by Jim Beers

What’s the big deal? This Director is the same guy that was placed in charge of the hunting and fishing excise taxes in his first job with USFWS right after his political job was eliminated when the Republicans took control of the US House of Representatives in 1994 for the first time in 40 years. Those funds were promptly and clandestinely raided from the State Fish and Wildlife Agencies hunting and fishing programs (their only legal destination by law) to put wolves into the Upper Rocky Mountains and to open a USFWS California liaison (with West Coast radical groups), both of which the US Congress had refused to fund.

Gutless and subservient State Fish and Wildlife Directors, much less their Governors, never even asked for the $45 to 60 Million Dollars (in which they each had a share) to be replaced by a Congress entering in to a Presidential election season.

When the scandal was revealed by a GAO Congressional Audit, the Director at the time went on to a lucrative job with an animal rights radical group with whom she had dealings as Director and this current Director was made a USFWS “Science Advisor” with a little office down a forgotten hallway by the “go-along to get-along” Republicans that hoped for a quid pro quo if and when the slightly more radical Democrats got back into office.

So, am I supposed to be “shocked” (like Claude Raines in Casablanca when told there was gambling in Rick’s) that such lawlessness is still going on? To observe that his actions are “damaging the agency’s credibility and integrity” is like saying that Al Capone or certain political leaders give Chicago a bad name. Really? Seriously?

This guy reminds me of the kid that stole other kid’s lunch money in grade school, and then began roughing up kids in high school for protection money, and then a neighbor tells you in amazement “could you believe that, that was little Billy sticking up that 7-Eleven on that film on the news last night”?

When there are no consequences for bad behavior (in this case law-breaking by a politician in service to political benefactors); is anyone really surprised when that behavior just gets worse and worse?

To quote another inestimable politician, “what difference does it make?” If you cannot answer that question, I truly feel sorry for you.

Jim Beers
2 August 1013

 

Subject: Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe failed for more than a year to discipline two supervisors who retaliated

8/2/13 Report: Wildlife agency ignored whistle-blowers - News Nation Washington- Boston.com
www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/2013/08/01/report-wildlife-agency-ignored-whistle-blowers/VB2DDfhWh6YaDsg09UUlkI/story.html 1/2

Report: Wildlife agency ignored whistle-blowers
By MATTHEW DALY / Associated Press / August 1, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe failed for more than a year to discipline two supervisors who retaliated against whistle-blowers at an Oklahoma field office, the Interior Department’s inspector general says in a harshly worded letter that accuses Ashe of damaging the agency’s credibility and integrity.
Deputy inspector general Mary Kendall said Ashe and other high-level officials ignored months of ‘‘pointed discussions and stern warnings’’ about the complaints.

Three biologists who reported scientific misconduct had their pay cut and duties transferred, the letter said, while the two supervisors were given what appear to be promotions.

One of the complaints involves a recovery plan for the American burying beetle; another involves data collection on a freshwater mussel. Both are endangered species.

An agency spokesman on Thursday called the allegations ‘‘troubling’’ and said officials were pursuing disciplinary action against the two supervisors. Both supervisors have been transferred from the Tulsa field office, where the complaints were filed, said Chris Tollefson, aspokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Tollefson stressed that the transfers were not punitive, and said disciplinary proceedings are underway to determine an appropriate response.

The agency ‘‘takes scientific integrity complaints very seriously,’’ Tollefson said, adding that officials are taking steps ‘‘to help ensure that such an occurrence is not repeated and to ensure scientific and management excellence in delivery of our conservation mission.’’

Kendall called the case ‘‘disturbing.’’ Far from being punished, the three biologists should have been ‘‘thanked for their passion for good scienceand for the courage it took for them to report misconduct at a significant risk to their professional and personal well-being,’’ she said.

Kendall urged Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to take immediate action to resolve the whistle-blower complaints, adding that further delay would expose the wildlife agency ‘‘to significant and unnecessary risks.’’
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Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.

Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting. You can receive future articles by sending a request with your e-mail address to: jimbeers7@comcast.net