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Seasonal Rangers Who Said They Lost Jobs For Blowing The Whistle Win Their Case

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Bruce and Sara Schundler, who alleged they lost their seasonal jobs as rangers at Mesa Verde National Park for bringing attention to suspect spending by the park's former superintendent, have been vindicated by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

In a ruling last week, the OSC staff's investigation revealed that the couple was not rehired at Mesa Verde "in part because of their perceived whistleblowing."

The couple's struggles to investigate the spending habits of the former superintendent led to their decision to launch a website to chronicle their efforts, which involved a long and evasive process through the Freedom of Information Act procedures.

Bruce Schundler was subjected to a correspondence-heavy, administrative maze since requesting information on Mesa Verde's fiscal 2007 and fiscal 2008 budgets, the travels of its superintendent, and the number of unfilled vacancies at the park. Mesa Verde officials initially put off his first requests for the information, saying the staff was too busy to comply immediately

In its ruling, the OSC noted that the Schundlers "had spotless work records at Mesa Verde National Park..." In raising concerns about the then-superintendent's spending habits, they alleged that he had used National Park Service funds "to travel excessively to conferences and seminars, in support of a private company," the OSC finding noted.

"They filed Freedom of Information Act requests for information on the matter and also filed a complaint with the Inspector General. The (Office of Inspector General's) report found that the park superintendent’s actions 'created the appearance of a conflict of interest,'" the OSC noted. "The following season, the couple was tentatively offered seasonal park ranger positions again, only to see the offer rescinded.

"The OSC investigation showed that Mesa Verde management decided not to rehire the couple in part because of their perceived whistleblowing."

After the OSC investigated the matter, the Park Service "agreed to provide the couple with seasonal work at another national park of their choosing and to reimburse them for expenses incurred in anticipation of the rescinded rehiring."

“I’m pleased that the National Park Service corrected the actions its employees took against these park rangers,” said OSC Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner. “All federal employees have the right to blow the whistle on perceived wrongdoing without fear or retaliation.”

Comments

Rick B., good theory but it is wrong. I'm not talking about things where I was even a party I'm talking about things observed.

For example: there was large concession operated restaurant in one park that was continually packed with people that put it far beyond what would be considered safe occupancy. If the park were subject to the local fire code the place would have been shut down. Not only were they regularly beyond what would be considered a safe level of occupancy but the concession also kept several exit doors blocked with food service carts. The park ranger (not me) who reported his concerns about this was serving on a term appointment. He was a star performer --a well liked go getter who worked circles around much of the permanent staff. Of the group he was hired with for some reason he was the only one not to be reappointed the following year. He had difficulty getting NPS work again.

Or there was the instance about ten years ago of the park that was under pressure from local interests to open a certain facility a little earlier in the year and close it a little later. Well the problem with that is that it would put the seasonal staff that operated the facility beyond the six month limit on seasonal appointments. So instead of doing the legal thing and making the jobs permanent subject to furlough positions with a retirement plan, benifts, etc. the park just worked them all beyond the limit. Doing this would have required several NPS managers to sign their names to statements that they knew were lies, but hey, so what, right? How did I manage to engineer that one?

There was the wife of the director of a nearby state park who had gotten hired into a seasonal park guide position with the NPS but didn't really do the work of a park guide and was in fact doing administrative work at the park's HQ as a way of them getting around having to advertise the position and risk that it might go to the wrong applicant.

There was the director of housing at one park who when told that rent wasn't being deducted for several units his response was don't worry about it and you'll probably never have to pay for it. This added up to a loss of about $18,000 to that park. How did I manage to engineer that one Rick B.? I could give more a dozen more examples but I suspect NPT would rather I wrap it up.


So what happened to the wrong-doer they were blowing the whistle on?


One thing I would criticize Bruce Schunder for is how he went about this. He and his goal would have been better served if he had operated more quietly and anonymously. As we unfortunately saw in this case, and in this comment section, when someone tries to shine a light on the dark side of the NPS, the agency, and its Koolaide drinkers will without fail put the focus on the individual blowing the whistle and not the official misconduct.

I would recommend to anyone thinking of blowing the whistle on any US land management agency. to take a look at the book "The Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service." It is published by the non profit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. www.peer.org.

online version of the book: http://www.peer.org/assets/docs/The%20Art%20of%20Anonymous%20Activism.pdf

If they choose to take your case PEER will take your information and see that it is used to best effect. This allows you to keep going in your career and stay on the inside while PEER takes the heat. They take disclosures at this site:

http://org.salsalabs.com/o/823/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_p...

This is another good group to go to that helps whistle blowers. http://www.pogo.org/report-corruption/

The US office of Special Counsel and the DOI inspector general are places you can turn as well but NEVER GO THROUGH NPS CHANNELS OR GIVE THE DOI ANYTHING WITH YOUR NAME ON IT or the Yosemite Mafia types will get you.


I keep hoping NPT columnist PJ Ryan might return to this subject in 'View From The Overlook'. Until then, one can find some less-publicized examples by typing 'whistleblower' in the search box at his website: http://www.workingnet.com/thunderbear/ You may have to scroll to find the smiles. Here's an appetizer from Issue #256: 

"...In the haste and confusion of trying to crucify the whistleblower, NPS management invariably ends up nailing themselves to the cross, along with the whistleblower, where they all dangle, subject to editorial derision by liberal newspaper editors who are forever speculating in print on how the NPS obtains and promotes such stupid administrators.

How does this happen? Perhaps we should study a famous case from the annals of whistleblowing: In the year 1707. A British fleet was returning to England after a glorious victory that won the great fortress of Gibraltar for Great Britain. The fleet was led by Sir Cloudsley Shovel, Admiral of the Red (real name, neighbors, I'm not making this up!) in his flagship the 74 gun ship of the line, HMS Association.

The fleet was in the western approaches to the English Channel, several days sailing from the British naval base at Portsmouth where Sir cloudsley was to be received with great honor by the king himself. The sea was relatively calm with a light off shore breeze, but there was a dense fog so thick that it was difficult to discern the following ships in the fleet and then only by the ghostly glow of the battle lanterns, seemingly suspended in mid air.

A less confident, more cautious commander might have hove to, and let the fog burn off,

Not sir Cloudsley Shovel! It was just such confidence and daring that allowed him to prevail against much stronger enemies! He would not be denied the king's honors by being weather timid. Besides, he was one of the acknowledged masters of the art of Dead reckoning navigation, the form of navigation used by european seamen to calculate position at the time, and Sir Cloudsley calculated his fleet to be safely in the middle of the English channel.

High up in the rigging above Sir Cloudsley, a lone whistleblower was shortly to disagree with the admiral of the Red. He was a foretopman, the Royal Navy equivalent of a GS-3 in the National Park Service. Like most whistleblowers, he did not start out to be a whistleblower, but circumstances gave him no choice. He had been posted in the rigging to supplement the usual lookouts in case there was a break in the fog and well as provide an extra pair of ears to listen for surf breaking.

But our whistleblower had other senses and what they told him chilled his heart. There was something on the wind. He began to detect a faint, familiar odor from his childhood. What was it? Then memories flooded in and filled him with dread: The kelp pits of Scilly! Our whistleblower was a native of the Scilly Islands, a cluster of rocky, dangerous islands off the Cornish peninsula at the entrance to the English Channel, The people of the islands burned seaweed to make fertilizer, and the burning kelp created a unique, unforgettable odor that immediate brought back memory of place.

The smell meant they were steering directly toward the rocks of Scilly! There was not a moment to lose! He must notify his superiors! He slid down the ratlines and aproached the officer of the deck. (So far, so good. He was going through the chain of command like a good whistleblower should. No grandstanding, no running around the ship, yelling "WE'RE ALL BLEEPING DOOMED! WE'RE GOING ON THE ROCKS! )The officer of the watch was skeptical, but passed our whistleblower onto a bored lieutenant. The lieutenant thought it a very good story, but that as long a our whistleblower had not seen anything or heard anything, the nose thing must have been the product of ignorant superstition. Like most whistleblowers, our foretopman was getting impatient as he had the valuable, all important field knowledge of the problem but not the rank to do something about it.

He asked permission to stand below the Quarterdeck. Permission was granted. (Our whistleblower was still going through correct procedures!) Now the quarterdeck was where the officers stood. No seaman was allowed on the quarterdeck: that would mean mutiny. The quarter deck was about 6 feet above the main deck, so that the ship's officers could keep an eye on everything. Standing below the quarterdeck to state your grieveance or make a suggestion was very dangerous business in the 18th century British Navy. You automatically risked demotion, flogging, keelhauling or worse for suggesting that everything was not hunky-dory on one of His Majesty's ships. Understandably, few availed themselves of the "privilege".

Our whistleblower dedided to take the risk.

He stated his opinion on the fleet's position to Sir Cloudsley, Admiral of the Red. The Admiral was apoplectic. He could understand a request for more water or more bread, but to have his professonal competence questioned by ruffian foretopman! Well!

Our whistleblower begged Sir Cloudsley to consider the possibility that his calculations could possibly be in error, that a course change might be in order or at least the fleet hove to until the fog cleared.

At this point, our whistleblower made a fatal error. In the emotion of his argument, he happened to rest his hand on one of the planks of the quarterdeck to steady himself. He had touched the quarterdeck! Mutiny!

Sir Cloudsley ordered the marines to seize our whistleblower and hang him. (If you can detect a resemblance between Sir Cloudsley and a certain NPS official, you would make a good historian.)

After the hanging, Sir Cloudsley ordered more sail bent on to increase speed. It was to be his last order. The flagship went onto the Scilly rocks as the whistleblower had predicted. The rest of the fleet, dutifully following the lanterns of the ship in front of it, soon joined the flagship on the rocks.

It was one of the worst disasters in British maritime history. 2,000 men were drowned. But not Sir Cloudsley.

Somehow, perhaps clinging to wreckage, he was carried through the rocks and surf onto the beach. Totally soaked by the cold Channel sea and hyperthermic, he collapsed on the shingle just above tideline and awaited his fate. It was not long in coming.

Out of the fog materialized a woman, a fisherman wife. Perhaps Sir Cloudsley thought she was a ministering angel. He weakly raised his hand. Bad move. The woman caught the glint of his gold and emerald ring. She then did what many a person in her social station in 18th century England would do. She picked up a large rock, dropped it on Sir Cloudsley's head and then bit off his swollen finger to get the ring. Not a bad end for a stubborn snob.

Now was any thing learned? Well, no and yes. The British government did not pass a whistleblowers protection act, but they did offer the eqivalent of a 2 million dollar prize to the person who develop a means of calculating longitude to prevent another such disaster. The problem was finally solved shortly before the American Revolution.

However, the spirit of Sir Cloudley Shovel is still with us! Resolute in face of evidence to the contrary! Stalwart in vindictiveness! Indifatable in ignorance! Sir Cloudsley is the very model of a certain type of NPS executive! He shall not have died in vain!

We at THUNDERBEAR humbly propose the annual Sir Cloudsley Shovel Award to the Federal Land Management executive who best personifies the Sir Cloudsley Approach in dealing with whistleblowers. The winner will be decided by an impartial panel convened by PEER."


Perpetual seasonal, I read your posts and I think you have some valid points. I must agree however with Rick Smith, Lee and Rick B, we must be careful taring everyone with a broad brush. I personally spoke out on many issues, so I do have some inkling of your position. But I must tell you that, on balance, the vast majority of employees at every level, from the trail crew to the Superintendents Office, were competent, ethical and motivated people who were enjoyable to work with. Mr. Rick Smith was just one example. Rick Smith has carried on his work in retirement to both take on some tough acting Supt. positions (until replacements could be selected), and to work internationally with other nations on their park ranger issues. Rick B, yes, I think you are right, in my own retirement activities, I continue to meet just excellent NPS personnel.

That is not to say I am satisfied with NPS/DOI handling of those abuses that occur. Improvements need to be made and Rick B is right, these cases of gross abuse of power happen in all agencies and in the private sector as well. Unfortunately we see the same behavior in the political arena. In any case, this is an interesting discussion for me personally.


Mr. Smith, the comments of the Perpetual Seasonal are drawn from experiences across many parks over many years in several regions. It isn't a grudge against any individual site. Of the half a dozen or so parks worked in I can only think of two without serious examples of malfeasance and mismanagement. Of all those only one resulted in real punishment for the perpetrators and that only occurred because law enforcement in the park went around the superintendent to document criminal activity.


As a 30+ year retired Federal employee I can assure this is not just the NPS, I'm sure it's rife in all govt agencies since we're pretty much under the same 'Standards of Conduct'. Some examples from the agency I worked for:

Office manager found with a struggling female employee pinned to his desk=promotion, employee promoted as 'hush money'

Supervisor harassed an employee who criticized her to the point of the employee being hospitalized for acute GI distress/internal bleeding=transfer & promotion within 6 months, employee forced to retire for 'excessive absences'

Supervisor stalked female employee=transfer, no discipline, employee relocated per her request (at her own expense)

Supervisor falsifying time records re his OT, stealing office furniture/supplies=promotion, now the '2nd in command' at a large regional facility

Office manager with a history of screaming red-faced at this employees & throwing things=very large cash 'performance' awards yearly

This is just a few of the things I saw myself. The stories are legion, believe me. Whenever federal retirees get together, these stories are many and more and more outrageous. I think there is a very big and very real culture of 'fear of retaliation' in govt employment. Our unions can only do so much, and most of the time it's not enough, although the union I was under tried very hard. Whistleblower protection is a joke.


Well, a terrific story, perhaps Thunderbear will pick up on it.


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