Apr. 30, 2024

HARRISBURG – The director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) has been forced to resign for alleged unethical actions, House Game and Fisheries Committee Chairman David Maloney (R-Berks) announced today.

Bryan Burhans, executive director of the PGC since 2017, tendered his resignation Monday due to alleged unethical actions, including using his position as manager of a state agency with assets of nearly a half-billion dollars for personal gain.

The information leading to Burhans’ resignation was uncovered by Maloney’s relentless pursuit of information that many actors in PGC management, including Burhans himself, sought to withhold.

“As I studied the actions of the PGC, requested information, and heard reports from the field, it became very clear to me that a handful of bad actors at the PGC had become so engrossed with their own power that the PGC’s primary mission – to protect our animals, enhance habitat and serve the sportsmen – had been sidelined by a culture of personal pet projects and vendettas against anyone daring to speak out,” Maloney said.

The PGC commissioners have already named Stephen Smith from inside the agency as Burhans’ successor, without posting the position.

Representative David Maloney
130th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
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