Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility claims that Margaret Everson was illegally appointed to act as the National Park Service director/DOI
Margaret Everson, counselor to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, was illegally placed in charge of the National Park Service, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Everson was named acting director for the Park Service on August 7 when Bernhardt announced she was replacing David Vela, who had been acting director since October 2019.
"The latest maneuver to evade Senate confirmation for the National Park Service’s top official violates the law according to a newly-amended federal suit filed (Thursday) by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Western Watersheds Project (WWP)," a press release from PEER said Thursday.
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan gave the Trump administration until September 14 to file its response.
The Trump administration is already facing similar legal challenges in other agencies, including, most notably, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Office of Surface Mining, and the Department of Homeland Security."
A PEER/WWP lawsuit filed earlier this summer to challenge the continued tenure of William Perry Pendley atop BLM had also faulted Vela’s designation at the Park Service. The group's press release said the new complaint removes Vela from the matter and charges that Everson appointment violates the Federal Vacancies Reform Act because the Park Service director is a position requiring “advice and consent” of the U.S. Senate under the Constitution, and that it may only be filled on a temporary basis by:
• A qualified official appointed directly by the President, not Secretary Bernhardt, or
• The “first assistant” to the former Director. "
Everson was not appointed by President Trump. She came to the Park Service from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where she had served as principle deputy director since November 2018.
PEER's release pointed out that Everson had never worked for the Park Service before her sudden appointment, adding that "(T)his will be the first presidential term since the Park Service was created in 1917 in which it will have no actual Director."
“To name someone to act as Park Service Director who does not even work in the Service is a real mindblower,” said PEER Senior Counsel Peter Jenkins, noting that Everson signed her introductory email to all NPS employees as “Counselor to the Secretary Exercising the Delegated Authority of the Director.”
“With the enactment of the Great American Outdoors Act the National Park Service should have even greater prominence, but it has been reduced to a secondary bureau in David Bernhardt’s back office," added Jenkins.
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act provides that actions taken by noncompliant officials are “without force or effect” and may not later be ratified. On that basis, a federal court recently invalidated actions by “acting” DHS Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli. On that same basis, the Government Accountability Office has also ruled that “acting” DHS Secretary Chad Wolf is not qualified to occupy his position.
“Trump’s repeated attempts to evade Senate confirmation create chaos and will likely spawn more lawsuits nullifying official actions by illegal appointees,” said Jenkins, pointing out the legality of any action by Everson will now be called into question. “The National Park Service desperately needs real leadership rather than just another temp.”
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Comments
I applaud PEER and WWP for taking on this issue. I have already expressed my own opinion of the current administration's disgraceful conduct with regard to these "dark-of-night" placements of unqualified and unethical shills on top of educated and trained agency employees who have spent many hard years working their ways up through the hierarchy in order to be there and appropriately in contention for these positions. I'm disgusted that these shills actually stoop so low as to accept these assignments. They must know that the only reason they're in there is to do the corrupt business of this lawless administration, this racketeer influenced corrupt organization, when ethical public servants who should be in contention for these positions would balk.
And, I wish this was an isolated incident; but, as I have said before, there is now a pattern and practice of these increasingly "abnormal" decisions being made all across our federal government. Much of this "abnormality' has been right there in the Department of the Interior (DOI), the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the NPS. There is litigation pending or under development against recent actions to undermine the National Environmental Policy Act (NPA), against similar actions to erode the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as well as against the revolving door of midnight ousters and sleazy promotions that have been taking place throughout the DOI, leaving rightwing operatives like Margaret, the rightwing lawyer who has no field management experience in the parks and has only been accumulating NPS experience for a couple of weeks, in "acting" positions everywhere.
But, again, Margaret who has lost her moral compass isn't even the only example in the NPS. As I posted previously, let's not forget Daniel Smith, who the now disgraced former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke made "acting" NPS Director despite a freshly inked IG report citing Smith's record of undue and corrupt interference. Then, David Vela got to be "acting" NPS Director for a little while, during which time Zinke's successor, Secretary Bernhardt, keyed up Edward Keable, another of his rightwing personal legal counselors with no substantive park management time or experience, to take the helm as superintendent at Grand Canyon just as a legal battle over foreign real estate developers with republican connections started heating up at Tusayan south of that park.
And, the lawlessness doesn't end there. As so many of us have been lamenting, this administration violates the Hatch Act so frequently and Attorney General Barr is so consistently complicit that the act will have to be rewritten, restrengthened, renewed, and reauthorized just to bring it back to life. Subpoenas, does anyone remember when subpoenas meant something? The emoluments clause and prohibitions against Conflict of Interest, remember when those were a big deal?
The intent of this administration has clearly been to undermine the rule of law across the board ...you know, to make America function just like Putin and his oligarch friends operate Russia and Xi and his party associates operate China. And, as I've also said before, it isn't just Trump. No, republicans, republican enablers, and republican appointees are the problem. If we get rid of Trump, but leave the Senate in republican hands, we won't have accomplished anything close to what is needed. We need to hold the House and take both the executive branch and the Senate. We need to vote this November or as soon as we can in our individual jurisdictions and we need to remember that our problem isn't just Trump; it's an entire corrupt political party, from Greg Gianforte and Steve Daines in the north, to Cory Gardner and Ken Buck in the middle, to Lindsey Graham and Ron DeSantis in the south. They're all, in one way or another, hellbent on using malice or ignorance or both to pillage and destroy this country, either deliberately or through a truly ridiculous level of bumbling, stumbling, drooling incompetence. So, don't just sit there, get up and vote!
What a waste of time and money. I won't argue the "legality" as I don't know enough about the intricacies of the Vacancies reform act. What if it is illegal and she is thrown out? Then what? A Director or acting Director with similar philosophies will be appointed. Of course PEER will just throw more money down the drain going after them for what ever reason. First they complain about continuity and then they want to throw out Acting Director after Acting Director without any real evidence an Acting Director is any less effective than a Director. They all serve at the discretion of the President so regardless of the title they are all "acting". As to the fact she didn't come from the park service, the argument is specious. It is common if not the norm for CEOs to come to their current company from outside the industry. Their skills are not in producing the end product but rather the creation and management of the organization. PEER would have far more credibility if it spent its money on things that actually help the parks. Perhaps they could come up with a match to the $6 billion that Senator Gardner and President Trump generated for the NPS.
Whoa there, ecbuck, according to this new line of "thought" so to speak of yours, seeking to have this administration follow the laws is just a "waste of time and money" because, even if we succeed, this administration will just appoint another "Director or acting Director" who is just as bad and what's the point anyway? Is that where you're at now?
After all of your and your brethren's high-toned, law and order, patriotism talk, you're down to "resistance is futile" because the racketeer-in-chief and the party that backs him have total control; America is now the racketeer influenced corrupt organization of their dreams, apparently of your dreams as well; and anything and everything is at their "discretion" and they can do as they please? We should all just shut up and accept it as long as they occasionally use our own taxes to throw us a "fix the toilets in the parks" bribe here or there? Is that where you're at now?
At the end of the day and after all of your talk about "principles" and the Constitution, is that where you've really been all along? At the end of the day and after all your talk about liberty, personal freedom, and a government controlled by the people, you're good with just chucking all that talk and switching over to preach a "realpolitik" acceptance of the inevitable? Pragmatic submission to our overlords because "resistance is futile" in the end is now your message?
After you and your ideological brethren have so ferociously ranted against any "nitpicking" emphasis on "process over product" when it comes to the conservationists wanting to use the NEPA process and due process in decision making, you're now defending these shills because their "skills are not in producing the end product but rather the creation and management of the organization" and that's your brave new world?
Did you ever really believe any of the stuff you've been preaching or is this the worthless, two-faced, hypocritical best you've got or maybe really ever had?
So, to conservationists everywhere, it's, again, not just Trump. No, it's folks like this ecbuck character. It's republicans, republican enablers, and republican appointees that are the problem. If we get rid of Trump, but leave the Senate in republican hands, we won't have accomplished anything close to what is needed. We need to hold the House and take both the executive branch and the Senate. We need to vote this November or as soon as we can in our individual jurisdictions and we need to remember that our problem isn't just Trump; it's an entire corrupt political party, from Greg Gianforte and Steve Daines in the north, to Cory Gardner and Ken Buck in the middle, to Lindsey Graham and Ron DeSantis in the south. So, vote!
No Humph, that is not what I am saying. I am saying PEER could spend its money more effectively to advance the parks. Its just that truly advancing the parks isn't their primary interest.
Hump -- the net of what he is saying is that his side is found to be illegal and wrong and our choice should be apathy.
Rick, nobody has been "found" to be illegal of anything. What I am saying is PEER could be better spending their money if they really wanted to help the parks. But go ahead, put words in my mouth that I haven't said. Its your normal MO. Set up the false strawman and attack it. GRRRR
As a 'graduate' of the NPS Office of Whistleblower Crucifixion, I totally support PEER!
EC "sets up" plenty of "false strawmen" himself (GRRRRR!). The mission of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is not to "advance" the parks, or any other agency:
"About PEER
PEER supports current and former public employees who seek a higher standard of environmental ethics and scientific integrity within their agencies. We do this by defending whistleblowers, shining the light on improper or illegal government actions, working to improve laws and regulations...
All our services are provided pro bono, without charge. Through PEER, public servants can choose to work as “anonymous activists” so that public agencies must confront the message, rather than the messenger. "
https://www.peer.org/about-us/
Tahoma, please tell me how a symbolic chase of a bureaucratic technicality leads to a higher standard of environmental ethics and scientific integrity? They are nothing but an attack dog funding lawyers. The money's spent could be much better served by spending on actual park improvements - whether that is their mission or not. Its funny that an organization that fabricates information is seeking "scientific integrity".
A Republican complaining about fabricating information? That's hilarious; thanks for the laugh EC.
Oh, and you still need to work on your English, comrade. "False strawman" is redundant and contradictory.
Tell me when I have made up info. I speak for myself, not for Republicans, many of which I am disgusted with.
Give up, tahoma, "resistance is futile" when dealing with republicans. They've proven, over and over for more than century, that they just don't stand for anything other than selfish narcissism and that makes them pretty slippery and almost impossible to pin down on any topic because they can and will just obfuscate and prevaricate their way out.
Over the years that we've been dealing with the Fox/Trump phenomenon, psychiatric science has been amazingly consistent in warning us about trying to interact with these predatory parasites. Now that republicans have overwhelmingly been infected by selfish narcissism as really their only consistent and unifying "principle," psychiatric scientists have been warning us that we really can't interact with republican narcissists, at least not productively. The concensus in psychiatric science is that anything we might try to do to interact with narcissists in any "normal" way simply provides them with an opening to engage us, use us as hosts, and bleed us out.
That's just what selfish narcissistic parasites do, either physically, psychologically, or politically. They don't care how they do it; it's just what they do. Just look at and think about what the current administration and the GOP has done over the last few years. They got their parasitic attachment hooks into the country, vomited their rhetorical digestive juices onto the airwaves, applied their sucking mouth parts and, voila, we've seen bribery, even of foreign governments; money laundering, even to the detriment of a local savings and loan operation intended to support military veterans; sweetheart contracts, both foreign and domestic; sweetheart appointments, even of ambassadors who were then used to request bribes from our allies; violations of the Hatch Act and emoluments clause; and more, far more.
Essentially, the concensus among psychiatric scientists is that anything you might try to do to interact with narcissists, in this case republicans, is almost guaranteed to cost you far more than it yields, far more than it's worth. Psychiatric scientists have been trying to tell us to just run. "Run, you fools, run." That's the best advice they've been able to give us because the only reliable option for dealing with narcissists is to just cut your losses and get away from them as quickly as possible.
So, at this point, our only reliable recourse seems to be to not waste time and effort trying to discuss anything with republicans, which just provides them with an opening for further infection, but to vote them, all of them, out in the next election. Seriously, just look at who we've been trying to "reason" with. We've got, again, Greg Gianforte and Steve Daines in the north, Cory Gardner and Ken Buck in the middle, and Lindsey Graham and Ron DeSantis in the south. These aren't people who can be "reasoned" with; they're psychologically "abnormal" for crying out loud. We have to face the facts and get past our codependent urge to try to redeem the irredeemable and save the damned. Our country and our democracy are being destroyed while we dither. We have to just vote and get them the hell out! It's not personal; it's science.
I applaud PEER's effort via a lawsuit to bring public attention to the fact that Everson is unqualified to be any kind of director of the NPS. She has no experience with park management, resource management, or any of the multitude of issues that park staff face every day, from law enforcement, resource management, cleaning bathroooms, search and rescue and on and one. She is experienced in being a yes-person to the Secretary of the DOI, who is in turn a yes-person for the White House. No one in the White House has any more of a clue about NPS issues and management than Everson or the Secretary. If this behavior of putting inexerienced and unqualified people in charge of public lands, irreversible damage to those lands and resources will occur.
I won't argue the "legality" as I don't know enough about the intricacies of the Vacancies reform act.
Arguing past this confession is useless. This is the first such concession from this person in a good decade, and further should not be expected. Similar to his idol, confessions are not part of the pathology. Settle for it.
So Rick, who exactly is my "idol"?
Bucky -- sit down in a comfy chair, put your thinking cap on, and I'll bet even you can come up with the answer to your own question. If you can't come up with the answer in less than 20 minutes, I'm sure most of us here on NPT can help you out.
Go ahead Brian, help me out. Fact is, I idolize noone. But hey, facts don't matter to you (plural). Its funny how you all keep running away from the issue. Which would be better, PEER putting money into the parks or spending it on some snipe hunt?
Guys, that was his "former idol" from back when his "former idol" was WINNING; but, now it's no longer certain that his "former idol" is still a WINNER, which means his "former idol" might turn out to be a LOSER and we all know what that means among the rightwing cultists. It's pretty much as bad as somebody asking for a "living wage" and that's grounds for immediate firing. He said as much in one of his past comments. They talk a lot about who is WINNING and who is LOSING and they don't have much patience for LOSERS.
Even if you have served them with distinction in the past and that certainly doesn't apply to his "former idol" because his "former idol" has never served anyone other than himself and certainly not with distinction anyway; but, even if his "former idol" had, rightwingers only care whether you've been contributing more to their pockets than they've been paying you in the last few minutes or so. If they have to carry you any more than that, you're toast. That is America ...at least that's pretty much what he said in one of his past comments; I kid you not. But, as I pointed out more recently, I have no way of knowing what he actually believes in; but, he is an MBA so judge for yourselves.
You're the one who asked the question, Bucky, about who was your idol. I was just trying to give you some helpful hints so you could come up with the answer all by yourself. That's as much help as I can give you. Sorry. You are getting pretty funny, though, with your statement about facts don't matter. You should try this 2 step process: drink a pint of Orange Kool Aid and then do a google search on how many lies your idol has told in the past 4 years. Even you will figure it out...maybe.
I asked the question because the charge was made I had an idol. Don't, never have and never will. But hey, continue to dance around the issue. Would PEER money be better spent going to the parks or chasing some Quixotic challange. Funny how you (plural) would rather attack the individual than actually discuss the policy.
Expecting our government to obey it's own rules is a "Quixotic challange"?
EC's straw man (PEER's priorities) is NOT "the issue", any more than his spelling is. Suing this Banana Republican administration is exactly what PEER should be doing. "The issue" of this article and many of the comments is that intentionally avoiding Congressional vetting of unqualified appointees does not "advance" park management, or help the parks - quite the opposite. THAT is the issue.
So who is actually dancing around here?
Tahoma, show us how having an acting director has hurt the parks? Do you mean by getting $6 billion in additonal funding?
when basic facts can't be agreed upon debate becomes futile and devolves into personal attacks. It does not help any independent thinkers, if there is such a thing anymore, to come down on an issue when the majority or minority abandons intelligent discussion of their position and gangs up on the opposing opinion, in personal attack dog style. And painting everyone who disagrees with u as republican or democrat without further intelligent discussion of facts doesn't persuade many independent thinkers either. if we view each other as adversaries to be crushed then the means to achieve that can always be justified. Just for the record I support a lot of your contentions along with your basic position on the NPS but your venom and personal attacks in supporting your position can only detract from it and give pause to anyone considering such