‘A lot of accusations’ yield no action on DMR
The Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources met for nearly two-and-a-half hours behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss issues raised in federal and state probes of the Department of Marine Resources, but ultimately took no action.
The commissioners, who oversee DMR, said they have been in the dark about some aspects of the department. After the two-hour, 23-minute closed-door meeting, they came back to adjourn, saying they didn’t have enough information to make any decisions yet. They said they are awaiting results from the state and federal probes of DMR spending.
“We’d have to find some indication there’s been some wrongdoing,” CMR Chairman Vernon Asper said. “Right now, it’s a lot of accusations. Right now, we have a report from the (federal Coastal Impact Assistance Program) audit, but we don’t have anything from the investigation into the other issues. Until we have some hard information, it’s hard to support the rumors and take action until we have some firm justification.”
Sun Herald
12/19/12