A senior National Park Service official investigated for padding his travel expenses by nearly $18,000 reportedly has been transferred to a position overseeing the agency's Park Planning, Facilities and Lands Division, a move that drew quick criticism from union representatives.
Mike Caldwell had been director of the agency's Northeast Region office. Last December an Office of Inspector General report stated that between 2011 and 2015 Mr. Caldwell rented bigger vehicles than he should have to bring friends on some of his travels, covered lodging costs of personal guests, was reimbursed for mileage "that he never drove," rented an SUV for "an official trip two days before his official business was scheduled to start," and also "spent a day driving the SUV 450 miles out of the way for unofficial purposes."
According to an Interior Department document obtained by the American Federation of Government Employees, on June 5 Mr. Caldwell is to take over as chief of staff of the park planning division, a position that has him responsible for coordinating "on key managerial initiatives/projects."
A document passed on to the American Federation of Government Employees states that Mike Caldwell, who was investigated for travel fraud during his role as Northeast Regional Director of the National Park Service, has been moved to another role with the agency.
The move was harshly criticized Monday by Adam Duncan, secretary treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees, Council 270, who represents Park Service employees in the Northeast Region.
"In this position, Mr. Caldwell will presumably have direct influence on high-level decision making and will still travel. Every NPS employee I talk to is outraged on this decision that seems to be very little discipline and disproportionate to what other lower graded employees receive for far less infractions. I myself am representing an employee who is facing disciplinary action over giving out bottles of water to other staff members," Mr. Duncan said in an email to the Traveler.
"The National Park Service has a long history of shuffling around high-ranking officials who have been subject to major disciplinary action while lower subordinates face much harsher disciplinary actions for much less severe actions," he added. "It is reprehensible that high-ranking officials are moved to other positions where they can continue to mess up all while NPS morale suffers. Employees want honest, accountable leadership. Unfortunately, those leaders are very few and far between in the NPS."
According to the OIG report, Mr. Caldwell, desiring "nicer" experiences on his travels as regional director, ran up nearly $11,500 in personal travel that he billed the Park Service for, and also collected nearly $6,000 in pay and per diem on some of these travels while not working.
"Caldwell admitted during his interviews that he had taken these trips and that he had knowingly violated federal travel regulations," the report released in December stated. "He said that in doing so he had taken advantage of his official positions, first as a GS-15 deputy regional director and then as a member of the Senior Executive Service. He said he deserved, at minimum, a suspension."
The case report didn't indicate whether Mr. Caldwell made restitution. But in the seven-page report he was very forthcoming in admitting to the allegations made against him, stating that his travel vouchers had been "tainted and fraudulent.”
National Park Service officials in Washington were preparing a comment Monday.
Comments
Regime Change, what? Caldwell IS a part of the swamp and now there is a regime that was voted in to drain it. That would never happen from the party that throws you a monument bone every now and then to keep you in the fold.
BTW, about Jimmy Carter and his budget promise. It was Newt Gingrich, as Speaker of the House that actually passed a balanced budget.
Unfortunately it is my experience that things like this are rather common in large corporations / bureaucracies. The higher one ascends on the corporate ladder the more perks one is entitled to, both written and unwritten. Both are destroyers of employee morale if not carefully thought out. I think most employees understand that greater responsibilities should come with greater pay and or some additional perks and would accept that if those individuals lead by example. That is with integrity, hard work and good decision making. In reality the opposite is often the case. I could site 100's of examples of upper management and executives abusing their positions and poorly thought out corporate "perks". It becomes a cancer and can quickly cause employees to lose all respect for management. I've always thought management should be held to a higher standard than those under them.
So funny. This has been going on for decades and it appears that some here believe it is Trumps fault. As wild notes, this issue is systemic and the swamp isn't going to be drained overnight but it does need to be drained.
Just as a correction to the first line in this article that he was "transferred to a position overseeing the agency's Park Planning, Facilities and Lands Division" that is incorrect. He has been appointed to a position to serve under the Associated Director for that directorate as chief of staff. This is not a promotion, but removal from SES as well as demotion to a GS-14.
Hilarious! This article has clearly overstated Caldwell's new role at WASO. He will be Chief of Staff. Chief of freaking Staff...in other words, he's going to be working as a glorified management assistant. All the hype over his new major role is just click bait. He won't be overseeing anything. Stop it with the fake news.
This is the result of a generation's hiring and promotion without strict civil service standards. People are promoted now for political reasons, and this is the result. Until we re-introduce tough civil service tests and standards, it'll only get worse.
Here are some examples of the results: New Chief of Interp GGNRA has no interp background - she ran the childcare center for the Cooperating Assoc.
Superintendent of one of those small NHS's in the SE was known for his expertise in the polishing of the ranger badge - that brings to mind the old G & S tune about polishing the brass so carefully that now he is the ruler of the King's Navy.
The only fix is a return to tough testing and standards.
As to Hillary - remember that her "liberal" husband closed down the Bureau of Mines and tried to close the USGS. If you're a conservationist, you'd want to be careful with those two. And she's still a player - just had a major interview which ran in full on CNN. For the full story on these folks, you should all read "Listen Liberal" by Thomas Frank.
Anonymous, thanks for your clarification regarding Caldwell's demotion. If this is true, it makes the transfer look a little better. However, I think he should have been fired, same as anybody else who steals public money.
IF I'm not mistaken, it was Trump who put Zinke, the prime padder of expense reports, in charge of the DOI. Is that the Clinton's fault?