They see no evil. They hear no evil.
Except, of course, for the evil they believe fishermen are doing on the pitifully few days of the year that they are allowed to try to make an honest living.
But when it comes to looking at corruption within, the leaders of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the regulatory agencies under their oversight see nothing. A "summit" convened by NOAA head Jane Lubchenco on Tuesday was focused on looking forward, not backward, to "advance … enforcement."
She and her lieutenants have been confronted with evidence — practically mountains of evidence — of misconduct by NOAA agents, in a series of reports by Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser.
As has been noted multiple times on these pages, Zinser found abuse of authority with vindictive enforcement and fines wildly out of proportion for minor civil infractions.
He reported on the blatant abuse of a $96 million Asset Forfeiture Fund by NOAA agents, in which agents bought cars, boats and paid for foreign travel with sketchy or nonexistent documentation.
Read the complete editorial from the Gloucester Daily Times.