Mount Rainier park ex-official scrutinized on land

"In 2002, David Uberuaga, then Mount Rainier National Park's superintendent, sold his home in Ashford for far above its assessed value to the owner of the company that then held a monopoly as the park's official climbing-guide service; that transaction raised questions and resulted in a reprimand"

Seattle Times Article

Posted already? Man that was fast.

Nice to see that the FOIA process did produce a few more facts. There's a little more information on exactly how the timing and the transactions played out.

I hate it when the news media pronounces judgement on climbing or skiing accidents almost as fast as they learn about them. Usually no one has any idea of what really happened and what can be learned until long after the fact. So waiting for a little more information is OK with me. Its nice to see that Ron Judd came back to this issue.

Our resident Caledonian will be thrilled to see that his instincts have been validated!

To put it lightly...Dave Uberuaga is a joke and a hypocrite. He really really pulled some strings on that one and to think no one would find out.
What pisses me off is that he really threw around his weight during his tenure to make sure the concessionaires program was as equal across the board. He caused a lot of grief for Crystal trying to not allow skiers to ski from the ski area into the park because it gave Crystal an unfair advantage and threw off the balance of his concessionaire plan. Because Crystal is not giving money to the Park, yet skiers are allowed to enter it, in his eyes gave the look of getting commercial use of the Park without a users contract.
I guess it takes a crook to think like one.
He should be booted out of the Grand Canyon and back to working the campground latrines.

He should be booted out of the Grand Canyon and back to working the campground latrines.

I recall a TAY thread a few years back on the Crystal boundary issue where Joedabaker opined that "there's more going on up in the Park than meets the eye".  It seemed merely wise then, but almost prescient now.

Uberuaga will probably just slink away to draw his fat pension, if indeed he suffers any penalty at all.  I have to take issue with Joe on the most appropriate punishment for him, tho.  Cleaning toilets is far from the worst job in the Park.  It pays twice as much as a seasonal 'ranger' and you get to drive around a lot.  I'd say put him (and Director Jarvis) in the entrance booth answering dumb touron questions and breathing the exhaust of Whittaker's buses all day, except he's got an MBA in graft. 

I'm a little confused. Isn't the concern about Uberuaga and the Whittaker land sale that there was a quid pro quo? That Uberuaga gave Whittaker special consideration? But Joe's post says that Uberuaga was going to unreasonable lengths to achieve a concessionaire balance. Connect the dots for me. Is the complaint that Uberuaga delayed the concessionaire balancing for the benefit of Whittaker and that was the quid pro quo?