So, is the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just doing what the Inspector General told her to do?
That is the latest explanation from NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco in response to questions from both the public and members of Congress about why she has taken no action against those NOAA enforcement leaders and agents whose regulatory misconduct has thoroughly ruined the credibility of her agency — and brought unwarranted financial hardship on the fishing industry.
In a scathing, 28-page report released last month, U.S. Department of Commerce IG Todd Zinser cited multiple instances of misconduct by Dale Jones, law enforcement director for the past decade of the NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service. And other attention has focused on the heavy-handed tactics of Andrew Cohen, agent in charge of the Gloucester regional office; and Charles Juliand, head of the NMFS regional Office of General Counsel.
So far, none of them has been reprimanded, disciplined, suspended or fired. And the calls for firing are not partisan.
They come not only from fervent Democrats such as U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, but also from Republicans such as North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones.
Yet, at a hearing before a U.S. House oversight subcommittee earlier this month — and again at a closed meeting on Monday of this week — Lubchenco had said Zinser advised her "against making personnel decisions until his reports are complete."
Zinser is still investigating alleged document shredding by Jones and his staff — and is continuing to look into specific abuses by agents on fishermen and the industry.
Presumably, at least some of those should revolve around the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction, which, among other wrongs, was subjected to an unauthorized and wrongful after-hours entry by a cadre of NOAA agents in 2006, as documented by police.
Lubchenco's waiting for further, formal federal documentation of those and other thuggish tactics is fair enough. But her watchful waiting must not be used simply as a stalling tactic.
Zinser said his investigation should be complete in a little more than a week. Once it is done, Lubchenco must move, and quickly, to remove Jones, Cohen, Juliand and others who have participated in what has clearly been unaccountable rogue enforcement.
There is plenty already confirmed in Zinser's earlier report to take that action:
It was under Jones that fines levied against fishermen in the Northeast have been more than twice those in other areas of the country.
Jones, a former Maryland police chief, stocked his agency with criminal investigators, when the job was to handle civil, administrative violations.
It was fishery agents under Jones and Cohen who, just last month, visited Monte Rome, owner of the Intershell specialty seafood distributorship, to question him about possible testimony he might give in the pending trial of the auction before the case was settled. Rome rightfully refused to discuss the matter with them, ending what can only be called an act of intimidation — even after the Inspector General's report was out.
That kind of performance should be intolerable to the leader of a major federal agency who has promised to fix the documented problems with it.
And please, Ms. Lubchenco, when — not if — you finally do take the action against them that they deserve, could you spare the fishing community any words of praise for their "years of dedicated service?"
They have been behaving like thugs, not public servants. They do not deserve any praise — nor do they deserve golden parachutes.
When people sworn to serve the American people and uphold the public trust abuse that trust, they should not be rewarded with fat severance checks and comfortable pensions.
Rewards for thuggery will not restore trust in your agency.
It will just make things worse — even that seems more and more impossible with each passing day.
