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55 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, April 16, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend March 19, 2004 Esler Governor yanks F&W chairman Kulongoski replaces three on commission; ousted leader fumes at abruptness By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Gov. Ted Kulongoski has nominated three new faces to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, replacing almost half the commission and abruptly removing the current chairman, who called the process "disrespectful." "This cheapens my whole sense of what we worked on," outgoing Chairman John Esler of Portland said Thursday. "I should have treated this (position) with the same level of disrespect as the governor does." Astoria marine-supply businessman Jon Englund, Portland attorney Ken "Skip" Klarquist and Dan Edge, the head of Oregon State University’s fish and wildlife management programs, all face Oregon Senate confirmation hearings next month and could be installed as early as the commission’s April 16 meeting. The seven-member commission sets state fish and wildlife policies and oversees the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Leaving are Logsden commercial fisherman Jeff Feldner and Portland attorney Paul McCracken. Both of their second four-year terms on the commission had expired. Advertisement A need to keep a "coastal presence" on the commission with Englund and a desire to reforge research ties between OSU and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife with Edge meant there was no room for Esler, said Jim Myron, the governor’s natural-resource adviser. "We decided we needed (Esler’s) slot for a coastal representative," Myron said. Commissioners are appointed to four-year terms representing each of Oregon’s five congressional districts, with at-large members for each side of the Cascades. Edge, of Corvallis, was nominated for the Western Oregon at-large seat, leaving only Esler’s seat open for Englund, Myron said. Esler, whose first full term expired in November, was up for reappointment in January by the Senate, which did not act on his and several other nominations. Under Oregon statute, commissioners can continue on a second term even without Senate confirmation until the governor appoints someone else for that post. Myron said there was a belief that Esler would face opposition again this spring. "(Esler) was an excellent fish and wildlife commissioner and an excellent chair," Myron said. "But it was unlikely that we would have been able to get John appointed again." Myron said the governor might find some other board or commission for Esler, a six-year fish and wildlife commissioner who was appointed chairman by former Gov. John Kitzhaber three years ago. Esler said he will not accept another appointment. "I don’t need a booby prize," said Esler, a Portland Gas and Electric project manager. "Find some political contributor to his campaign who needs a favor." Myron declined to comment on Esler’s views. State Sen. Jason Atkinson, a Jacksonville Republican, said Esler’s failure to get re-appointed in January was in part because of his sometimes controversial stands on some fish and wildlife issues and because of a struggle with a slate of controversial Kulongoski appointees. Esler had been criticized for questioning commercial gillnetting on the Columbia River, supporting the future of wolf management in Oregon and for supporting a ban on fall bait-fishing along parts of the Rogue River. "There was a lot of heartburn about him in the Republican Senate caucus (during the January confirmations), but there was a tremendous amount of bad faith between the governor and Senate Republicans during the last round," Atkinson said. "So anyone controversial was pulled." The fish and wildlife commission is the latest such commission or board to see wholesale leadership changes. The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the state Board of Forestry and the state Board of Higher Education appointments by Kulongoski all drew some Senate criticism. If confirmed, the changes mean Jacksonville attorney Don Denman’s seven years on the commission leave him the most tenured. But Myron said Denman was not a candidate for the new chairmanship, in part because, Denman, like Esler, has been serving unconfirmed since 2001. If appointed, the new commissioners will jump into a hotbed of issues ranging from how to manage Oregon’s dwindling black-tailed deer herds, development of a plan to manage wolves once they migrate into Oregon, the future of Oregon’s fish hatcheries and management of the state’s wild salmon. Pendleton attorney Henry Lorenzen, a former fish and wildlife commissioner who recently was a Kulongoski appointment to the state Board of Higher Education, said the new commissioners "can get up to speed fairly quickly" on the issues, provided they work hard. "Obviously, when commissioners step in new, you don’t have the institutional memory," Lorenzen said Thursday. "But I think it’s wise to rotate people out after two terms." With Esler leaving and Denman not considered for the chairmanship, that leaves either Carter Kerns, a first-year commissioner, or second-year commissioners Zane Smith of Springfield and Marla Rae of Salem to fill the position. Smith is a former Forest Service official overseeing fish and wildlife programs, and Rae used to work for Kulongoski when he was Oregon’s attorney general. Kulongoski, however, could install a new appointee as chairperson like he did with former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt on the board of higher education. No decision on a new chairperson was made, Myron said, but one is expected before the commission’s April 16 meeting. The commissioners were on a field tour Thursday near Gold Beach and unavailable for comment. The commission meets today in Gold Beach. Esler said he purposefully skipped today’s commission meeting, which would have been his last. "I’m not going to go down there so people can pat me on the head like an old dog that’s about to be taken out and shot," Esler said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times