LITTLE ROCK — A Little Rock lawyer said Wednesday that he’s asking a circuit court to declare that the state Game and Fish Commission must obey the state Freedom of Information Act and the state Administrative Procedures Act.
Sheffield Nelson, a former chairman of the commission, announced at a news conference that he would amend his lawsuit against the commission to seek such declarations in light of actions by members of the commission in the past two weeks.
In one of those actions, a commission committee recommended a proposal to draft the commission’s own version of state rules governing public access to commission information, a version under which less information would be available to the public. That version was shelved after outcries from the public and rebukes to the commission by Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.
In the other action, a member of the eight-member commission declined to say whether he thought the commission was subject to the Administrative Procedures Act, which prescribes how state agencies must propose rules, submit them for public comment for a time,and then amend the proposals, or adopt or reject them.
Nelson’s lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court contends that the commission violated the Administrative Procedures Act by not making proposed rule changes public before enacting them in a June restructuring.
Nelson said he amended his complaint to expedite the case and because he worries that the commission will resurrect its proposal to create its own freedom of information policy.
Commissioner Rick Watkins said the commission has no intention of resurrecting the proposal.
“It is dead as a doornail. We have no intention of reconsidering it,” he said.
Nelson also called for the resignation of commissioners Craig Campbell, Emon Mahony and Watkins, all of whom he has accused of engineering the revised committee system so they may control the commission’s key decisions, an accusation they have characterized as laughable.
“Nobody will ever trust them on anything, and those people are just there damaging the credibility of the Game and Fish Commission, and if they stay I think they endanger Amendment 35 [which authorized the independent status of the commission],” Nelson said. He said he would oppose any proposal to repeal Amendment 35.
Campbell, Mahony and Watkins dismissed Nelson’s calls for their resignations.
“My only comment ... is that I think it is probably too late for rabies shots to help him,” Campbell said.
Mahony said,” I think he needs to get a life. He’s obviously a disgruntled former commissioner who can’t leave the commission alone.”
Watkins said, “I have no intention of resigning, and Sheffield Nelson is in no position to call for anything from anybody.”
He added that he has extended “a humble apology” to Beebe and McDaniel.
Earlier Wednesday, the commission’s personnel committee decided to extend its Oct. 31 deadline to Nov. 15 for executive director applicants to submit their applications.
The commission posted the opening on its website on Oct. 5, according to commission records.
The personnel committee’s action came after Assistant Director Scott Henderson said many agencies change directors with the election of a new governor.
He also said he wasn’t sure how widely a commission letter sent to directors and assistant directors of similar agencies in southeastern states was distributed.
“It became apparent to me that there might be a much wider pool of applications after this election,” Henderson said.
The commission has instructed that applications be submitted to Erwin and Co. in Little Rock and “any applications received by Erwin and Co. are to remain sealed until after the close of the application period and the screening process begins in November,” according to commission Freedom of Information Act coordinator Diane R. Boone.
As of Monday, the commission had not received an application or nomination for the director position, and a representative of Erwin and Co. confirmed that it has received no applications or nominations electronically, though it has received two envelopes, “which in accordance with the written application/selection process will remain unopened until after the close of the application period,” Boone wrote in response to a public records request from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The request sought copies of any applications and/ or nominations for director since June 1.
Ralph Meeker Jr., a private lands biologist for the commission in Fort Smith, submitted a resume and application in an Aug. 1 letter to Mahony, according to records obtained earlier this month under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Some lawmakers have suggested that the commission hire interim director Loren Hitchcock as permanent director. But Hitchcock said in an interview that he hasn’t decided whether he’ll apply.
The commission plans to ask lawmakers next year to increase the director’s $123,546-a-year salary to $150,000 in fiscal 2012 and raise the deputy director’s salary of $100,589 to $115,000.
Watkins said in an interview that he believes that the Freedom of Information Act allows the commission to not release copies of applications for its director’s job until it opens them after the applications deadline.
“We look at it kind of like a sealed-bid process. We are trying to encourage as many applications as possible,” he said.
“We didn’t want them to trickle out piecemeal,” said Watkins. “If a potential applicant were to learn a super applicant had applied, they may be less likely to send in their applications.
“It always has been our practice to comport with the FOI, and it is our intention to always comport with FOI to the letter,” he said.
Nelson said an interview that he doesn’t believe that the Freedom of Information Act allows the commission to treat the applications like sealed bids.
“I would say it’s questionable,” he said.
Other state agencies, such as the Arkansas Lottery Commission, have released copies of applicants for their top jobs upon the newspaper’s request under the Freedom of Information Act.
During the personnel committee meeting, Campbell said he has called directors of the state wildlife agencies in Arkansas’ six neighboring states and asked them to share information about the job with their subordinates.
Watkins said he sent letters about the director position to conservation organizations and to wildlife agencies in 50 states.
He said he plans to send out another letter and follow up with the directors of the wildlife agencies in 16 states in the southeast region to ask them to apply or ask others to apply.
If he gets a sense that they need more time to submit an application, Watkins said, he would ask the commission to further extend the applications deadline.
Watkins said he would send letters seeking applicants to the Arkansas Parks and Tourism Commission, Forestry Commission, Soil and Water Commission, Environmental Quality Department, Department of Finance and Administration, and to Gov. Mike Beebe’s chief of staff, Morril Harriman.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/28/2010