OPERATION CODY- An undercover investigation into WA's commercial poaching

[Gamblin Guy]

Thought I'd share my comment on the article on the Yakima paper's website.  For context, another commenter had stated Anderson inherited many of the problems from his predecessor.

I agree that many of the problems stem from prior leadership and the merger of the Departments of Fisheries and Wildlife. When the agencies merged, Bern Shanks was director and resource-oriented; he implemented a decades-overdue Wild Salmon Policy that was perceived as a threat by the hatcheries juggernaut in WDFW, who orchestrated a spending scandal to cause his ouster. He was replaced by Koenings, a hatchery production outsider from Alaska who came in knowing that his predecessor had essentially been assassinated from within; he had no reason to trust anyone, and also no real concern for the resource - his first priority was JP Koenings. To protect the "throne", he stripped the field of resources and authority, centralizing everything in Olympia. As a result, WDFW has 900 employees in Olympia and 600 in the rest of the state (the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies once recommended the most efficient allocation of limited resources is 30% state office and 70% field); small wonder that morale sucks - the 50% of recommended field staffing levels extends to all areas of WDFW, while Olympia sits at 200%.

 Anderson inherited this situation but did not address it. WDFW needs a director who recognizes that most agency resources need to be directly deployed to managing the resource, not surrounding the throne with an exorbitant level of limited resources at the expense of the agency's responsibilities. WDFW has a prioritization problem, far more so than a funding problem. Signed, a non-disgruntled former employee.

You are spot on.  I once said that the director should be able to randomly pull any WDFW employee and ask them "In the last year, what have you done to benefit the fish and wildlife resources" and get a straight answer.  Olympia is so full of employees who direct, but don't do, that the agency is very inefficient.

The essence of state government right there.......

[Man Tracker]

So let me throw this out for discussion.  Is it time to get rid of the F/W Commission in favor of a Director appointed by the Governor?  Before you tar and feather me...the 1932 Initiative that formed the Dept. of Game was designed (in part) to help eliminate politics (mostly local) from management of game and sport fish.  The 1995 Initiative to re-instate the Commission was in part to keep statewide politics out of management.  I submit that neither have worked very well.  Fish and Wildlife management is extremely political (wolves anyone??).  Individual Commissioners have their own agendas (in many cases) that often are in conflict with staff recommendations.  And DFW is not a cabinet agency (nor is Parks), due to a Commission style system.  So the DFW Director does not attend Governor staff meetings unless specifically invited.  It is unfortunate, but I do not see DFW ever being on par with other state agencies (with Directors appointed by Governor) under the current system.  This makes it more difficult to battle for limited state general fund money.  I agree that in theory, the Commission style would provide extra checks and balances for the benefit of the resource (and sportsmen/women).  But neither the Commission nor the Governor have shown the basic courtesy of responding to U/C.  In the light of full disclosure, I'm not sure myself which system would be better.  But the current one seems very, very flawed.

[ucwarden]

I fully agree the system is broken when it comes to WDFW, and many of these ideas are great, but without the attention of the governor and the legislators, how do we change anything?

Everyone who has read my book, read the numerous newspaper and magazine articles etc. has said that the WDFW administration is way out of control, but I haven't seem a single change for the better.
We keep losing good officers (I have heard from two more who plan to leave WDFW within the next two months) and Crown Jewels (Cenci and company) stay in place.  As a matter of fact it sure appears that WDFW has again stacked the deck to be able to promote one of Cenci's best friends to the region 6 captain position.  I predict, and am pretty certain I will be right, that Dan Chadwick will be the next region 6 captain.

Captains work out of regional offices, and there has always been a geographic boundary (captains have to live within 30 or 35 miles of the office, so as to save time and money in commuting from home in their state vehicle), but for the first time I have ever heard of, they dropped the geographic boundary for the region 6 captain job.  Chadwick lives over 60 miles from the office (next door to Cenci).

Same @#$ different day.  I hate to sound negative, but I don't see things getting better for a very long time.

[Knocker of rocks]

Captains work out of regional offices, and there has always been a geographic boundary (captains have to live within 30 or 35 miles of the office, so as to save time and money in commuting from home in their state vehicle), but for the first time I have ever heard of, they dropped the geographic boundary for the region 6 captain job.  Chadwick lives over 60 miles from the office (next door to Cenci).

Probably not enforceable, and they realized it.

[ucwarden]

Captains work out of regional offices, and there has always been a geographic boundary (captains have to live within 30 or 35 miles of the office, so as to save time and money in commuting from home in their state vehicle), but for the first time I have ever heard of, they dropped the geographic boundary for the region 6 captain job.  Chadwick lives over 60 miles from the office (next door to Cenci).

Probably not enforceable, and they realized it.

I have no idea how anyone can think the reason they changed the geographic boundaries is because "it's probably not enforceable".  So let's take your argument to the extreme; do you think it's okay for a captain to live in Clarkston and work out of the Montesano office?  There have always been geographic boundaries for all officers, as there is an assumption that the employee (using state vehicles and gas) live within a certain distance of their assigned duty station.  Not only does that save taxpayer money, but it is necessary so law enforcement officers are actually available to respond to incidents in their assigned area.

But if you are right, and this change wasn't just so one particular favored employee can get the job they want him to have without having to move (like the rest of us did), then they would keep the geographic boundary out of all future position announcements.  And if you want to bet on that happening, I will be glad to take your money.

[Elkaholic daWg]

 

[Knocker of rocks]

Captains work out of regional offices, and there has always been a geographic boundary (captains have to live within 30 or 35 miles of the office, so as to save time and money in commuting from home in their state vehicle), but for the first time I have ever heard of, they dropped the geographic boundary for the region 6 captain job.  Chadwick lives over 60 miles from the office (next door to Cenci).

Probably not enforceable, and they realized it.

I have no idea how anyone can think the reason they changed the geographic boundaries is because "it's probably not enforceable".  So let's take your argument to the extreme; do you think it's okay for a captain to live in Clarkston and work out of the Montesano office?  There have always been geographic boundaries for all officers, as there is an assumption that the employee (using state vehicles and gas) live within a certain distance of their assigned duty station.  Not only does that save taxpayer money, but it is necessary so law enforcement officers are actually available to respond to incidents in their assigned area.

But if you are right, and this change wasn't just so one particular favored employee can get the job they want him to have without having to move (like the rest of us did), then they would keep the geographic boundary out of all future position announcements.  And if you want to bet on that happening, I will be glad to take your money.

Employee residency requirements are constantly being eroded for governmental jobs in all locations and at all levels except political office.

Your Clarkston-Montesano is pretty much a straw man argument.  There is no requirement that they take the vehicle home.

[bigtex]

Maybe it is time we use the initiative process and request that WDFW gets rolled into the Washington  State  Patrol similar to what  Alaska  has. This would cut out the top, get rid of Wecker, and give these officers the support they need.

Why would transferring enforcement to WSP get rid of Miranda Wecker?  By your example of Alaska and Oregon, those states have transferred enforcement duties to the State Police, but retain F&W departments.  The same would probably happen here.

It wouldn't get rid of her, but she would no longer have any influence/power over enforcement officers.  You are right, that in Oregon the "game wardens" work for OSP, while the natural resource management is under ODF&W.

I don't like what I see in Oregon, as the wildlife troopers are still troopers and when traffic issues become a problem, they are out checking to make sure semis are chained up etc., instead of remaining focused on catching poachers.

Only Oregon and Alaska have fish and wildlife enforcement under the state patrol/police, so that should tell you something when only 2 out of 50 states do it that way. Alaska for many years has been talking about getting rid of their system.

Problem is traffic is always #1. When budgets are good, traffic gets more officers, when budgets are bad, fish and wildlife gets cut drastically. And from a mission standpoint, traffic is always the overall number 1 priority. For many years in Oregon the fish and wildlife enforcement division is where the OSP Troopers went to retire, for many it was a "retire on-duty" job. Things are changing with them, but it's still not good in my opinion.

[ucwarden]

Captains work out of regional offices, and there has always been a geographic boundary (captains have to live within 30 or 35 miles of the office, so as to save time and money in commuting from home in their state vehicle), but for the first time I have ever heard of, they dropped the geographic boundary for the region 6 captain job.  Chadwick lives over 60 miles from the office (next door to Cenci).

Probably not enforceable, and they realized it.

I have no idea how anyone can think the reason they changed the geographic boundaries is because "it's probably not enforceable".  So let's take your argument to the extreme; do you think it's okay for a captain to live in Clarkston and work out of the Montesano office?  There have always been geographic boundaries for all officers, as there is an assumption that the employee (using state vehicles and gas) live within a certain distance of their assigned duty station.  Not only does that save taxpayer money, but it is necessary so law enforcement officers are actually available to respond to incidents in their assigned area.

But if you are right, and this change wasn't just so one particular favored employee can get the job they want him to have without having to move (like the rest of us did), then they would keep the geographic boundary out of all future position announcements.  And if you want to bet on that happening, I will be glad to take your money.

Employee residency requirements are constantly being eroded for governmental jobs in all locations and at all levels except political office.

Your Clarkston-Montesano is pretty much a straw man argument.  There is no requirement that they take the vehicle home.

If the positions we are talking about were not law enforcement, I might agree with you, but they are. 

[bigtex]

The interesting thing about the whole land vs. marine issue is that out of Crown, Cenci, and Hobbs only Cenci was a marine officer. Crown spent his entire time with WDFW as a field officer in Grant County, Hobbs was in Eastern King County for about a year before he moved to Ellensburg. Yet it appears that the favorites are marine officers. It just shows who is really running (or maybe I should say ruIning) enforcement is Cenci. You would think looking from the outside in that it enforcement would have to be run by a bunch of former marine officers, but that's not the case.

This is just a guess but maybe the reason why legislators aren't taking on Cenci is because they know him. Ever since he was first promoted to DC around 2007 he has been in the legislature working on bills, testifying, gathering support, etc. Bjork was the main face but as he got closer to retirement he started handing stuff to Cenci. When Crown took over Cenci basically ran the legislative show. In fact if you watch Crown's first testimony on a bill he was tongue-tied and stuttering, granted not everyone is a public speakers but when your the Chief you should be. For the 2015 legislative package for WDFW Enforcement who is the point of contact? Cenci.

[bigtex]

We keep losing good officers (I have heard from two more who plan to leave WDFW within the next two months) and Crown Jewels (Cenci and company) stay in place.  As a matter of fact it sure appears that WDFW has again stacked the deck to be able to promote one of Cenci's best friends to the region 6 captain position.  I predict, and am pretty certain I will be right, that Dan Chadwick will be the next region 6 captain.

Captains work out of regional offices, and there has always been a geographic boundary (captains have to live within 30 or 35 miles of the office, so as to save time and money in commuting from home in their state vehicle), but for the first time I have ever heard of, they dropped the geographic boundary for the region 6 captain job.  Chadwick lives over 60 miles from the office (next door to Cenci).

I wouldn't be shocked either. Just a little background on Chadwick, he started as an Adams County Deputy, then went to Whatcom County and then got picked up by WDFW in Pacific County as a marine officer. A little over 5 years ago he promoted to Detective for a year (which included one well known bear gall bladder case which he worked with ucwarden) and then became the Sergeant for marine officers on the coast.

Total marine guy from head to toe. I know he hunts, but almost all of his career has been marine oriented. I know some officers don't like his mindset which is something along the lines of everyone is doing something wrong, it's your job to figure it out.

It's interesting that they basically kicked Dan Brinson out of his Region 6 Captain's position which he held for many years, gave him a job at HQ doing bi**h work in his same rank even though the job was previously done by a Lieutenant, merged Region 5 & 6 for about a year, and now suddenly are re-creating the Region 6 Captains job.

And everyone knows, Cenci and Chadwick are best friends...

[bigtex]

If you read Operation Cody you will see how Cenci hates the USFWS. Well Cenci continued to poke jabs at USFWS when at this spring's WDFW Enforcement Advisory Group meeting there was a discussion about co-operation with USFWS. Cenci said something along the lines of "USFWS only cares about ivory." Basically he was saying that USFWS will only look into ivory cases, while the illegal trade in ivory is a big enforcement topic right now, obviously USFWS isn't devoting all of their time to ivory. The best part about that statement is that it's on the advisory group's minutes on the WDFW website.

[blackdog]

Isn't Wecker's husband retired USFWS?

[PLUVIUSWAPITI]

UC, the department just hired a new officer for Pacific Co.  and he was told that he has to live in the Raymond- South Bend area. I have met this new officer and so far he seems like a great guy. This officer has already made an Impact on some poaching that has been going on in the north end of the county, this is just amazing that he has a living requirement but yet the bosses don't. I had a good friend that was a Sgt. out of the region 6 office and he said he could't drink Cenci's koolaid anymore and retired. I have delt with quite of wildlife officers and he seemed to be very dedicated to doing his job for WDFW.

[Whitpirate]

Captains work out of regional offices, and there has always been a geographic boundary (captains have to live within 30 or 35 miles of the office, so as to save time and money in commuting from home in their state vehicle), but for the first time I have ever heard of, they dropped the geographic boundary for the region 6 captain job.  Chadwick lives over 60 miles from the office (next door to Cenci).

Probably not enforceable, and they realized it.

Actually quite enforceable or at least they can require taxable benefit on the miles driven beyond the "norm"