As many of you know from reading my columns, I’ve never been a fan of the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, and that opinion dates back to 1972, when it was spawned to replace the NYS Conservation Dept. Although I’ve voiced my reasons in past columns, what occurred last week, with the firing of its commissioner, Pete Grannis, typified one of my primary reasons.

Grannis, a NYC Democrat, was appointed to run DEC by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007. Prior to that, Grannis served as a member of the Assembly representing the Upper East Side of Manhattan and Roosevelt Island for more than 30 years. He also served in the early 1970s as a Compliance Counsel for DEC. Grannis wasn’t Spitzer’s first choice for the DEC’s top position and also came under fire by the state’s sportsmen groups, who felt his urban background didn’t qualify him for the position.