDeleteHigh praise, and thank you. It's the times we live in, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteAs someone said when I posted the item on Facebook, "I thought this was from the Onion."
Cathy is either so deluded or a complete liar. Both I guess. Morale is high, maybe for her and the inner circle, all over $100,000 a year. The rest of the employees she just said this week are McDonalds workers - she is figuring out how to get them rearranged to handle a big busload. Quality not real important, just make sure the customers, big business, gets a cheap meal.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind the annual pay cut and doubled-workload if she could just keep the bathrooms clean. She seems incapable of hiring a janitorial service that will stay. Even if readers hate all DNR employees they can probably agree that it isn't good for business to have employees running out to the local coffee shop to take a pee in a clean restroom.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's better than having one of her $100,000 cronies being escorted out to his car by Security.
ReplyDeleteI recall a story that she borrowed a shotgun at a shooting range (I use rifles). Doesn't the Secretary of DNR own her own guns? I know she didn't hunt before her "new job".
Most of us hunters know that DNR is doing a miserable job keep up habitat at public hunting lands - costs too much staff time and money.