Ex-chief of Park Police denounces firing (*Co silencing dissent)

[UpInArms]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/10/park.police.chief/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One day after she was fired, former U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers accused the Bush administration Saturday of silencing dissenting views in the rank and file.

Chambers' departure may not garner the same spotlight as those of former counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke and former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, but it appears to fall into a similar category: officials who leave or are forced out after questioning Bush administration policies.

Chambers said that she didn't expect to be fired seven months after the Interior Department put her on administrative leave with pay for talking with reporters and congressional staffers about budget woes on the 620-officer force.

She was fired Friday, just two and half hours after her attorneys filed a demand for immediate reinstatement through the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent agency that ensures federal employees are protected from management abuses.

<snip>

"The American people should be afraid of this kind of silencing of professionals in any field," she said. "We should be very concerned as American citizens that people who are experts in their field either can't speak up, or, as we're seeing now in the parks service, won't speak up."

...more...

[TahitiNut]

1. Dissent is Unamerikan under the Busholini Regime.

Any Democrat that doesn't kowtow to the Reich is being 'partisan.' Any citizen who doesn't sacrifice for the comforts of the wealthy is a 'malcontent.' Sieg Heil!
:puke:

[diamond14]

2. CNN spin...WE THE PEOPLE WON....we threw her out...she doesn't

belong in a position of power, and will NEVER obtain power over others again....WE THE PEOPLE beat her after she BEAT us...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1966750

[Scairp]

3. I cannot believe this

This is an important story and it just fell off the the front page. Where are our priorities?

[JayS]

4. I asked this same question yesterday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1961851

[alfredo]

7. I know. I put it on GD last night,

this morning it is page 4 with no replies. Are we getting outrage fatigue?

[booley]

5. so what abotu those guys in f9/11?

The cops and the military guys and the oficials that talked there?

Obvioulsy the dem speakers are safe, they are elected officials. But I remember at least two cops spoke on that film. Have they suffered any repercussions? And wasn't the mother of Pederson a government worker? Or did the lady talking about unemployment in Flint just look like her?

Yes, apparently i am getting quite old if my memory is so bad after seeing that film twice.

[tinanator]

8. state employees

I would assume it is up to their superiors to inflict punishment, not the Executive Branch of the Federal govt.

[quaoar]

6. Sadly...

Retaliation against officials who speak out is becoming so commonplace that it is no longer shocking and, thus, gets less attention than it deserves.