You may listen to the Hearing with the EnCon committee grilling Grannis at the following link

http://www.senate.state.ny.us/senatehomepage.nsf/SenNetTV?OpenForm

Unheard of!

The confirmation hearings for Grannis have not come close to conclusion, so the process has been continued until next week.

Keep firing away folks. Get on the Senators. We have his (Grannis)own words now, and they are not what we need from a DEC commish!!

Get to the Senators and press them to block this guy. It has become clear that Grannis is not right for the job.

so much for all the petitions and letters. our paper (Dave henderson) is reporting that Grannis is pretty much a lock to get in (no matter how bad of a choice he is). it appears that he will be a bargining pawn for the Republicans to get their budget items approved. Politics at its best!

Well, although Grannis has been pushed through the EnCon committee, this is by no means a "lock" or a "done deal". The Albany Times Union has been reporting Grannis has been confirmed. That is NOT true.

The next stop on the Grannis tour is the Finance Committee, then the full Senate.

The vote which happened in EnCon has been termed by the GOP Senate Majority as a "good faith" vote, showing the governor they are "willing to work with him." Translation, budget wiggle is looked for. Yes, this was a bargaining chip maneuver.

However, I received an email yesterday from Senator Maziarz and he is VERY TICKED OFF that the Times Union has "jumped the gun" (in Maziarz's words). He further stated this is by no means a "done deal".

Bottom line is that this ain;t over. The letters and petition have indeed accomplished much, which is get the serious attention of Albany. We have gotten Grannis on record as to what he supposedly stands for. We have Spitzer making promises to placate sportsmen and the fears of having this anti in charge. We have the entirity of Albany doing the political equivalent of the Texas-Two Step suddenly on outdoors issues.

And the fight ain't over yet.

Finance committee chairman Sen.Owen Johnson has indicated the Grannis hearings won't begin until AFTER the budget is settled. Sen Bruno has asked me to write to Sen Johnson, which I have done, and recommend we ALL DO! If he gets past the Finance Committee, it moves to the full Senate, and, if the budget is in place, the bargaining chip is gone and all bets are off.

The worst thing we can do now is to resign ourselves to defeat and demonstrate a loss of interest. That would definitely send the WRONG message. I appreciate everyone's frustration on this, but let's not allow ourselves to weaken our own commitment by giving up. We must remain vocal, indeed get more vocal, as this is how we send the strongest message to Albany possible. We must remain united and support the Senators that are in our corner, as well. If our friends see us as abandoning ship, they will bail on us, too. So, please, let us all make certain THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN!

To summarize what Senator Maziarz has relayed, he gave assurances that some people are "jumping the gun" regarding the reports that the confirmation is a done deal. It has to clear Finance committee and full Senate floor. Sen Maziarz is very loyal to sportsmen and women and he intends to vigorously fight this nomination. Since this nomination isn't expected to hit the Finance Committee until after the budget is done, Sen Maziarz in effect is asking for us to just sit tight a little and keep the powder dry. This is a GREAT OPPORTUNITY to contact their State Senators and continue to push for opposition to GRannis.

We need them to act, they need us for support. Keep it going, this ain't over by a long shot!!

He got the job, it was in todays paper.