CPW's Director Davis apologizes to legislators, asks for feedback on wolves. Meantime CPW Commissioners shut down citizen feedback: they prevented me from finishing my testimony.
CPW's Jeff Davis's email to legislators
I got the email a bit back from my state senator (Pelton--you'll see him among a series of other state lawmakers on the "To" field of the email I attached as a screenshot.
Since it relates to the post that will follow, I wanted to make sure that CPW, through Mr. Davis and via my state legislator, had a chance to have their side of things put out there.
I want you to take special note of the following quote (and also please note that the email is dated 1/5):
"My question in this communication is whether you have additional items that you would like me to carry into our After Action Review process? If you have the time and interest, it would be great to hear your concerns so that we can ensure they are part of our process in the next week."
Perhaps Mr. Davis and CPW are interested in feedback, but not feedback from citizens or not feedback that they might find challenging.
More in post 2.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commissioners do not like criticism. They don’t like dissent and will not tolerate it.
I wrote earlier about how I intended to speak up at the Jan 10th CPW Commissioners meeting and essentially echo my open letter.
I did testify. Well, let me amend that. I started to testify until I was cut off.
I wasn't profane. I didn't lob personal insults. I didn't disparage anything but CPW's choices. And I was cut off in the middle of my comment.
I am working now to get the official recording and some information to share with you about the situation.
I contacted my senator, Senator Pelton**, and he put me in touch with the Department of Natural Resources' (the department overseeing CPW) legislative liaison.
I have also emailed out to the CPW meeting administrative person as well as Mr. Dan Gibbs (the head of the Department of Natural Resources).
In both cases, I have asked for a copy of the policy regarding public comment, regarding the rules for board members (when and how they can interrupt comment), a list of what rules I broke in my testimony, and an audio recording of my testimony.
Thus far I have not gotten any response to my requests. CPW did finally post the recordings of the meeting which I link to below. My testimony begins at about the 3:07:45 mark. For convenience's sake, a friend excerpted the part where I testified and that is linked second below.
As you can see prior to being cut off, my comments began to agitate Commissioner May. I think it's also apparent that he didn't like it when I pressed him to explain what rule I had broken or why my comments were out of order.
For my part, I cannot make my case about what CPW did here without mentioning Governor Polis and the First Gentleman. This is integral to it, because my point here is not about them (and I made no personal insults about either). My point here is about how CPW chose to give them lots of press attention and a seat at the event while those that get directly affected were not told of anything.
It is that disparate treatment by a state agency that I find (among other things which I mention in my testimony) repugnant.
If the CPW commissioners, or Commissioner May in particular find criticism about their policies or actions difficult to hear, I'm sorry. I'm sure no one likes to hear criticism.
But, and this echoes what I told a journalist once, when you work in the public and, in particular, when you work for the government your actions are held to scrutiny and comment by the public. My comments were reasonable and not phrased in an insulting way. If you cannot handle that, find another job.
I will continue to press the agency for a response. I will share when I get one.
I also have some feelers out there to other people to both try and publicize this and to also see what other options I have. I do not take shutting down public comment lightly and I do not intend to go away quietly.
I think I will also make a point of signing up to testify again, and spend my time then talking about the importance of people speaking up to the government and the government not quashing dissent.
**I would like to express my gratitude to Senator Pelton for his support and for his standing up to CPW on this issue.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f_VksqbO2chw2_NiP4cp3id8560PC9HC/view?usp=sharing
Related:
Rachel Gabel's article on the meeting I was booted from.
Another perspective, and more context on the meeting I reference above.
https://www.thefencepost.com/news/cpw-criticized-for-keeping-wolf-releases-from-commission-members-and-others/