Assembly Candidate Says DNR Wardens Still Face Tough Work Culture

   Assembly candidate Ben Gruber thinks the Department of Natural Resources has a detached, centralized command structure that ignores an often-toxic work environment for Wisconsin conservation wardens.

   Since January, Gruber has been on leave from his DNR law-enforcement duties and his role as union president of Conservation Wardens Local 1215. That’s because he’s the Democratic candidate for the 51^st Assembly district in southwestern Wisconsin, and will face Republican incumbent Todd Novak in the Nov. 3 election.

   Gruber, 42, of Spring Green, discussed the conservation wardens’ work culture Aug. 1 when addressing the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association during its annual conference at the Trees for Tomorrow education center in Eagle River. Gruber said most of his law-enforcement colleagues stay silent about sexist, racist and unfair performance evaluations for fear of retribution by managers. He also said supervisors get away with it because lawmakers, political appointees and the governor’s office lack the appetite to question the agency’s managerial tactics.

   “The problem with state government is that when something’s wrong, we form committees, conduct studies and write reports, but then nothing changes,” Gruber said. “I appreciate all the press on these issues since 2003, but where we’re at today is no different from where we were when I first raised my concerns (in Spring 2020).”

   The DNR hired Gruber in 2019 as a conservation warden recruit after he worked several years as a firefighter, volunteer EMT, paramedic and police officer in Eau Claire, Middleton and Fitchburg. While being trained for warden service in 2020, he told a supervisor about an instructor whose sexist and abusive language was forcing at least one female classmate to consider dropping out.

     Ben Gruber, an Assembly candidate from Spring Green, is on leave from his job as a DNR conservation warden and president of the wardens’ labor union. He voiced his concerns about the work atmosphere for state conservation wardens while addressing the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association on Aug. 1.     — Patrick Durkin photo

   “I went to my boss and said: ‘What’s going on here? We all see it, and it needs to be addressed. What should I do?’ I wasn’t trying to get anyone in trouble. My boss said he’d seen it, too, and I was right, but warned me that if I reported it, they’d fire me. I didn’t believe that, but he was right. When we returned to the academy after all the Covid-19 restrictions ended, they fired me (June 5, 2020).”

   The DNR told Gruber he had failed to complete assignments, maintain equipment, and wear the proper patches on his uniform. Gruber hired an attorney and sued the agency to get his job back.

   “I didn’t want to take it lying down,” Gruber said. “I could have gone back into some other public service, but getting fired was a blow to my integrity and personal pride. I was 36 years old, married, two daughters, and the oldest recruit in my class. My wife had a good job, and I was in a position to fight back. I wanted to set an example for our daughters. My firing was wrong. It was retaliatory. I was just trying to solve a problem everyone saw. And so I fought back.”

   Three months later, the DNR reinstated Gruber in September 2020. In March 2023, fellow wardens persuaded him to become president of Local 1215 and rebuild its membership, which had shrunk to six members. Six months later, 50 of the state’s approximately 220 conservation wardens had joined the union.

   As I reported in October 2023, Gruber soon spoke out again, this time publicly, about chronic shortages in warden staffing, and a pay scale that trailed Iowa and every other Great Lakes state, i.e., Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Michigan. In fact, when the DNR law-enforcement division released its annual report on pay and staffing, a chart detailed the “compensation discrepancies.”

   The report stated: “The loss of employees impairs the ability of the (DNR) to provide consistent public safety throughout the state, (and causes) recurring financial loss from recruiting and training investments.”

   A month after my October 2023 column appeared, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Laura Schulte reported five current or former DNR wardens said they “endured or witnessed harassment while working there.” The wardens described a culture of sexual harassment, management mistreatment based on sexual orientation, and leaders retaliating against those questioning harassment and mistreatment.

   Gruber told WOCA members he was surprised when he realized in 2023 that little had changed since he raised the same concerns three years earlier. “When the DNR didn’t learn from that, I talked to legislators,” he said. “They said it was the governor’s problem. When I went to the governor’s office, they ignored us. I talked to Adam Payne, then the DNR secretary. I believe he cared, but he resigned a few weeks later. The governor’s people said they couldn’t believe I talked to the press. I told them they need to fix things, but it’s still going on.”

   Gruber said the problem isn’t as simple as wages, nor is it all about insensitivity over race or sexual orientation. “I can promise you that when a conservation warden leaves now, whether to work in another state or take another job in law enforcement, it’s not because they no longer want to be a warden,” he said. “Now, it’s seldom about money. Everyone who applies for these jobs already knows the pay scale.

   “I trace our problems back to when the DNR secretary became part of the governor’s cabinet (1995),” Gruber continued. “The DNR secretary lost control. The power shifted to the governor’s office and the Department of Administration. Instead of talking to your own HR (human relations) staff, you have to talk to DOA people who know nothing about you, your job or where you work. And then Act 10 came along (2011) and gutted our union, and you’re even more isolated. You’re on your own when your supervisor punishes you with poor evaluations, and DNR lawyers waste time and money on cases like mine after firing people without cause.”

   The DNR and governor’s office, meanwhile, don’t discuss specific personnel matters. Either they ignore interview requests, or they email cliché-ridden statements like, “The DNR prioritizes inclusive workplaces for all, and responds to allegations based upon facts to provide due process to all.” Likewise, a typical response from the governor’s office reads, “We’re committed to leading a diverse and inclusive workspace to prevent and/or stop discrimination and sexual harassment.”

   Gruber said the problems must be tackled, not studied. “The general response is they’ll hire someone to do a cultural assessment,” he said. “We’ve done enough cultural assessments that confirmed things are bad. We have to start fixing things.”