NaplesNews.com

August 6, 2007

FWCC appointments stir controversy

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/aug/08/fwcc_appointments_stir_controversy/?breaking_news

by Charlie Whitehead

Gov. Charlie Crist has filled three open seats on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with a developer, an attorney and an engineer.

Southwest Florida environmentalists are disappointed a local candidate didn’t get the nod, but not as much as the Humane Society.

The national group criticized Crist’s appointment of “trophy hunters and developers” to the commission.

“Crist passed over recommendations from environmentalists and animal welfare organizations with his three choices this week,” the society said in a statement released Wednesday. “A member of Safari Club International, a trophy hunting industry group that advocates the competitive killing of rare species; a developer with a background as a trophy hunter and an attorney who represents real estate and development interests.”

It’s true that new appointee Ron Bergeron of Weston is a developer. The president and CEO of the Bergeron Family of Companies is also a rancher, mine owner and road builder.

But Bergeron was raised by his grandfather, who was a game warden in the Everglades. He founded the Bergeron Everglades Museum and Wildlife Foundation to promote Everglades education and protection and has contracted restoration work for the South Florida Water Management District.

He also included an article with his appointment application that showed a picture of him with what appears to be wolf- and bear-skin rugs.

Bergeron was recommended for the post by Attorney General Bill McCollum and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, as well as former South Florida Water Management District director Henry Dean and former Army Corps Col. Terry Rice.

Ken Wright is an Orlando attorney who helped George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida election battle. He was part of the Crist transition team, selected by the new governor to help address staffing and priorities for the FWCC. He was also recommended by Dean as well as Audubon of Florida chief lobbyist Charles Lee.

Wright is also chairman of the Florida Environmental Regulatory Commission. What bothers the Humane Society is his portrayal in media reports as a champion of growth and property rights.

Kathy Barco of Jacksonville was reappointed to serve a second term. She’s president of Barco-Duval Engineering, the firm her parents founded. She’s chair of the board of trustees for the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a conservative public-interest law firm.

Barco’s application also identifies her as a member of Safari Club International. The group’s stated mission is to protect the freedom to hunt and promote wildlife conservation. It isn’t the conservation part that bothers the Humane Society.

“This impacts a great number of animals in the state,” said Jennifer Hobgood, southeast regional coordinator for the Humane Society. “That includes hundreds of non-game species, yet we see traditional-type appointments to the commission.”

Pete Quasius, president of Audubon of Southwest Florida, said he has hopes the appointments aren’t the disaster some fear.

“The fact that they do other things for a living doesn’t mean they’re not going to be OK,” he said.

Quasius, like many other local environmentalists, had pushed longtime Lee Hyacinth Control District aquatic ecologist John Cassani, who’s been active in environmental causes for years, for one of the seats.

Andrew McElwaine, president of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, said he knows Barco, but only from her previous FWCC term.

“She is well-known,” he said. “Her company does do some wetland restoration, but mostly they build golf courses and other stuff that’s not so good for the environment.”

McElwaine said he doesn’t know much about the other two appointees. He was also disappointed Cassani didn’t get the nod.

“Nothing against the people who got appointed, it would be hard to match his qualifications,” he said.

Cassani says he will leave his hat in the ring for a seat that comes open in January 2008.