Mr. Melson it’s time to lead from the top. In the August issue of “Inside ATF” you state “Hold yourselves accountable” and “Your conduct will be scrutinized” and “Always do what is right”. Mr. Melson, you must first model this conduct and then others will follow.
Mr. Hoover you can no longer be trusted to make the hard decisions. You have failed miserably in the accountability department. You have protected your unethical and corrupt peers while standing strong against your subordinates. You personally travelled to Atlanta to remove SAC McLemore for cause and then ignored your obligation to mandate accountability. You have now seen fit to allow 5 PCS moves to be exhausted in furtherance of a SES boondoggle that cannot under any of the Bureaus policies or justify a profound benefit to the Bureau other than to quiet or appease Former AD Crenshaw. Of course the PCS move money already attributed to the debacle has reached an allotted expense of 1 Million dollars, but remember, that does not include the transfer of Mr. Crenshaw’s replacement or the replacement of Mr. Crenshaw’s replacement. Mr. Hoover, it is your signature attached and your approval that is so disturbing to the Agents, RACs, ASACs and SACs under your command. Many of your SACs and ASACs the others who have served honorably are just shaking their head.
Assistant Director of the Office of Professional Responsibility/IA Kelvin Crenshaw is transferred from Seattle, Washington to Washington D.C. just over 12 months ago. He was promoted from Special Agent in Charge to Assistant Director, a 2 level promotion bypassing even a short stay at a Deputy Assistant Director position. This occurred even as he was plagued by and implicated in a series of employee disputes and complaints within his own field division, to include reprisals and violation of no fear act regulations. He was placed in the highest position of integrity in the Bureau, although his own integrity had been questioned on numerous occasions.
Crenshaw was Permanently replaced by Robert Champion as the SAC of the Seattle field division. Three Permanent Change of Station transfers were exhausted in this process (As ASAC Champion had to be replaced in Houston). This occurred at an average approx. $180,000 per move in allocations.
After approx. one year and the decision that Mr. Crenshaw is clearly not the choice to establish integrity in this corrupted Bureau and after facilitating to whitewashing and cover-up (if only by omission and apathy) of the Vanessa McLemore criminal matter, ALL of this is reversed with yet TWO more PCS Moves. The agency is so short of PCS move money that many critical positions are being filled by acting appointments and Agents are being asked to pay their own moves to staff the Bureaus needs.
This is the definition of WASTE FRAUD and ABUSE. Not only did ASAC Champion have to be uprooted to get a SAC Job he had earned, but now he is being FORCED to vacate a SAC job he has barely even moved in to to make room for Crenshaw who CHOSE to leave his family and keep his house in Seattle. The true innocent casualty of having to undo Ronnie Carters buddy promotion program is ASAC Mike Golson. ASAC Golson Acted for 2 years while Ronnie Carter went to HQ to play Deputy Director and loyaly stepped aside when Mr. Carter was exposed for his unethical and abusive practices.
When Mr. Carter decided he’d better retire quickly, Mr. Golson would be the odds on favorite to finally get his SAC position since he had been doing the job for 2 years, but he cant because the Agency in accommodating Mr. Crenshaw on his 2 level demotion, forced the Agency to give Champion a bone to go back to Texas. ASAC Robert Livingston openly attempted to suggest or infer in a Seattle meeting that there was a compassionate component to this transfer related to a family member of Crenshaw’s health. When pressed on this issue, Mr. Livingston made clear that was ONLY his impression. Is there a serious health issue driving this? If so, Mr. Crenshaw was permanently transferred to Washington and the agency was obliged to pay his family member way to join Mr. Crenshaw and pursue medical treatment in D.C. Did Mr. Crenshaw submit the required paperwork and was he subjected to the SAME hardship board scrutiny as EVERY other agent in ATF?
Why is his ALLEGED hardship being paid for by a Bureau who not only refuses to pay for other Agents hardships, but an agency who is asking Agents, RACs and field employees to pay their own way for the Bureaus staffing need due to lack of funding for PCS moves. Could Mr. Crenshaw not use his accrued sick leave, annual leave and invoke the FMLA at NO expense to the Agency. That is what field employees are required to do before even being considered for compassionate remedies.
