Has NY’s DEC commissioner gone to ground?
I interviewed state Conservation commissioner Joe Martens on Friday in Moriah, where he spoke about flooding in the region, the effort to inspect dams, and concerns about backcountry infrastructure damaged by the spring weather.
But the Times-Union’s Brian Nearing says Martens is declining to sit down for more measured and three-dimensional conversations about the DEC and its handling of issues such as hydro-fracking, state land purchases and staffing levels.
DEC spokesman Michael Bopp today told the Times Union that Martens, who was appointed to the post and approved by the Senate last month, has “pulled back” from interview requests because the short-staffed department has too much important work to do.
As Nearing notes, Martens did appear last month on the public radio program The Capital Pressroom, so it’s not like he’s been invisible…
Tags: politics
As Air Force public affairs officers (I am a retired such officer) learned long ago, to hide from public scrutiny, i.e., the media, implies that the individual has something to hide, and is not being open and candid.
maybe Martens is just overwhelmed, maybe in over his head, in his new position and needs some time to get himself competent to handle a free ranging interview.
In over his head, then get out of the kitchen.