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Aloha! DoJ Voting Chief is Frequent Flier
When John Tanner, chief of the Civil Rights Division's voting section, appeared before a Congressional panel last month, he was upbraided by Democrats for his "ineffectiveness." Little did they know that as the section, probably the most politicized in the Justice Department under the Bush Administration, has done less and less to protect African-American voters from discrimination, Tanner has been seeing the country on the taxpayers' dime.
He even managed to make taxpayer-funded trips to Hawaii in three consecutive years, two of them a week long. One Department lawyer who accompanied Tanner on his first trip took the earliest available flight back after having completed all necessary work in just two business days. But Tanner insisted on staying a full week, despite the lack of apparent Department business. It's a crime for government officials to use public funds for personal travel.
A review of Justice Department documents obtained by TPMmuckraker shows just how extensive Tanner's travel has been. From May of 2005 when Tanner became chief of the section through the end of 2006, he took 36 trips, traveling 97 days over those 19 months. By comparison, Tanner's predecessor Joe Rich took only two trips from 2003 through his retirement in April 2005, a total of six days of taxpayer funded travel over those 28 months.
"It's important for a chief to be in the office to run the office," Rich told me, explaining why he'd traveled so little. Most of his travel was for voting rights conferences and speaking engagements, he said. Chiefs rarely travel for cases, he said.
Voting section lawyers, upset with Tanner's abuse of his authority as chief, have filed at least two complaints in recent months with the Justice Department inspector general concerning Tanner's travel and other issues (you can read one here). Another complaint, which we published last month, dealt with the travel of Tanner's deputy Susana Lorenzo-Giguere. A Department spokesman said then that the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) was investigating whether Lorenzo-Giguere had filed certain lawsuits in order to get paid while living at her Cape Cod beach house. Tanner is also under investigation for approving that arrangement. It's unclear whether OPR is also investigating other trips by Tanner or Lorenzo-Giguere.
In the meantime, according to two sources, both Tanner and acting section deputy Susana Lorenzo-Giguere have been banned indefinitely from any further travel. The Justice Department did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.
Tanner has been on thin ice ever since he publicly declared that voter ID laws did not discriminate against minorities, because "minorities don't become elderly the way white people do: they die first." Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) called for him to be fired. During last month's hearing, Tanner apologized, saying "I hurt people." Nevertheless, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) berated him in a brutal line of questioning for basing decisions on "stereotypes rather than facts."
Tanner took the first of his three trips to Hawaii in January of 2003 when he was a senior lawyer in the section, according to the Department records. David Becker, then an attorney in the section, accompanied him on the trip. Becker is currently with the liberal advocacy group People For the American Way.
"Tanner was really gung-ho on going to Hawaii," Becker told me. "When he discussed scheduling the trip with me, I told him I thought it could be completed in less than a week, given my experience working and meeting with our contacts in Hawaii before, but he indicated that the trip had to be longer.”
Becker himself had been to Hawaii the September prior for a three-day trip. Many section lawyers made a number of such trips to ensure that state and local election agencies were adequately serving minority language populations. Tanner traveled more than any other lawyer in the section during the years of 2003 and 2004 on such matters; taking at least 46 trips, traveling 206 days over those two years.
For a lawyer to make a second trip was not unusual, Becker said. But for two lawyers to make such a trip where the Department was not preparing or involved in a lawsuit against the jurisdiction was highly unusual.
During the trip, the two met with local contacts and state election officials. "After a couple days, I went to him and said, 'I think we're done. Do you mind if I go home?' He said 'OK' and let me go." Department records show that the two lawyers departed Washington, DC on January 2, 2003, a Thursday. Becker left on the earliest available return flight, on Tuesday, the 7th. Tanner did not fly home until the 10th, a Friday. Becker said that he had not been contacted by investigators from OPR or the Department's inspector general.
Despite the fact that the Department ultimately never filed suit against any jurisdiction in Hawaii, Tanner returned again to Hawaii in 2004 and then again in 2005.
But he didn't go alone when he returned. When he departed in March of 2004, he went with Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, the lawyer who's currently under investigation for being paid to work out of her Cape Cod beach house. And according to Becker and Rich, it was common knowledge among voting section attorneys that the two took their spouses on the trip. Moreover, one of the complaints to the inspector general alleges that Lorenzo-Giguere had the Department purchase her a first class ticket for the trip because of an ailing back.
Tanner requested per diem reimbursement for expenses for every day of his visit, including weekend days, according to a travel voucher obtained by TPMmuckraker. That includes the $112 per night hotel bill, parking costs, and the $282 bill for a rental car at the end of his stay.
Rich, who was then the chief of the section, said that he approved both trips by Tanner in 2003 and 2004, because they were made to ensure Hawaii's compliance with minority language provisions. But he said Tanner never suggested suing any jurisdiction in Hawaii afterwards -- notable because he led lawsuits against a number of other jurisdictions for lack of compliance with those provisions.
In July of 2005, after Tanner became chief, he returned to Honolulu by himself for a shorter visit. It's unclear what the purpose would have been.
Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and currently the Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that officials who hit up taxpayers for recreational travel can be charged with theft of government property, a felony. She added that the crime isn't frequently prosecuted and that it's more likely that Tanner would simply be fired if an OPR investigation concluded he'd stolen Department funds.
But Sloan said that given the problems in the Justice Department, if Attorney General Michael Mukasey was "serious about cleaning up the Department, he'd just get rid of Tanner. If there's a question about him stealing, then he should be gone."
Adrianne Jeffries provided invaluable research and analysis for this piece. Peter Sheehy, James Lambert, and Ned Resnikoff also contributed.
Update: The piece originally said that Becker flew back from Hawaii on Wednesday, January 7th. January 7th was a Tuesday.
Comments (52)
modmom wrote on November 28, 2007 2:39 PM:Although this guy deserves to be canned (if not worse) for his actions in regards to disenfranchising minorities, let's hope this latest scandal of using taxpayer's funds for travel does him in. It's past time to rebuild the DoJ Voting Section. Here's hoping that Conyers et al act on this.
Drew wrote on November 28, 2007 2:43 PM:I think someone needs to clean up the days and dates listed in the passage I cut and pasted below- they don't fit.
"Department records show that the two lawyers departed Washington, DC on January 2, 2003, a Thursday. Becker left on the earliest available return flight, on Wednesday, the 7th. Tanner did not fly home until the 10th, a Friday."
SeeDee wrote on November 28, 2007 2:44 PM:Gad! Is there no end to the slime and corruption that is the George W. Bush administration?
That pack of thieves and the 'opposition' party members who are not outraged to the point of serious action to punish such conduct should all be sent into oblivion or jailed.
Anonymous wrote on November 28, 2007 2:48 PM:There's an entire GAO report done on the abuse of government travel by political and career executives throughout the federal government.
Dougs wrote on November 28, 2007 3:01 PM:These complaints about abuse aren’t the only problems. There is a litigation attorney who also has an EEO complaint filed against him because of sexist and homophobic comments. This same guy has also been abusing travel. He took vacations in Hawaii and San Diego without using leave time. He works a whole lot of days at home and days he is supposed to be in the office he is hardly ever at his desk. I walk by it all the time and it seems he is never there. This can’t go on without special permission from the Section Chief. The hilarious thing is that this lawyer always demeans the Section Chief, front office appointees and women managers behind their backs – and they have absolutely no idea while they heap special privileges on the guy. What a joke. The complaints about this guy will probably be in the papers soon too. You can’t contain this sort of criminal behavior forever. As great Mrs. Lynn said, “the times they are a changing!!”.
Doug wrote on November 28, 2007 3:02 PM:These complaints about abuse aren’t the only problems. There is a litigation attorney who also has an EEO complaint filed against him because of sexist and homophobic comments. This same guy has also been abusing travel. He took vacations in Hawaii and San Diego without using leave time. He works a whole lot of days at home and days he is supposed to be in the office he is hardly ever at his desk. I walk by it all the time and it seems he is never there. This can’t go on without special permission from the Section Chief. The hilarious thing is that this lawyer always demeans the Section Chief, front office appointees and women managers behind their backs – and they have absolutely no idea while they heap special privileges on the guy. What a joke. The complaints about this guy will probably be in the papers soon too. You can’t contain this sort of criminal behavior forever. As great Mrs. Lynn said, “the times they are a changing!!”.
Jim wrote on November 28, 2007 3:03 PM:Why does any goverment official other then foreign affairs and elected officials even have to travel for these days -
r€nato wrote on November 28, 2007 3:07 PM:can't they teleconference -
what purpose does it serve?
So what's the over/under on the first troll to show up and say, 'Clinton did it tooooooooooo!'
Anon wrote on November 28, 2007 3:18 PM:If you are traveling from DC to Hawaii, you are allowed to claim per diem if (for example) you travel on Sunday to get there for a Monday meeting. You are also allowed to get there a few days early or leave a few days later, if it doesn't make the plane fare higher and if you take annual leave for those days. You can't take per diem or charge the government for your hotel or rental car those days. This guy clearly broke a LOT of the travel rules.
(sarcasm) I sure hope Scott Bloch punishes him.
Anonymous wrote on November 28, 2007 3:22 PM:I have an application pending in the attorney's honor's program in the Civil Rights Division. Wish me luck...
John Dillinger wrote on November 28, 2007 3:31 PM:Anyone know if and when the confirmation hearing for Grace Cheung Becker (no relation to Scott) for head of the Civil Rights Division has been scheduled?
rockgolf wrote on November 28, 2007 3:36 PM:Wha...? he got a Hawaiian hotel room for $112 a night? Presumably single? Where do I sign up?
theWalrus wrote on November 28, 2007 3:36 PM:Good God, is there ANYONE in this administration who is not greedy, corrupt and incompetent???
It's simply stunning. I don't know much about pre-1920's administrations but this one has got to rank up there as one of the most lawless and dysfunctional in history.
IceJustIce wrote on November 28, 2007 3:48 PM:Doug,
Gaines wrote on November 28, 2007 4:05 PM:This attorney is the same one who sexually harrassed a female civil rights analyst, calling her a "rug muncher" and worse. Tanner then gave him a cash performance award.
Glad it looks like he may go down for this. One editing note: Put the stuff about the per diem expenses up in the beginning of the article with the first mention of when the other lawyer flew back and when Tanner flew back. It's having DOJ pay for the expenses after his work was complete that is the problem. Most employers wouldn't have a problem with an employee flying somewhere they needed to be, taking a few days of vacation at their own expense and then using the other have of the employer-paid ticket to come home. As a taxpayer, I don't have a problem with that, unless it is shown the spread out travel was more expensive for the government that traveling out and back in 3 days.
rawls wrote on November 28, 2007 4:55 PM:Ya know, if he were black or hispanic he could just shrug his shoulders and say, "cut me a break, life is short..."
Lisa wrote on November 28, 2007 5:12 PM:Speaking as a govt employee, I can confirm that we are allowed, at our boss's discretion, to take vacation time by returning late from a work trip. However, we incur all hotel, meals, etc costs during our vacation period. It is a good perk - lets employees enjoy the perk of travel while costing the taxpayer nothing.
Saint Augustine wrote on November 28, 2007 5:19 PM:rawls: Are you a racist idiot or just plain dumb?
Northlite wrote on November 28, 2007 5:30 PM:Certainly Republicans are not the only ones engaged in such petty abuse. But it is so common in the current administration, so top to bottom, as to be both endemic and emblematic of the self-serving and corrupt nature of what once was the Grand Old Party. One of the great challenges for the next (Dem.! of course)administration is to clean out the muck, ferret out the moles, and then straighten up the mess in the endless corridors of our poor damaged government.
CatStaff wrote on November 28, 2007 5:31 PM:St. Aug --
I think Rawls was snarking on Tanner's earlier comments about how minorities aren't discriminated against when it comes to voting while elderly, because they don't get old like whitey.
ron wrote on November 28, 2007 5:32 PM:actually st. augustine, if youd been following along youd get rawls is making a joke at tanner's expense. one apparently too clever for you to get.
Northlite wrote on November 28, 2007 5:44 PM:What's really frightening and disturbing about this is that its not just the politically-empowered petty(and serious) corruption, its that simultaneous with their incompetence they are pursuing such a destructive right-wing self-serving agenda.
Requiem for Bigger Thomas wrote on November 28, 2007 7:08 PM:Fortunately, one of the reasons that the Republican brand is on hard times with Americans is that this corruption is pervasive, so there have been instances and major outbreaks--ie.Ney, Cunningham, Foley, Abramoff, etc. that have been reported in many major media markets and on the national news. Plus: "Your doin' a great job Brownie". All but the 30%ers know how rotten to the core Bush Co. is. But we must not let all this end with Bush; We Must Hang ALL This Around ALL the Republican's Necks!
This story and accompanying memo to OPR could not have gone up on a more propitious day. The author of the memo is spot on when s/he writes about the retaliatory nature of Voting Section management.
Just today, a member of our staff received an email from Section management, instigated by Division management, reprimanding him. The alleged offense? Being "Bigger Thomas," who has commented on previous Tanner/Lorenzo-Giguere threads. I should add that there is not one iota of proof that this individual is actually the commenter. One of the beautiful things about the Muck comment section is that it is completely anonymous. I could post as "John Tanner" and say "David Becker was telling the truth in his exit interview. Susana and I ARE having an affair." (I will add, for the sake of fairness, that this allegation is unproven, but they sure did travel together a lot before they were apparently banned!)
The fact that the person commenting as "Bigger Thomas" said that s/he scanned documents and was accused of watching porn on his/her computer means nothing -- these are generally known facts about the accused individual, and any of 30+ people could have been trying to set him up.
But this is beside the point. There is no allegation that said individual utilized a government computer; there is no allegation that said individual divulged confidential information. This is a privately owned site, and those of us from the Section are certainly smart enough to do our anonymous commenting from home. Simply put, if the individual who put these comments up was a Voting Section employee, s/he was plainly exercising rights protected under the First Amendment.
Would somebody please call the ACLU?
In sending this email, Section and Division management have proven the points Paul and his sources in the Section, God bless them, have been making all along: Management is petty and vindictive, and all they care about is trying to keep this story under wraps.
Memo to Division management (Asheesh, we know you read TPM): You want to make this story go away? You want to make the House Judiciary Committee go away? You want to make Grace Chung Becker's confirmation hearings something less than a bloodbath with Leahy, Kennedy, Schumer, and the rest hurling John Tanner questions at her? You want to stop the complaints to OPR and the IG? You want to stop editorials in the New York Times dissing your Voting Section chief? You want to stop being a laughing stock universally ridiculed, including TWICE in the front section of the Washington Post in a WEEK?
It's easy. You don't even have to do what Barack Obama, Jerrold Nadler, and now Melanie Sloan are calling on you to do and fire John Tanner. You've got little hidey-holes in the Division where you can stick SESers until they retire. John will be eligible in a few months. It wasn't hard to get rid of Bob Berman when he became a liability, was it? You just transferred him over to a new training section, and he was gone in ONE DAY.
Then, fill the two deputy chief positions with the people who are entitled to them: Chris Herren and Gaye Tenoso. Chris Coates can keep the lid on the Section until January '09. He's respected by just about everybody and has something John Tanner doesn't: PRINCIPLES and INTEGRITY.
Frankly, I don't know why you have let this go on as long as you have. YOU have professional reputations to protect; YOU are going to need jobs after the Bush administration leaves office. That you haven't done anything about a Civil Rights Section Chief who makes racist comments and takes junkets to Hawaii on taxpayer money reflects badly on YOUR management skills.
Why do you continue to protect this man when he's making you look like class A fools?
And finally, what's worse? A document scanner who makes comments on a blog or a section chief who repeatedly makes racist comments in front of audiences when he's representing YOU? Where is JOHN TANNER's reprimand?
Saint Augustine wrote on November 28, 2007 7:56 PM:Rawls: RE your comment, I confess, I was mistaken, I did miss the snarkiness, I'm sorry, my mistake.
moondancer wrote on November 28, 2007 8:07 PM:I understand why the independent counsel was eliminated after the Starr abuse, but there is a huge hole in the justice system without it. The whole DOJ scandal needs a IC as well as State. Actually the Siegleman probe probably does too. I don't know the solution but this criminal behavior is not being addressed properly without an IC.
Joe Monster wrote on November 28, 2007 8:27 PM:ie. Tanner should be idicted by now, as well as von Spakosky, Doan, Gonzalez, ad nauseum...
Isn't this what government funds are for? At least according the administration, they aren't for health, research, environmental, technological or social development. So what they heck do you want them to use those bucks for?
Little Tom wrote on November 28, 2007 9:15 PM:One thing is for sure, if Tanner and Giguere are still employed in their current positions when Becker goes up for confirmation, it WILL be a rhetorical bloodbath.
This story only will get worse. Travel fraud goes beyond even that which is reported on these pages. Just FOIA someone's trips to Seattle (king county) and ask: what happened with these investigations. Just FOIA someone's trips to Texas and ask: what happened. Just FOIA a certain Randy Chief's four month trip to New Mexico and ask: who were you with? Just FOIA the road party to New Orleans and ask: what were you all doing there? Just pry back the gross incompetence and corruption of the head of the Section 5 unit and ask: is this an improvement over Bob Berman? Just ask Becker – were these problems brought to the attention of Division leadership like Rena Comisac and Wan Kim: and what happened?
Don't worry, it will be a genuine Mongolian Fuster Cluck when they have those hearings if things don't change. People ought to just call OPM and tell them everything they know. As we all learned recently, whistleblower protection is a wonderful thing.
Little Tom wrote on November 28, 2007 9:16 PM:Also - Bigger - can you post the communication reprimanding you????
Requiem couldn't have said it better:
"Frankly, I don't know why you have let this go on as long as you have. YOU have professional reputations to protect; YOU are going to need jobs after the Bush administration leaves office. That you haven't done anything about a Civil Rights Section Chief who makes racist comments and takes junkets to Hawaii on taxpayer money reflects badly on YOUR management skills."
One thing is for sure, give the devil his due, the Schloz wouldn't have tolerated this criminality like the current Division crowd does.
day-dreamin wrote on November 28, 2007 9:17 PM:Requiem for Bigger Thomas: well said. i hope the front office is not just reading, but taking notes, and ready to take action. i know im living in a dream world, i know this, but cant BERMAN be the chief? he has SES training...then he can take TANNER to coffee and let him know he is no longer the good fit...
The Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison not H.G. Wells) wrote on November 28, 2007 9:29 PM:A wisened old, comic-book sage named Ben Parker once told his adopted nephew, Peter, "With great power comes great responsibility..."
Apparently, this axiom only applies to comic-book superheroes and not DOJ, Civil Rights Division officials. The never-ending cycle of government corruption continues. The funny thing about power is the rapid rate at which it intoxicates those who readily abuse it. And by the time they are finished guzzling from the wine bottle of power, their numerous abuses have been uncovered and all of their integrity and credibility is all gone.
In a final act of desperation, they attempt to bully and intimidate even the lowest of the bottom-feeders from complaining about unfair treatment, through clandestine e-mail communications. And they can't even be bothered to do the dirty work themselves. This is the reality of the kind of leadership that is currently at the helm of the Voting Section. It's time for decency and fair-play to make a comeback.
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children."
R.I.P.
IceJustIce wrote on November 28, 2007 9:37 PM:Sean Taylor
Little Tom --
Fear not. I have it on good authority that the two OPR complaints posted on TPM are but a drop in the bucket. And OPR is not taking this as a laughing matter.
I can't come up with any highfalutin' quotes like The Invisible Man, so I'll just quote Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott: "Captain! She canna take much more of this! She's gonna blow!"
And day-dreamin, I'm afraid you're right: thinking THIS administration will bring back Bobby B. IS day dreamin'. Just repeat the mantra I've been reciting for the last year or so now...1...20...09...
IceJustIce wrote on November 28, 2007 9:44 PM:And, finally...I would strongly advise the recipient of the Bigger Thomas email NOT to post it here.
change is coming wrote on November 28, 2007 9:59 PM:Doug(s): thanks for calling out SEAN O'DONNELL. that office is empty far more often than occupied...not that i'm complaining. do we really want a guy like that in the office anyway? management awarding him this evaluation period is priceless, as is their lack of awarding the two black analysts and the three attorneys who spoke against their inappropriate actions to the ombudsman/front office. note to management: be a little LESS obvious next award cycle.
Tastycake Delivery Man wrote on November 28, 2007 10:02 PM:If "Bigger Thomas" is a "she", as Requiem notes might be possible, and she is watching porn on her computer, at work . . . . come over and see my collection at home!!
Requiem for Bigger Thomas wrote on November 28, 2007 10:13 PM:Tastycake:
I frankly don't know who Bigger Thomas is. I just know that the person who was ACCUSED of being Bigger Thomas was also ACCUSED of watching porn on his computer (sorry, this individual is very male).
Seems like management likes to ACCUSE this guy of lots of things. Which is really strange, because he's just about the quietest person in the office.
Unsurprisingly for this management crowd, the person they like to ACCUSE also happens to be black.
Talk about preying on the defenseless!
Requiem for Bigger Thomas wrote on November 28, 2007 10:17 PM:Sorry...just realized that I edited the last post incorrectly...originally, the "defenseless" paragraph was after the "quietest" paragraph...
I then went back and inserted the paragraph noting that the individual in question is black because it's relevant -- management has problms with race.
Did not mean to imply that his race had anything to do with his ability to defend himself. Note to self: when you edit, read the whole thing before you hit "send"!
Bobby Seals wrote on November 28, 2007 10:41 PM:Like the Invisible Man said, it's an act of extreme desperation that the "powers that be" felt the need to single out and make an example of this one, singular, insignificant, bottom-feeding employee. How could one voiceless person be so dangerous? No one could possibly take this individual seriously?? They've ran out of closet space for their workplace abuse skeletons and now they're trying "cyber-intimidation".
adrianne wrote on November 29, 2007 7:21 AM:@ Anon: Tanner was not listed on annual leave for those days.
Luneylegume wrote on November 29, 2007 7:40 AM:Saint Augustine wrote on November 28, 2007 7:56 PM:
jsj20002 wrote on November 29, 2007 9:39 AM:Rawls: RE your comment, I confess, I was mistaken, I did miss the snarkiness, I'm sorry, my mistake.
The anger I felt reading that assisted in my own missing of the very quiet point .
This sort of abuse has become more common since the GAO changed the rules to allow government employees to keep the frequent flyer miles for themselves. I'll bet this guy keeps flying for free for several years after leaving government.
Wind Walker wrote on November 29, 2007 11:43 AM:The OPR complaint against John filed for unethical conduct during the GA Voter ID submission review is still under investigation as well.
As an aside, let's not forget that Chris "I want to kill all Muslims" Coates also does not have his hands clean. He participated in the review and turned a blind eye to the preclearance of the GA ID statute and has been documented as threatening at least one female attorney in recent history.
Finally, let's not also remember that baseless threats are par for the course for Voting Section leadership. I have heard from numerous attorneys that John has mad leak allegations about most of the "old guard" in the office. Yvette needs to work more on her self-esteem (and legal training, which goes with out saying) and less on trying to win over her employees who she constantly harrasses and abuses. It would be energy better spent.
togo wrote on November 29, 2007 3:09 PM:Careful Windwalker - defamation is defamation, no matter where it is published.
Wind Walker Rocks wrote on November 29, 2007 4:09 PM:Togo,
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation, and I don't see anything untrue about her statement.
Wind Walker wrote on November 29, 2007 4:22 PM:Interesting that togo would allege defamation. Is that you Asheesh? Unfortunately, probably everything written on here is the truth
Heather wrote on November 29, 2007 5:00 PM:(and in case there are any liberal ladies out there reading-- I'm very much a single man :) )
I'm glad that all of this is finally coming to light. I salute all of the brave DOJers that are bringing truth to light. Stay strong everyone (Bigger, Wind, Ice...) and keep up the good fight!
Sue Burmeister Sucks Eggs wrote on November 29, 2007 5:22 PM:VSection hearts Heather!!!
For those of you who are not Voting Section people, the previous poster is a real-life hero who stood up to Tanner and the Republicans on behalf of black voters in Georgia and lost her job.
Roberta wrote on November 29, 2007 6:07 PM:Wow. I feel as if I've been let into a group that has suffered under tyranny and is fighting back. Thank you.
I hope that your fellow government workers--no matter what division or department--read and contribute to TPMMuckraker. You can be assured that people are paying attention to what you say (I can't tell you how many faxes, phone calls, and emails I've sent to members of Congress).
I fully believe that there are few Congressional aides that DO NOT read this site and pass along information to their bosses (this presupposes that their bosses aren't reading it themselves--more the loss for them).
Congress blew it with how they managed their whistleblower site, but there's safety here for you civil servants as well as a venue to get the truth out there.
And Bigger--good luck to you. Go directly to either Judicial committee and tell them what's happening to you. Make sure you contact several reputable reporters at the same time.
The Ghost of Deputy's Past wrote on November 29, 2007 7:36 PM:Hey Big Man Litigator: where were you today? The travel fraud police came to your office with handcuffs ready to take you to prison, but they found... you were on TRAVEL!!!
The Notorious B.I.G.G.E.R. wrote on November 29, 2007 10:05 PM:A couple months ago, an angry, frustrated, and disillusioned character came to the site, hoping to find a healthy outlet to vent about job-related sorrows. If there is one lesson that can be unearthed from this, it's that grown men and women with lofty titles aren't above acting like schoolyard bullies when somebody gets out of line on an online message board. If you don't want someone criticizing you in cyberspace, then don't do the crime!
In spite of enduring the humilation having their job dismissed as unskilled menial labor, BIGGER continues put out high-quality work. BIGGER goes the extra mile by scanning color documents, IN COLOR! BIGGER scans color maps, IN COLOR! BIGGER takes the time to rotate documents printed horizontally! BIGGER is routinely entrusted with scanning the larger, more difficult-to-scan submissions!
BIGGER hardly ever makes mistakes, in spite being forced to perform QC duties on their own work! BIGGER even catches mistakes made earlier in the imaging process and corrects them without complaint! BIGGER is the only person who keeps track of their work in a written daily log, which helps to facilite locating occasional wayward files! BIGGER is a veritable iron-person, who shows up to work on time, almost every day and has no major health problems or personal drama to deal with! Sometime's I wonder if BIGGER is superhuman?!?
But in the end, none of this matters. Why? Because they should just keep their damn mouth shut and be thankful they are allowed to keep their crap job that requires very little intellect to do, that they probably got because of affirmative action anyway......
janer wrote on November 30, 2007 1:10 AM:Not to take anything away from the sleazebags currently at Justice, but if you want to look at travel irregularities, take a look into military (officer and senior enlisted) travel practices. I know the military is currently above reproach, Iraq and all, but these guys are beyond belief. They tour and cruise around at will, conducting "site visits" around the globe, and of course going to conferences ad nauseum. There is almost literally no oversight. It's all about racking up the frequent flyer miles.
Anonymous wrote on December 3, 2007 8:18 PM:Anybody notice that Susana Lorenzo Giguere was nowhere to be seen today - not even on the morning report where an absence should be noted.
Maybe she and Big Man Litigator are visiting all his friends in Texas. Nah, that can't be. Big Time Litigator actually used leave today. That means he isn't in Texas defrauding the government about what he is doing there.
The Children of Lir wrote on December 6, 2007 9:13 PM:Where oh where was my Johnny Boy today?
Oh where oh where was my Johnny?
Did ye fear the loud boos,
Or deathly silence for you?
Perhaps your photo with them
Would be too much to defend,
With pesky hearings next year for the two.