Burton comments on Natural Resources Commission resignations, Highlights lack of transparency in Executive Branch
Today, State Rep. Alex Burton (D-Evansville), a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, released the following statement on the recent announcement that two members of the Indiana Natural Resources Commission, including its 20-year chair, resigned, citing the Braun administration's sidelining of citizen input and erosion of transparency at the Department of Natural Resources:
"When the most experienced public servants in our state walk out the door because their voices, and the public's voice, no longer count, every Hoosier should pay attention. These weren't partisans. They were people who spent decades protecting our land, our water and our way of life. They left because the door to public input is being slammed shut.
"This is the same top-down, shut-the-people-out approach we've watched take over Washington, D.C., and now it's taking root right here in Indiana. Hoosiers want affordable energy, protected farmland and an economy that puts our households first. None of that happens when decisions get made behind closed doors.
"Hoosiers deserve a government that works for them, not one that silences the very people it's supposed to serve. Every day we tolerate this, is a day we fall further behind on delivering real results for Indiana families.
"If watching decades of public servants resign in protest doesn't alarm my colleagues about how broken the executive branch has become, then I have to ask: what will?"