MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – The Wisconsin public lands’ board backtracked Tuesday, and voted 2-1 to stop barring staff members from working on issues that involve global warming.
Secretary of State Doug La Follette proposed a compromise in which the 9 staffers on the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands could still work on climate change matters — but not lobby for or against such policies in state government.
La Follette said part of the board’s work deals with land issues and timber harvests, and it makes sense that climate change would be involved in those matters.
The work ban was imposed in April, after GOP State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk learned that agency secretary Tia Nelson served on a state global warming task force a number of years ago.
Democrats and environmentalists called the move a “gag order” on any talk of global warming. They also called it an attack on Nelson, whose late father Gaylord Nelson is the founder of Earth Day.
Attorney General Brad Schimel cast the deciding vote for the compromise, saying it’s what he wanted in the first place.
Adamczyk voted no. He asked what would happen if Nelson worked on another global warming task force. Schimel and La Follette agreed it would not be allowed.
Nelson has stayed above the fray throughout the controversy, not commenting on the board’s actions. She refused comment again Tuesday.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
