Governor McCallum has announced a veto of the proposed split of the DNR.  You can read his news release by clicking here. 
 

A key reason for the veto, according to the Governor, was the potential duplication of services and a lessening of public accountability.  The Governor also said that, "In many aspects, creating a separate department would perpetuate some of the same problems the proposal is trying to solve."
 

WSN members and supporters can take credit for helping flood the Governor's office with letters, faxes, and emails opposing the break-up.  According to an AP survey of public comments on the budget, the DNR issue generated the most interest of any budgetary topic.
 

Through this past weekend, 3,250 comments were received by the Governor opposing the DNR split.  Less than 100 commentors supported the plan.  All together, the Governor received 20,000 comments on the budget.  This means that the most heavily advocated issue, the DNR split, accounted for one out of every six public comments with 30 to 1 opposing the split.

McCallum said earlier this week (before his veto announcement) that mail was one of the factors influencing his pending decision.  Hopefully, he also considered that nearly every significant environmental and conservation group in the state said not to break-up the DNR.

- read the Eau Claire Leader Telegram's story on the Governor's mail