Disgraced (Dept. of Interior) official was paid work bonus

[arendt]

Source: Nature - International Weekly Journal of Science

Further troubling reports have surfaced in
the case of a disgraced US official accused
of political interference in the workings of
the Endangered Species Act. It has been
disclosed that Julie MacDonald, former
deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife
and parks at the Department of the
Interior (DOI), received a performance
award of nearly $10,000 in 2005. Yet
the report of an investigation into her
conduct, released on 27 March this year,
reveals that MacDonald violated federal
regulations while in that position. She
resigned on 1 May.

The report, by the DOI’s office of
inspector general, paints a portrait of
a woman determined to minimize the
Endangered Species Act’s effect on the
economy. It includes evidence from
colleagues that she heavily edited science
reports from the field despite having no
formal scientific training, and bullied and
intimidated field scientists into producing
documents along the lines she wanted.

Observers say the case highlights how
appointees of President George W. Bush
can and have pushed political agendas
within federal agencies.“She was a little bit
more overt and transparent and shameless
about her political antics and dealings,
but she was not a lone ranger,” says Jamie
Rappaport Clark, executive vice-president
of the environmental group Defenders of
Wildlife in Washington DC and former
director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

MacDonald was also chastised for
sharing “nonpublic information with
private sector sources”, including a
nonprofit lobby group called the California
Farm Bureau Federation; the Pacific Legal
Foundation, a law firm that represents
development interests; and a friend from an
online game. The report outlines how she
sent internal departmental documents to
a friend in the game World of Warcraft “to
have another set of eyes give an unfiltered
opinion of them”. MacDonald could not be
reached for comment by Nature.


Read more: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v447/n7145/full/447621a.html

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Is it highway robbery yet?

Truly these people have no shame.

arendt

[leeroysphitz]

1. Disgraced? Sounds like another medal of freedom winner to me...

:sarcasm:

[Bandit]

2. Possible Supreme Court material

I doubt the Democrats would raise too big a ruckus if she were to be appointed.

[The Wielding Truth]

3. Spoiled shortsighted SOBs with no thought of preservation

of any thing, but their own sense of human dominance.

It is the theme that runs through this entire rw culture. "Me,me. What will happen to me and how much money can and power can I usurp through religion and governmental control to be part of the me club?"

Reality is much too diverse for their frightened minds to process. It's them vs anything that's not them, all the time.

There seems to be no room in their fearful hearts for cooperation and respectful equality of earth and man.

Shameful and foolish and deadly to all.

Yea, I am so disgusted with our government. We have been lax with assuming that reason would win out but instead found that an immature childlike streak of insanity has pushed it's way out of our womb to subjugate us. It's time as a individuals and a nation to call attention to and correct these harmful destructive behaviors.