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Ron Payer ethics complaint MN DNR Ms. Charlotte Cohn Office of Professional Standards 500 Lafayette Road St. Paul MN 55155 Dear Ms. Cohn, I wish to file an ethics charge against the Director of Fisheries Mr. Ron Payer because with full knowledge he has allowed his staff to violate my fish farm license and cause over $10,000 in lost sales to my fish farm. On May 30, 2001 the Region 3 Fisheries Manager, Mr. Tim Goeman denied a permit to import and stock orangespotted sunfish into ponds that are licensed for orangespotted sunfish. I informed Mr. Goeman that all of my ponds are licensed for orangespotted sunfish but received no response. Some were licensed for orangespotted sunfish in 1996, some in 1998 and the rest in 2001. The latter two new pond approvals were approved for orangespotted sunfish by Mr. Goeman personally. I contacted Mr. Ron Payer on July 4 and informed him of the situation. I informed him that all of my ponds have been approved for orangespotted sunfish but he did not instruct his staff to reverse the denial. On December 20, 2001 I met with fisheries staff members Mr. Roy Johannes, Mr. Tim Goeman and Mr. Tim Brastrup. Senator Don Samuelson sent a representative to that meeting to take notes. I voluntarily offered to install a fish barrier and when Mr. Johannes asked to make my 2002 license renewal conditional on installing the barrier I agreed. I did not offer nor did anyone suggest that my 2001 license would be re-written to make it conditional on the barrier installation. On January 8, 2002 my 2001 license was amended to show the ponds are licensed conditional on the barrier being installed. This is nothing but a dishonest attempt to validate the May 30, 2001 permit denial and avoid responsibility of the arbitrary and capricious permit denial that caused so much financial damage to my farm. I have previously reported to the MN DNR Fisheries that I have purchased, raised and sold orangespotted sunfish and have never been told there was a problem until shortly after filing the ethics complaint against the Fisheries Research Manager. I believe the permit denial is retaliation for filing the ethics complaint against the Fisheries Research Manager for giving false testimony to the House Environment and Natural Resource Policy Committee on March 15, 2001. Mr. Payer is fully aware of this retaliation and continues to allow it. Sincerely, John Reynolds Midwest Fish and Crayfish 26385 County Road 3 Merrifield MN 56465 |