ATF Fast & Furious whistleblower relegated to PNG on the gov't dime

[LittleLebowski]

He wrote a book (https://amzn.to/2KF2Qce), was recently interviewed by Anderson Cooper, and there's this article (https://federalnewsnetwork.com/justice-department/2019/05/former-atf-whistleblower-says-agency-needs-permanent-director-accountability/) about him. Obviously, he should be put to work processing Form 4s :D


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOKOfvDYpVk

[hufnagel]

will they allow him to work from home?

[LittleLebowski]

will they allow him to work from home?

Nice :D I'd ask for that if I were him.

[the Schwartz]

What's really sad is that these days, his job would be considered by many to be a "dream job".

[Borderland]

Fairly typical in gov't. I once read a story about a NYC school teacher that was rubber roomed. He said he was left on the payroll for over a year and his job was to report to a room full of teachers who were basically taken out of the system and given nothing to do. Apparently they stayed there as long as they wanted until the boredom drove them to resign. He finally terminated himself.

I think that's what's going on here. If they fired him he would sue the agency and probably win a fairly large settlement. The agency knows that the odds are good that eventually he will decide to resign and move on. Whistleblowers are managements worst nightmare.

I had a similar experience where I worked but not quite as bad as this guys predicament. They just strongly encouraged me to retire after a darn good 30 year career. My retirement party was yuge and I had a lot of people who were surprised anyone could work in that group as long as I did. It was a challenging job. I think I held the record.

Most people wouldn't have the balls to do what that guy did. That's about all I can say.

[Lester Polfus]

Common practice.

The VA does it all the time.

In one case I know of, somebody blew the whistle, was relegated to an 8x10 room in the basement with now work. When they started working on their graduate degree, the agency tried to fire them for misuse of government time. The several hundred emails the person sent every morning at 0800 that said "I am here, but have no work to perform" and again at 1630 that said "I am leaving and was not assigned any work today" would have raised some serious questions, so that didn't go very far.

[Borderland]

Common practice.

The VA does it all the time.

In one case I know of, somebody blew the whistle, was relegated to an 8x10 room in the basement with now work. When they started working on their graduate degree, the agency tried to fire them for misuse of government time. The several hundred emails the person sent every morning at 0800 that said "I am here, but have no work to perform" and again at 1630 that said "I am leaving and was not assigned any work today" would have raised some serious questions, so that didn't go very far.

CYA. I like it.

[OlongJohnson]

Common practice.

The VA does it all the time.

In one case I know of, somebody blew the whistle, was relegated to an 8x10 room in the basement with now work. When they started working on their graduate degree, the agency tried to fire them for misuse of government time. The several hundred emails the person sent every morning at 0800 that said "I am here, but have no work to perform" and again at 1630 that said "I am leaving and was not assigned any work today" would have raised some serious questions, so that didn't go very far.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Fs9PRmqBg

The situation in the original post reminds me: Has Trump made any actual changes at BATFE? Or is Trump's BATFE fundamentally the same as Obama's BATFE? It seems pretty much the latter to me, but I haven't looked into it much.

[runcible]

I don't know anyone who's had a good time writing and publishing a book about official duties allegedly or actually performed for the organization that they're still employed by, and continue to be employed by after publishing.

[OlongJohnson]

The video was published to YouTube on May 26, 2010. The book was released May 28, 2019. I haven't researched his current relationship with BATFE.

[runcible]

You're absolutely right - thank you for the correction!