"Discussing climate change is out of bounds for workers at a state agency in Wisconsin. So is any work related to climate change — even responding to e-mails about the topic. A vote on Tuesday by Wisconsin’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, a three-member panel overseeing an agency that benefits schools and communities in the state, enacted the staff ban on climate change. 'It’s not a part of our sole mission, which is to make money for our beneficiaries,' said State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican who sits on the board. 'That’s what I want our employees working on. That’s it. Managing our trust funds.'
Adamczyk raised his concern at a public meeting on Tuesday that the board’s executive director, Tia Nelson, had spent on-the-job time working on global warming. Nelson did indeed work on climate change a bit in 2007 and ’08—at the request of the governor. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, who stepped down in 2011, appointed Nelson as co-chair of a global warming task force (PDF). 'It honestly never occurred to me that being asked by a sitting governor to serve on a citizen task force would be objectionable,' she said."
Eric Roston reports for Bloomberg April 8, 2015.
SEE ALSO:
"Wisconsin GOP Members on Land Board Ban Work on Climate Change" (Wisconsin State Journal)
"Wisconsin Republicans Ban State Official From Answering Emails About Climate Change" (Salon)
"Republicans Try To Prevent Wisconsin Official Working on Climate Change" (Guardian)
"Wisconsin Board Bans Employees From Global Warming Work" (AP)
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