Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406140083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He was sent by Gov. George Allen, who on the previous Friday had purged and appointed leaders of more than a dozen state agencies in what was to be remembered as "Bloody Friday."
No one was fired at the game department because that agency had been without a director since October, when Bud Bristow left, after his resignation. But it was the first time anyone could remember when a governor had appointed even an acting director.
According to the State Code, choosing the department head is clearly the task of the agency's 11-member board of directors. The board had interviewed applicants and was about to voice its choice earlier this year when the governor's office told it to hold off. Woodfin wasn't among the candidates.
All this has put outdoor sportsmen in a precarious position. On the one side, there is a keen desire to work with Allen, something that was nearly impossible to do with his predecessor, Gov. Doug Wilder. Many outdoorsmen campaigned for Allen under "Outdoorsmen for Allen" banners.
But can sportsmen allow the governor - any governor - to make an end run around a statute that has kept the executive director from being a political appointee for more than 75 years?
Adding to the plot is the fact that Woodfin is no lightweight political plum. He has a master's degree in environmental sciences and engineering from Virginia Tech. He has been deputy director for operations of the Department of Environment Quality, director of the Virginia Department of Waste Management and deputy executive director of operations of the State Water Control Board. He knows hunting, fishing and boating from a first-hand interest.
"This guy is top notch," said Del. Vic Thomas of Roanoke, a democrat who is chairman of the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. "He is very honorable and very capable."
Walter Conrad Jr., the game department board chairman, had similar praise.
"I think he is highly qualified. He has experience in state government," Conrad said. "He has been in the office for a few days, and he seems to have an insight into a lot of things."
Said Thomas, "This time it was a good man. But next time? This is why we set things in the law."
Few matters have riled sportsmen more in the past than efforts to change the way the executive director is appointed. Old-timers can recall when legislation to do so attracted so many sportsmen to a hearing at the capitol that the meeting place was switched to the huge highway department auditorium, which overflowed.
Outdoorsmen aren't expected to react as vocally this time. They are pondering: Is a rift with the governor on one side and the game board and sportsmen on the other a greater evil than swallowing hard and letting a breach in the process slide by? But it shouldn't be overlooked that the greatest possible step backward is to politicize the professional staff of an agency that deals with natural resources and has done so with honor and accomplishment through the years.
The board has scheduled a special meeting Friday at which time there is a good chance Woodfin's "acting" title will be dropped and he will be appointed executive director. In fact, at this point the other candidates must be harboring second thoughts about wanting the job if its future depends upon who happens to be governor.
All things considered, Woodfin appears to be a prudent choice, but the governor needs to be told that while it may be his prerogative to hire and fire the heads of some agencies, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries isn't one of them.
by CNB