By Robb Miller, Fmr. Wildlife Advisor To Governors Rendell, Wolf

This guest easy first appeared in the York Daily Record September 1, 2021--

It was an honor to be chosen as Gov. Tom Wolf’s advisor for hunting, fishing and conservation in 2015. One of my primary duties was to help the administration fill board vacancies at the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Pennsylvania Game Commission. I had lots of help.

The governor appointed 20 incredible volunteer members to his Advisory Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation who shared my belief that a fair and transparent process of recruiting and screening applicants would produce an excellent short list for the governor.

In Pennsylvania, governors are required by law (per Title 30 Fish and Title 34 Game) to nominate individuals to serve on the commissions; the state Senate’s duty is to confirm that choice by majority vote.

Former Gov. Tom Ridge created the first advisory council, doing so to bring a level of fairness to a selection process that, for decades, had been fraught with horse-trading between senators and the sitting governor. Board vacancies were frequently filled through the proverbial "good ole boy network," with the public having little knowledge of how or when a seat would be filled.

As can be expected, this system produced boards that, with few exceptions, were comprised of older white men who weren’t necessarily appointed for their wildlife or aquatic resource science acumen.

Understandably, our wildlife agencies suffered. How could they thrive when their boards didn’t properly represent a rapidly changing demographic?

Hunters were aging out, new recruits to the activity dried up, and while more single moms were taking up fishing with their kids, the board charged with representing anglers didn’t recognize the change in a timely manner.

To my knowledge, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has had only three women ever to serve on its board. The agency was created in 1866.

No person of African-American descent has ever served, nor have any Hispanics, a sad fact when one considers how steeped the fishing tradition is within their culture.

And the Pennsylvania Game Commission has suffered the same fate. Created in 1895, only two women have ever served.

To their combined credit, Gov. Wolf nominated, and the Senate confirmed the second woman in 2019, but never have we had a commissioner of African-American, Hispanic or Asian descent on either board.

While the current advisory council has done an admirable job of recruiting and advancing qualified minorities, our current governor has managed to nominate just one.

With over seven years in office, his track record seems incongruent with the noble goals his administration framed, as described by Francis Wolf in a Harrisburg Patriot-News guest column (March 21, 2019).

Of her husband she said,  "Women need strong leaders to stand with them as they continue to seek equality at all levels....Gov. Tom Wolf has made advancing opportunities for women a central goal of his administration."

The good news for Gov. Wolf is that there is still time to polish his legacy. Six minority candidates are currently awaiting word about whether they'll receive his nomination.

Today, a total of nine seats are either vacant or will become vacant within the next few months; five on the PGC’s board and four on the PFBC’s board. Five of these seats expired on the same day, July 17th. The looming crisis we face — in short order, the boards won't have a quorum of members and won’t be able to conduct business.

This isn't "government that works." The backlog of pending nominations that have accumulated over the last 15 months borders on negligence and it's not all the governor's fault.

The Senate, which is trying to establish sole ownership of both the nomination and confirmation process, bears equal responsibility for trying to muscle its candidates through for political gain.

I can only imagine the conversation — “We’ll give you your guy if you nominate these two people; if you don’t give me my guy, I’ll gum up the process and won't allow any confirmation votes to come to the floor.”

And so, history repeats itself. If the governor gives in, he’ll be abdicating his authority to nominate, allowing the Senate to effectuate both functions. And a very bad precedent is being set, one the next governor, regardless of party, will struggle to reverse.

The Tom Wolf I know won’t allow this to happen, but I suspect he’s been so distracted by current events that he’s entrusted these duties to his Office of Boards and Commissions, where they've been smoldering for over a year.

How could this process be reformed? Provide the sitting governor with the sole authority to appoint commissioners after they've been recruited and screened by the advisory council.

This would greatly reduce political meddling into the affairs of the commissions, making them more independent.

Repealing the four-year term and reverting back to a single eight-year term would ensure that a future anti-gun or anti-hunting governor couldn't stack the board with like-minded commissioners.

The governor should be personally vested in choosing nominees versus allowing mid-level staff to assume the role. The five seats that expired in July will produce vacancies in January unless the governor and Senate act.

Robb Miller, of Marysville, Perry County served as Gov. Wolf's Advisor for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation, from 2015 until his retirement in April. Prior to that, he served in the same position in the Rendell administration.

Related Article:

-- DCNR: Derek Eberly Appointed New Director Of Governor’s Advisory Council For Hunting, Fishing & Conservation

[Posted: September 1, 2021]

9/6/2021