JohnR
11-04-2003, 08:04 AM
For sending nasty grams to a one of the MFC guys Ralph Borgaine (which I'm really not suprised one bit by)... Sadly, Reitsma might be the only one who gives a craap about it and is why he gets worked up.... After seeing alot of the rhetoric (among other things) in e-mails from Borgaine - I'm really not suprised.
So while I do not condone Reitsma for sending the nasty gram, I hope it's not something for him to get tossed over.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20031104_dem4.780e7.html
DEM director in hot water with governor over e-mail
A wrathful message sent privately to a Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council official comes out in the open.
01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, November 4, 2003
BY EDWARD ORTIZ
Journal Environment Writer
PROVIDENCE -- An angry and profanity-laced e-mail sent Friday by Department of Environmental Management Director Jan Reitsma has put his job in jeopardy.
He expects to talk today with Governor Carcieri about his future at the agency.
Upon receiving a copy of the e-mail, Carcieri asked chief-of-staff Kenneth McKay to look into the matter. Dated Oct. 31, the e-mail lays bare Reitsma's confrontational style, and includes expletives and pointed attacks.
The e-mail, a copy of which The Journal received yesterday, intensifies a conflict between Reitsma and Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council Vice Chairman Ralph Boragine over a proposed regulation for catching groundfish. The exchange of heated e-mails began when Boragine responded angrily to a request by Jason McNamee, of the DEM, for information regarding the proposal.
Reitsma said he intended the e-mail, whose milder language accuses Boragine of harboring "conspiracy theories" and "irrational thinking," as a personal exchange.
"My position has been mischaracterized," Reitsma said yesterday. "The e-mail was not a public statement, nor was it meant for a broad audience."
Reitsma did not say whether he would resign if he is asked.
"I am meeting with the governor at 10 a.m.," Reitsma said. "And I am going to ask for some consideration. We need some time to deal with this."
For a while yesterday afternoon, it was unclear whether Reitsma had been fired or whether he had resigned.
When asked whether Carcieri had fired Reitsma or asked for his resignation yesterday, Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said "no comment." Neal said that it is yet to be established whether Carcieri and Reitsma would meet in person or on the telephone.
The incident is the latest in what some consider Reitsma's fiery four-year directorship at the DEM, which has included a heated verbal dispute with a North Kingstown lobsterman during a meeting on fishing regulations two years ago.
Although quick to anger, Reitsma is well-respected in environmental and fishery circles. And even Boragine has been known to praise Reitsma.
"He's the first director who's put any interest in this [fishing] industry in the last 25 years," Boragine said about Reitsma in a 2002 fishery license meeting.
Reistma was appointed by former Gov. Lincoln C. Almond in 1999 and was reappointed by Carcieri this year. Reitsma worked as undersecretary for environmental policy at the Massachusetts Office of Environmental Affairs and at Save the Bay before taking the helm at the DEM.
As do many confrontations between DEM directors and the public, the angry e-mail exchange between Boragine and Reitsma centers around the amount of fluke that fishermen will be allowed to catch from local waters and how. Fluke is a fish species that has rebounded dramatically lately and one of the species that has brought in a substantial amount of money for local fishermen, said John Torgan, spokesman for Save the Bay.
And where large catches and fishing restrictions are concerned, the opportunities for conflict are many, Torgan said.
"There's been a long and hot dispute over the way landings are counted and the way quotas are counted with fluke," said Torgan.
Torgan said he feels that Reitsma's e-mail may have been taken out of context.
"I can see how this was intended to be a council member to council member dialogue," Torgan said. "And I think the objections are more related to how it was said than what was said."
Those who have worked with Reitsma think highly of him but are aware of his fervent management style, said Curt Spalding, director of Save the Bay.
"Jan has a style that is, at times, fiery," said Spalding. "But I've always found him to be very committed."
For Rep. Peter Ginaitt, who heads the House Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources, Reitsma is a professional who has had a positive effect at the DEM.
"I encourage Jan to stay on as director," said Ginaitt, adding that he had worked with three DEM directors before Reitsma came to the job, and that Reitsma had brought stability and professionalism to the position.
But along with the praise is the constant awareness of a quick temper.
"I've heard he does have a temper sometimes, and I've seen that he openly becomes frustrated," Ginaitt said.
One of those frustrations took place at a meeting in Narragansett in November 2001 when Reitsma confronted lobsterman Todd Lander at a fishery management meeting.
Lander alleged that Reitsma challenged him to go outside and fight after a heated exchange during a meeting on fishing regulations.
So while I do not condone Reitsma for sending the nasty gram, I hope it's not something for him to get tossed over.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20031104_dem4.780e7.html
DEM director in hot water with governor over e-mail
A wrathful message sent privately to a Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council official comes out in the open.
01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, November 4, 2003
BY EDWARD ORTIZ
Journal Environment Writer
PROVIDENCE -- An angry and profanity-laced e-mail sent Friday by Department of Environmental Management Director Jan Reitsma has put his job in jeopardy.
He expects to talk today with Governor Carcieri about his future at the agency.
Upon receiving a copy of the e-mail, Carcieri asked chief-of-staff Kenneth McKay to look into the matter. Dated Oct. 31, the e-mail lays bare Reitsma's confrontational style, and includes expletives and pointed attacks.
The e-mail, a copy of which The Journal received yesterday, intensifies a conflict between Reitsma and Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council Vice Chairman Ralph Boragine over a proposed regulation for catching groundfish. The exchange of heated e-mails began when Boragine responded angrily to a request by Jason McNamee, of the DEM, for information regarding the proposal.
Reitsma said he intended the e-mail, whose milder language accuses Boragine of harboring "conspiracy theories" and "irrational thinking," as a personal exchange.
"My position has been mischaracterized," Reitsma said yesterday. "The e-mail was not a public statement, nor was it meant for a broad audience."
Reitsma did not say whether he would resign if he is asked.
"I am meeting with the governor at 10 a.m.," Reitsma said. "And I am going to ask for some consideration. We need some time to deal with this."
For a while yesterday afternoon, it was unclear whether Reitsma had been fired or whether he had resigned.
When asked whether Carcieri had fired Reitsma or asked for his resignation yesterday, Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said "no comment." Neal said that it is yet to be established whether Carcieri and Reitsma would meet in person or on the telephone.
The incident is the latest in what some consider Reitsma's fiery four-year directorship at the DEM, which has included a heated verbal dispute with a North Kingstown lobsterman during a meeting on fishing regulations two years ago.
Although quick to anger, Reitsma is well-respected in environmental and fishery circles. And even Boragine has been known to praise Reitsma.
"He's the first director who's put any interest in this [fishing] industry in the last 25 years," Boragine said about Reitsma in a 2002 fishery license meeting.
Reistma was appointed by former Gov. Lincoln C. Almond in 1999 and was reappointed by Carcieri this year. Reitsma worked as undersecretary for environmental policy at the Massachusetts Office of Environmental Affairs and at Save the Bay before taking the helm at the DEM.
As do many confrontations between DEM directors and the public, the angry e-mail exchange between Boragine and Reitsma centers around the amount of fluke that fishermen will be allowed to catch from local waters and how. Fluke is a fish species that has rebounded dramatically lately and one of the species that has brought in a substantial amount of money for local fishermen, said John Torgan, spokesman for Save the Bay.
And where large catches and fishing restrictions are concerned, the opportunities for conflict are many, Torgan said.
"There's been a long and hot dispute over the way landings are counted and the way quotas are counted with fluke," said Torgan.
Torgan said he feels that Reitsma's e-mail may have been taken out of context.
"I can see how this was intended to be a council member to council member dialogue," Torgan said. "And I think the objections are more related to how it was said than what was said."
Those who have worked with Reitsma think highly of him but are aware of his fervent management style, said Curt Spalding, director of Save the Bay.
"Jan has a style that is, at times, fiery," said Spalding. "But I've always found him to be very committed."
For Rep. Peter Ginaitt, who heads the House Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources, Reitsma is a professional who has had a positive effect at the DEM.
"I encourage Jan to stay on as director," said Ginaitt, adding that he had worked with three DEM directors before Reitsma came to the job, and that Reitsma had brought stability and professionalism to the position.
But along with the praise is the constant awareness of a quick temper.
"I've heard he does have a temper sometimes, and I've seen that he openly becomes frustrated," Ginaitt said.
One of those frustrations took place at a meeting in Narragansett in November 2001 when Reitsma confronted lobsterman Todd Lander at a fishery management meeting.
Lander alleged that Reitsma challenged him to go outside and fight after a heated exchange during a meeting on fishing regulations.