Dale J. Jones, police chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, appears to have been fired. But based on what NOAA head Jane Lubchenco and various congressmen know about his actions in recent months, he deserves a much harsher punishment than simply losing his job.
The chairman of a U.S. House oversight subcommittee revealed this week that Jones had reportedly shredded 75 percent of the material in his files last November — during the final stages of an active national investigation into claims that his agents had been both vindictive and unfair in their enforcement of commercial fishing regulations in the New England region.
That information came in a letter from Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, chairman of the House Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to Lois Schiffer, new general counsel for NOAA, and Barbara Fredericks, assistant general counsel for the Commerce Department.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.