WASHINGTON – 17 April 2012 – In the wake of the recent scandal at the General Services Administration (GSA), resulting in the resignation of the GSA Administrator, the firing of two senior agency staffers, and the suspension of four GSA managers, Sen. Scott Brown (R, MA), has asked President Obama for similar accountability at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which was recently found to have engaged in widespread abuse of its Asset Forfeiture Fund.
“The misconduct at NOAA is even more serious than that at GSA, as the NOAA scandals involve wasteful spending that was financed through abusive treatment of both our fishermen and American taxpayer”, stated the Senator in his April 13 letter. According to the Senator, the Inspector General found that “senior NOAA staff failed to maintain adequate controls over the millions of dollars that passed through this fund.” With this fund, the Senator writes that NOAA purchased things like a “$300,000 luxury fishing boat that was used to conduct weekend getaways, alcohol-fueled parties, and other joy rides” along with foreign travel. These expenses were paid for with fines that were found by an independent investigation to be excessive, and that “NOAA was motivated by money in certain enforcement activity.”
Also unlike the ongoing GSA scandal, NOAA’s abuses have yet to result in accountability for those involved. Citing the fact that “not a single person has been fired or seriously disciplined” for misconduct including abuse of the Asset Forfeiture Fund, Sen. Brown concluded that “leadership at the Department of Commerce has failed to provide any meaningful accountability” at NOAA. He mentions that, despite evidence of wrongdoing produced by the Commerce Department’s Inspector General, Administrator Lubchenco has not fired any of those found responsible and “has gone beyond all legal requirements in her protection of those who should be facing serious discipline.” This includes Dale Jones, the former Chief of NOAA Law Enforcement, who, in the middle of the Inspector General’s investigation, shredded 75-80% of his office’s files. Jones is still employed with NOAA. Sen. Brown concludes with calling for the firing of Administrator Lubchenco and an independent Justice Department investigation.