After audit calls for ‘change in culture,’ Kentucky Fish and Wildlife hires an insider

Last month, state Auditor Mike Harmon called for “a change in culture” at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources after his office uncovered numerous violations of state and federal law in how the agency handled public money. Among other things, Harmon questioned funds spent on alcohol, meals, pre-paid debit cards and outside contracts that were poorly monitored.

However, given the chance to appoint a new agency chief from outside its ranks, Fish and Wildlife last week rejected several finalists for the vacant post of commissioner and hired Rich Storm, the insider who interviewed the job applicants. Storm had been chairman of the nine-member Fish and Wildlife Commission that supervises the agency and chooses the commissioner.

Some Kentucky sportsmen are publicly protesting Storm’s hiring from within, saying that Harmon’s critical audit — only the latest in a series of problems at Fish and Wildlife — is clear evidence that changes are needed at the agency.

Earlier last year, a state ethics panel charged two supervisors at Fish and Wildlife with interfering with an investigation of a member of the Fish and Wildlife Commission, who himself was charged with obstructing legal duck hunting near his property in Franklin County by dumping corn along a creek.

Fish and Wildlife is guilty of “stacking the deck” to keep new leadership from making necessary changes, radio host Jim Strader told listeners Sunday on his “Jim Strader Outdoors” show on WHAS radio in Louisville.

“The entire selection process showed a flagrant disregard for the sportsmen and sportswomen’s community,” Strader said. “This can only be viewed as improper and unethical by the Kentucky sportsmen’s community.”

Storm did not respond Monday to a call seeking comment.

In a prepared statement, Don Parkinson, secretary of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, called Storm “a strong advocate for the sportsmen and women of the state.” Fish and Wildlife is attached to Parkinson’s cabinet.

Once Storm expressed an interest in taking the commissioner’s job for himself, he stepped away from the hiring process, Parkinson said.

Parkinson said he called for an audit of Fish and Wildlife a year ago because he had concerns about how it was operated under previous leadership. Reforms already are underway, “and the appointment of Mr. Rich Storm are all parts of a plan to ensure (that Fish and Wildlife) always operates in the public’s best interest, with integrity, accountability and transparency,” Parkinson said.

The nine members of the Fish and Wildlife Commission, each representing their own district, are selected through a somewhat convoluted process. When a four-year term on the commission expires, the commissioner decides a time and place for licensed sportsmen in that district to meet and choose five nominees. The governor consults that list to pick the next commission member. Commission members can serve two terms.

According to an agency news release, Storm is a Carlisle farmer and general manager of PICI Staffing who was named to the Fish and Wildlife Commission by Gov. Matt Bevin in August 2016. He succeeds Parkinson’s chief of staff, Frank Jemley III, who served as interim commissioner for the past year.

Retired Army Col. Michael Abell said Monday that he was one of three finalists for the commissioner’s job, having interviewed with Storm and sat down informally with Parkinson. When he was informed by email Dec. 21 that he had not been chosen, Abell said, he assumed one of the other finalists was hired, and since they both were qualified, he did not think much more of it.

But then the state announced last week that Storm, the commission chairman who interviewed him, won the job. That offended him, Abell said.

“They just got this audit calling for a change,” Abell said. “Mr. Storm has been a part of leadership over there. So how do you have a change in culture when you’re putting him in charge?”

“I applied for the job in the first place because I want to get them out of this terrible cycle they’re in, where it’s just one scandal and failure after another,” Abell said.

In his December audit, Harmon said Fish and Wildlife officials promoted their agency as receiving no tax dollars from the state’s General Fund. However, it still should be held accountable because it receives about $70 million a year in public funds, Harmon said, including state hunting and fishing fees and federal grants that come from taxes on outdoor activities.

“Our exam details the greater need for (Fish and Wildlife) to act in a responsible and transparent fashion in following state laws and regulations,” Harmon said. “Our exam finds many past and current problems at KDFWR, and that a change in culture is needed.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2019 at 1:44 PM.