Projo Politics Blog

The former director of the state Department of Environmental Management who went down in flames four years ago has reappeared as executive director of the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, a Woonsocket-based, federally financed organization that helps coordinate environmental, historic preservation and economic development planning in 24 towns from Providence to Worcester.
Jan H. Reitsma, 59, of Barrington, spent four years as DEM chief. He resigned in 2003 amid a firestorm over an expletive-laced e-mail message he sent to the vice chairman of the state Marine Fisheries Council. Throughout the course of the message — whose topic was a dispute over a proposed regulation for catching groundfish — Reitsma accused Ralph Boragine of “immature histrionics,” “idiotic conspiracy theories” and “egocentric babble.”
“You ought to get professional help as far as I can tell,” Reitsma wrote. “… Sober up, apologize and we can maybe talk after a couple of days.”
Contacted last week about his new job, Reitsma said he “certainly learned … the hard way” that such flame-outs can ruin in moments a reputation it took years to build.
The corridor commission members who selected Reitsma lauded his contributions to environmental matters in Rhode Island, first as DEM chief and more recently as a consultant for the Blackstone River Coalition. They said, for instance, that Reitsma was instrumental in getting the Blackstone River bike path built.

-- By Elizabeth Gudrais, Journal State House bureau

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