The Uncivil Service (Chapter II)

By gferren, New West Unfiltered 1-02-08

CHAPTER 1: Bureau of Land Management, Miles City Montana (1991-2000)

Chapter 2: Exile to the Ivory Tower (Granite) and BLM State Office (Siberia)

Chapter 3: A Look at the Web Site

Chapter 4 Things I have Learned & Case Related Emails, Excerpts from Sworn EEO Investigation (ROI) testimony

Chapter 5: The Administrative Review Report Analysis

Chapter 6: Destroying the Basis (Justification) for the Detail, Extended Detail, and Subsequent Directed Reassignment, Another Look at the Administrative Review Team Report (and a copy that is not redacted)

Chapter 7: Performance (1991 - 1999)

Chapter 8: Montana BLM - Peyton Place & the Hypocrites

Chapter 9: Conclusion

Chapter 2: Exile to the Ivory Tower (Granite) and BLM State Office (Siberia)

When I reported to the BLM Montana State Office in January 1999, the first thing I did was meet with *Sara Romero-Minkoff to file an EEOC grievance against Janet Singer for discrimination. I believed and still do that Singer's actions against me were taken because I was male and over 40, both gender and age discrimination and in retaliation for my EEO statement in support of Janet Edmonds.

Rather than try to correct any alleged performance issues using guidelines as per BLM's own personnel manual, Singer was going to put me in my place, with her foot on my neck. *[I later learned that Sara Romero-Minkoff was mentored by Janet Singer] In the state office I was placed under Singers' subordinate Robin Stoebe and assigned to inventory excess computer equipment. [Robin Stoebe came to Billings from Denver, where several EEO complaints had been filed against him. Stoebe had once worked in the Miles City office as a Range Conservationist. After a stint in the BLM's Washington office he wound up at the Denver office.]

The State office was preparing to move from the Granite Tower lease, near downtown Billings, to a new BLM state office building being constructed on the West side of Billings near the freeway. [Former Montana BLM State Director Larry Hamilton and some of his staff would have to make a trip to BLM headquarters to request more funding for that construction - not sure what the actual end cost for the building came to.]

When Singer told me she was detailing me to MSO, she informed me that I would not be working with computers. What she did was take me from system level computer duties as the MCFO systems administrator and give me entry level computer duties at MSO. [This work was formerly performed by a coop student that had been dismissed for failing to maintain school grades, at least that was the story being given for A. C.'s dismissal.] This assignment to inventory and dispose of old PC's was done in retaliation and meant to make me feel degraded, to show me who was boss.

I started contacting anyone that I thought might be able to stop Singers' abuse of position and authority. I contacted the BLM Inspector General's office (IG), the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Merit System Protection Board (MSPB), wrote the BLM director, I even wrote the President. I had naively assumed there was a Civil Service agency such as the MSPB that would protect good civil servants from bad managers like Janet Singer and her cronies. I was dead wrong and was about to receive an education about the "system" in 1999-2000.

Kim Prill was assigned as the EEOC counselor to my complaint against Singer. Kim was also a Singer protégé. She traveled to Miles City to "investigate" and came back with her complaint about a poster I had in my work area. This poster was a promotion of an event (zoo grass) by a local Billings radio station featuring several beauties in jean shorts and halter tops - less revealing than say attire worn by the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. Kim Prill found it offensive. And that was about the sum of Kim's work on my complaint along with her recommendation that I drop the complaint. [Kim was later given a high graded position as the Lewis & Clark coordinator for the L&C anniversary, an event that never materialized in the touted wholesale arrival of tourists to Montana's L&C sites and events.]

From January 1999 to December 1999, I continued to drive from my home in Miles City to Billings, at first staying in a motel (during the "detail" and "extended detail") and later because of the expense renting a real dump (holes in the ceiling, mold on the walls) on the outskirts of Billings after the "directed reassignment" was made by Singer. I also changed my work days to 4x10hrs, Monday to Thursday, so that I could spend as much time as possible with my family in Miles City.

Late in 1999 after the EEOC investigation of my case the Denver EEOC office informed me that there was a (2) year backlog on dealing with those case findings. [Deb Chivers, The EEOC investigator on my case was a friend of Singers working out of the Boise ID office, I was told they had worked together in the Washington Office as EEO staff.
During my EEOC Investigation interview I attempted to question her about that personal relationship with Singer and she refused to answer on the record, but did so after going off record.]

The MSPB didn't seem to be going anywhere either, with Administrative Judge Kasic, out of Denver Colorado, being unwilling to consider any of the evidence related to my being moved in retaliation to MSO by Singer. Kasic has a symbiotic relationship with the Agencies and a unethical close relationship with the Field Solicitor, Gavin Frost. Kasic's $125,000+ per year salary was closely related to the workload of cases being generated by the Agencies such as Interior/BLM (aka job security) and he appears in no way interested in putting a stop to that gravy train.

AJ Kasic impressed me a lot by telling me of recently presiding over a case where (2) employees were fighting over who got the best ink pen…and then by informing me before the MSPB hearing in Billings that he was in a hurry to get back to Denver for his daughters T-ball game. Sources have told me that while speaking with Kasic by phone prior to any action on a complaint, he would make statements such as " I haven't read your case, but I'm going to deny it…" During my MSPB hearing after my "removal" from civil service by the BLM, Kasic prompted the Agency to direct it's argument and reasons for the removal on my alleged "hacking" rather than upon its charges against my web site postings, which had been the charges used to initiate the removal action.

As I had gone through the year of exile in 1999, along with attempting to utilize any administrative process, internal or external resource to bring attention to and prevent Singer's illegal actions, I had begun disclosing to the public Singer's actions being taken against me and other questionable actions taken by Montana BLM's managers through the media of my free speech Internet web site.

Singer had detailed me, extended the detail, pushed through a directed reassignment and even suspended me in 1999. [The suspension over my attendance at OHV meetings] With no way to stop her attack, I could and did make information of that attack available to the public via my Internet web page. Having fallen into the crocodile pit at feeding time, I knew that playing dead was not going to help much. I also knew that when wallowing with pigs, you are going to get excrement on your hands. I thought it was about time that some of the skeletons in the Montana BLM closet became public knowledge. I continued to hang on and fight, even when there seemed to be no escape from the abuse and with no end to Singer's retaliation in sight.

After the move from the Granite Tower to the new BLM state office, I had been placed in a cubicle directly in front of Robin Stoebe's office. Since the building was on a computer network, I could login from any terminal. I enjoyed watching Stoebe and certain members of the state office IRM staff hurry to inquiry why I had done so, when I would login from a different terminal other than the one that had been placed in my cubicle. The fact was that I knew I was being watched. Emails [in the case record] from Singer to Stoebe would later confirm that my web page postings were causing her, various other BLM managers and some employees like Watts and Mitchell, some serious heartburn. Singer directed Stoebe to monitor my activities closely.

In late December 1999 I posted a report to my web page regarding an ethics violation by MCFO manager Tim Murphy and also a report on the drunken antics of the Field Solicitor attorney Gavin Frost which had occurred during a rugby team trip to Wyoming, this taken from a previous series of Billings Gazette newspaper articles on the subject. Murphy had given his secretary Linda Reder a grazing lease against the recommendation of his Miles City office grazing staff after the secretary's husband had grazed cattle on the land illegally for the previous (2) years.

The report on Solicitor Gavin Frost mentioned how he had first mooned off-duty female law enforcement officers in a bar and later participated in a gang fight when his rugby team jumped the bartender (by the way there was no rugby game scheduled in the Wyoming town where Frost's drunken spree occurred). After this posting and before I was due to report back to the MSO, I received notice that I was going to be removed from the civil service for "misconduct" and that I was being placed on administrative leave pending that action.

[http://gferren.150m.com/gfrost.html]

["…Bulls team member Gavin Frost, of Billings, spent Sunday night in jail after police responded to a brouhaha at Cassie's Supper Club, a honky tonk bar on Cody's West Strip…Frost smelled of alcohol when he was arrested, slurred his speech and had trouble staying on his feet, Kelsey said…Shortly after jailers locked him in the drunk cell, Frost began shouting, singing and banging on the door, awakening other prisoners…Several off duty officers saw the team drop their pants while Singing and dancing at the Brass Rail Lounge that evening. The team, dressed alike in bright blue, yellow and red jerseys, told the bartender there to turn off the juke box as players sang Irish drinking songs, said officer Ann Fields, who witnessed the group nudity…"]

In January 2000 the effort to end my civil service career was being concluded with the actions of Singer, Stoebe, Friez, and a hatchet-man named John Moorhouse who would sign off on the charge as the deciding official. On my worst day as a government employee, I was better than any of these dregs would ever be. Having endured the abuse for a year, my patience was coming to an end also. The Merit System Protection Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission…who should have protected me from a petty tyrant like Janet Singer, seem to exist in fact and reality primarily to protect government managers from accountability for their actions.

The cost had been too high. During my exile, the time being in Billings away from my family in Miles City had contributed to serious problems that occurred with my youngest son. Combining prescription ADHD drugs with recreational drugs, Joshua and some other teens destroyed a $20,000 statue in the Miles City cemetery. This would ultimately send him to the Pine Hills Youth Correctional Facility under the decision of Judge Gary L. (make 'em pay) Day. When I brought forth information that suggested other teens were involved in the cemetery incident, Judge Day gave me a contempt of court citation for my trouble. I guess we are all lucky to have another fool in a position of authority.

The day I heard that Joshua had been arrested and charged, I was sitting in Billings dealing with the frustration of being unable to stop my career and skills from being destroyed. I was trying every avenue, but was still helpless to stop Singer's abusive actions and felt that I had failed my son when he needed me most. I went into the men's bathroom and dented a towel dispenser with my fist.

Being subjected to Singer and her MSO criminal entourage had become more and more depressing and my general health was suffering. I was living in a dump with mold on the walls and eating fast food junk for my meals. For about six months prior to the removal action I was not even given the farce of "duties" at MSO, but was left to my own projects and initiatives. To stay sane I studied system security and worked on my web page postings, trying to find ways to stay busy, to not let my computer skills stagnate, and to make it through another week while my every move was being watched.

After I was put on administrative leave, in January 2000 Robin Stoebe and Chuck Sandau came to Miles City to meet with me and to question me on the charges brought against me. They also brought one of the state office law enforcement staff. The direction of the questioning was about my web page postings and about my removing a log file from a computer. I had actually truncated the file which zero'd out the contents.

I was being setup to appear as a hacker and real bad-guy. I had been aware of Stoebe's surveilance before *October of 1999, but when I questioned him on how long this had been occurring his reply was "a couple of weeks". [*I had written an email to David Swogger in Miles City regarding the surveilance and even predicted that Singer's next line of attack would be to charge me with hacking.] When Stoebe questioned me about "files that I had deleted", I answered that I had no knowledge.

Since the question was ambigious and not knowing what files I would be charged with having modified or destroyed, I was not about to give him any blanket "confession" to apply toward trumped up accussations. I already knew Stoebe to be a liar and a flake from my previous years of experience dealing with the BLM's Montana IRM chief. [Later, when I was given a specific file name, I had no hesitation to admit to deleting a non-essential log file that is routinely removed or truncated as a part of normal and responsible system administration.]

It took the Montana BLM from January to March to go through the motions and make the removal effective. Moorhouse "investigated" by asking a couple of questions to the state office IRM staff, conveniently ignoring the evidence I submitted regarding Singer's retaliation and also ignoring the other Field Office Computer Specialists I had requested he interview, when it came to tech questions related to computer files and system procedures. My web page revelations of the corruption of Singer and her cohorts were particularily troublesome to Mr. Moorhouse. Freedom of Speech and Whistle Blowing didn't trouble him so much though. He didn't really give those much thought or concern. He did remark that he had been the deciding official on 2 or 3 other removals…it appears he was MSO's go-to-guy, when an "official" was needed to put pen to paper.

After the removal was official, I filed with the MSPB regarding the action. This would allow me to exhaust "administrative" remedies and move the case to a Federal Court. I had no illusions that the MSPB and more specifically that Administrative Judge Kasic would perform his duties and reverse the BLM's decision. IMHO, The MSPB and its' judges are bloodsucking leaches that grow fat off the business that Agencies such as Interior/BLM deliver to their doorstep. There is simply no incenitive for the MSPB to correct the Agencies. As soon as the MSPB ruled, affirming the BLM's decision, I filed a complaint, DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL, in the Ninth Circuit Federal District Court, Billings Montana. [*This is required if you do not want a Judge to decide the case and there is a Constitutional right to civil trial, but more about that later in the Chapter on Courts and Judges]

You may wonder why I did not resign rather than endure the year of exile 1999 and all that I have related here. After being moved to the BLM state office in Billings, I hired an attorney. When I voiced my frustration with the lack of progress and mentioned that I was considering resignation she advised that I stick it out and that we would prevail. That I should just be patient and at least I would be getting a paycheck. [I had already paid her a $5000 retainer and that BLM paycheck was being used to pay off the loan I had taken out to provide that $5000.]

In the beginning I think she was sincere, but after her legal efforts were rebuked by the MSPB, she seemed to lose interest. Regardless of whether right or wrong, it was apparent that the BLM was going to nail me to the wall any way that Singer could and my attorney realized this before I did. She started missing scheduled meetings with Singer and Friez. Responses to the various entities, responses that had deadlines were being left to me to prepare and submit.
Would I have been better off to resign? I don't know. During 1999, I applied for at least (20) positions with other agencies. In many cases I was over qualified for the position being advertised, but I was never called or interviewed for any of those positions. I believe that the people involved with filling those open positions were given a negative discourse regarding me if they contacted the BLM state office. "You don't want this guy, he's trouble…" or something similar. Before the MSPB decision Field Solicitor Gavin Frost did offer to settle with me for the sum of $5000 or $10000 and a "neutral" comment in my personnel folder, with the stipulation that I could not work for Interior agencies in the future. After the MSPB hearing concluded in 2000, and my removal was affirmed by the MSPB, AJ Kasic again, Gavin Frost said I should have accepted that offer.

Why didn't I move my family to Billings and accept my fate, eventually by fawning and boot-licking, I could have achieved favor with Singer and acquired a non-descript, unimportant position at the Billings state office and even sat out my civil service career until retirement. Many beaten-down Montana BLM civil servants do just that. A government paycheck is still substantial and in places like Montana far above the average workers' wages, two workers do well to earn the salary of one government employee.

I had two boys graduating school in Miles City where they had grown up and even if I had not, it's not my style to give in to tyrants. People like Singer have always put a bow in my back. Whenever we had one of those 3pm Friday meetings, where she would reassign me or suspend me, I would look at her and think "you will never have power over me". But she did have the power to destroy my civil service career. [End of article]