NPS leadership excoriated for sexual harrassment

Troublesome culture at many levels..

The NPS has been a very troubled 'cult'ure for decades.  Biill Briggle was Rainier's hard-drinking, authoritarian superintendent back in the seventies.  He was trying to be the first in the NPS with fifty years service, but retired suddenly after 48.  Rumor had it that he was done in by a sexual harassment scandal.  I wondered how a rank and file employee complaint in such a toxic workplace as the NPS could unseat a powerful veteran who'd previously been a Deputy Director...until I read this comment a few months ago:

"Submitted by Worked for Dave on May 20, 2016

This guy [Uberuaga] is a real tool, not to be trusted, still not sure how he fooled Jarvis as long as he did, but ...it's kinda Karmatic how Dave was done in by a sexual harassment complaint, considering it was his doing when the Supt. of Rainier was ask to retire because of sexual improprities, based on Dave's supplied info and complaints, for which Dave received his promotion to Deputy Supt. of MORA."

www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2016/05/se...uperintendent-retire

One of these days (maybe) we will get a president and congress in favor of an effective executive branch with cabinet officers, agency heads, and even frontline line officers chosen for their competence, integrity, and managerial ability.

another NPS park supt on the chopping block

"Jeff Ruch, executive director of the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, argues that the anguish expressed by some employees stems from the agency’s basic structure.

“The part of the Park Service culture that facilitates these problems is a sort of caste system within a militaristic hierarchy led by officials who believe they can do no wrong,” he said. “That problem is compounded by a decentralized federal agency in which park superintendents have the autonomy of a ship captain.”

“The result is a dysfunctional power dynamic,” he added, “in which problems raised by rank-and-file employees are not allowed to leave the park, or are strongly discouraged.”

Indeed, the Park Service ranks close to the bottom among 320 federal agencies ranked by the annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey. Only one of the Interior Department’s 12 subagencies had a lower score in 2015: the Office of Surface Mining."

LA Times repost

Has Sally Jewel not had enough time? Is she the wrong person for the job? Is the position powerless against the bureaucratic structure anyway? Coming from REI, one of best places to work..

Has Sally Jewel not had enough time?  Is she the wrong person for the job?  Is the position powerless against the bureaucratic structure anyway?  Coming from REI, one of best places to work..

I thought she was a bad pick from the get-go. She was running REI during the Monica bike-fork BS. She seemed like an appointment that looked fancy on paper, but also someone who wouldn't be able to get much of anything done.

Neubacher's wife, who some felt was both protecting him (from her position that at least seemed to be supervisory to him) *and* handing over the names of anonymous reports of malfeasance to him, abruptly retired last week...after the names of all the recent anonymous complainants was reportedly leaked.

Utterly disgusts me that this goes on over and over and that these miscreants are allowed to retire at my expense.