14 replies to this topic

[Doc Holiday]

Mr Melson, It is obvious that you regret ever opening the door to speak up, but you did. We are still waiting for some mechanism to do so. We can agree that the Ombudsman is not the place as all Ms. Ketels does is push employee concerns to Ms.Loos' at Counsels office to start the reprisals. The chain of command won't work for the same reason. Just exactly who and where are the Agents supposed to speak up to? You "and Billy" have decided about the "healthy" reorganization. Who is Billy? A discredited abusive short sighted Exec. Assitant who does not even exist in the DOJ approved chain of command. We are aware of the illicit affairs that have permeated the SES core in HQ. What exactly is healthy about moving corrupt,unethical managers from one directorate to another? Job security? If they could not run their previous directorate, what makes you think they can run a different one. Congress, the media, the public and most importantly the field ARE NOT STUPID. Stop misrepresting the Bureaus accomishments, you are gonna get caught. And don't try the "I wasn't aware" because you are. We have sent emails, certified U S Mail. You are aware. Stop dabbling at the local college and forensic conferences and pay attention to what's going on in the LE agency you have been entrusted to run. A conversation came up the other day and someone asked "What is a Special Assistant to the Assistant Director"? Answer: A GS 15. What's next Cadillac Potter to DAD and Mutinous hypocrit Edgar Domenech back to Sac?

[Doc Holiday]

I guess Mr. Melson didn't really want to know. Thanks for the attempt.

[V01ce0fR3as0n]

Done, Doc

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E-mail to Melson

Mr. Melson, in the event that your staff really may have banned access to the CleanupATF website from your government computer, I am sending you the post directly. You really should listen to people other than Steve Rubenstein. He talks way too fast and way too much!

Retired and Loving It


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I had my doubts about this site when it went up. Oh, the idea was good, and the intentions were honorable, but I was worried that the site would be abused. Although some posts occasionally go beyond the pale with personal attacks that do not advance our mission, the majority of posts and those contributing to the site are performing an important service. One of the benefits is that managers are reading this daily. They may be publicly ridiculing what we write among their fellow managers, but behind closed doors they are talking as much trash as anything written here. But more importantly to our purpose is that we get to read information from all over the country regarding the corruption embodied in those who purportedly lead us. Through that information, and through the contacts that we make here, we also disseminate more information and documentation that we, as a group, otherwise would not be able to get. ATF counsel's office routinely abuses and defies the discovery process in administrative proceedings. If you are not able and willing to lay out significant funds to keep up the fight for years, they will run you down. By getting this information out, and making the documentation available, we help defang those abuses. The contributions that we all make, current employees and retired, based on knowledge gained inside the organization, is something for which we could never pay enough. Retired and Loving It, thanks for giving a damn and showing up to try to help. I know there are a lot of fish to be caught and beer to be drunk out there, so I appreciate you taking time out to offer your input.

[Doc Holiday]

Saying ATF has not missed a beat w/o a Director is kind of like saying the titanic can steer itself. Chaits laughable reference to Your/ATFs strtegic plan is moronic. We have already seen what has happened for 5 yrs w/o a Director. We have had as many stategic plans as we have had acting Directors. That is why we are no faster,no stronger, and no more effective than we were 5 yrs ago. We are half-assing EVERY program. Mr. Melson stop lying to us and the media. You are gone in a year or so, what part of your one year strategic plan do you think will remain. Can you guys think past immediate gratification? They will one day appoint a REAL Director and he/she will reorganize your reorganization. Know when to say when Mr. Melson.

[Retired and loving it]

Done, Doc ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ E-mail to Melson Mr. Melson, in the event that your staff really may have banned access to the CleanupATF website from your government computer, I am sending you the post directly. You really should listen to people other than Steve Rubenstein. He talks way too fast and way too much! Retired and Loving It -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE POST Ken Melson, assuming that this website has not been banned from your Government computer, please read this. I'm retired and have been for some time so I have nothing to gain by siding with these folks who are being labeled as malcontents. The only stake I have in this matter is that I hate to see the prospects of an agency to which I faithfully gave my entire working life, and in which many of my friends and proteges still work, go down the tubes. And unless you start to "CLEANUPATF" that is where the organization is headed. Listen to more than one side and make your own decisions based upon your own inquires. That's the only way out of this mess. As has been pointed out by another poster, seek the counsel of former Director Higgins. I knew him personally and he was then and still is a very principled person. He had to make a very, very crucial decision based on input from his key managers (as did they based upon information being supplied to them from others) and did not have the luxury of time to corroborate what he was being told. You do! You may not have a lot of time but you have sufficent time. Listen to these people and do not let your managers attempt to hide what the posters are saying from the ATF people. All within ATF should be allowed the privilege of hearing what the working level folks are seeing within the agency. CLEANUPATF is an open site. If people do not agree with what those being labeled as malcontents are saying, they may also post on the site. I do not get the sense that the administrators of CLEANUPATF are attempting to censor anyone or anything. But the agency is -- and that is just plain wrong.

[Retired and loving it]

They are sheltering Mr. Melson at every turn. Retired and loving it, you may personally communicate your thoughts to Mr. Melson at Ken.Melson@atf.gov. Dont expect his subordinates or counsel to communicate the truth to him.

Doc I will do that. The problem is that everytime I e-mail anyone in ATF from my aol account it gets blocked out. I can reply to something sent to me by an ATFer but I can't send original messages. My son tells me that I need to add a "RE" before the subject so the blocker thinks it's a reply message not an new one.

I'll try that method.

[Doc Holiday]

They are sheltering Mr. Melson at every turn. Retired and loving it, you may personally communicate your thoughts to Mr. Melson at Ken.Melson@atf.gov. Dont expect his subordinates or counsel to communicate the truth to him.

[Retired and loving it]

Ken Melson, assuming that this website has not been banned from your Government computer, please read this. I'm retired and have been for some time so I have nothing to gain by siding with these folks who are being labeled as malcontents. The only stake I have in this matter is that I hate to see the prospects of an agency to which I faithfully gave my entire working life, and in which many of my friends and proteges still work, go down the tubes. And unless you start to "CLEANUPATF" that is where the organization is headed. Listen to more than one side and make your own decisions based upon your own inquires. That's the only way out of this mess. As has been pointed out by another poster, seek the counsel of former Director Higgins. I knew him personally and he was then and still is a very principled person. He had to make a very, very crucial decision based on input from his key managers (as did they based upon information being supplied to them from others) and did not have the luxury of time to corroborate what he was being told. You do! You may not have a lot of time but you have sufficent time. Listen to these people and do not let your managers attempt to hide what the posters are saying from the ATF people. All within ATF should be allowed the privilege of hearing what the working level folks are seeing within the agency. CLEANUPATF is an open site. If people do not agree with what those being labeled as malcontents are saying, they may also post on the site. I do not get the sense that the administrators of CLEANUPATF are attempting to censor anyone or anything. But the agency is -- and that is just plain wrong.

[Doc Holiday]

Mr. Melson, you cannot ignore this and you cannot cover it up. It was posted on your own agencys news briefs today. It was quite embarrassing that AD Wilfred allowed the story about the Department blocking agents from viewing this website, yet two articles later the Attorney Generals representation that transparency in DOJ was a priority. Do you two gentleman ever talk? That was quite embarrassing. So Mr. Holder, OR Mr. Melson, WHICH IS IT, COVERUP OR TRANSPARENCY? Talk is Cheap By CUATF Webmaster on November 27, 2009 11:11 AM Mr. Melson, Your comments in the November issue of “Inside ATF” must be addressed because the ideal does not match the real. We expected more of you than this type of demeaning “instruction” to us. ATF Agents have repeatedly sought constructive methods of direct and indirect communications with you and your staff, only to be ignored nationwide. CleanupATF.org is a direct result of ongoing dismissive and retaliatory conduct by your managers. We have asked...formally, informally and ultimately, forcefully. We have made every attempt to be heard and avert confrontation. However, you, Ronnie, Billy and a vast majority of the GS-15s under your watch have shown nothing but arrogance and disregard. Nationwide, respect for ATF leadership is at an all-time low. It must be earned back. Actions speak louder than words and the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Your instruction to "keep the lines of communication open" requires you and Headquarters to act decisively in good faith, because it is you that have betrayed our trust and confidence, not the other way around. Lines of communication can’t be kept open until and unless they are open in the first place. You "don’t know what’s on our minds unless we tell you"? Seriously Mr. Melson, did you write this? Please read the documents posted on this website and review those you have received during your tenure. You have refused or ignored our requests (individually and collectively) without bothering to respond in any way. Now, many of the involved agents are joining a class action lawsuit that your attorneys and managers necessitated by giving you filtered and inaccurate accounts of what is going on. Please don’t tell us you didn’t know about this. Let the buck of 1,000 excuses stop at Ronnie and Billy. You have been provided ample and significant information to support the field's positions, including: · Taking over 300 days to investigate EEOC complaints; · An explosion of OIG and OSC complaints; · Record settlements to cover the Bureau conduct that was endorsed and encouraged by your Counsel’s Office; · Whistle blower complaints aired month after month in the media; This is not "our" ATF. Our ATF conducts business behind closed doors, presents a unified public front, and does not eat its own. If you have learned anything during as Acting Director, you now know that ATF Agents are not easily intimidated. To better understand the consequences of blindly trusting managers who have elevated the concealment of incompetence and unethical conduct to a high art form, talk to Director Higgins. He also took his managers' words at face value and ass-umed that he was being provided with the true picture. To categorize attempts by the field to communicate with management as “elusive” is a pure insult. It is your executives and managers that meet attempts to discuss problems with reprimands, reprisals, hostile work environments, threats, transfers and terminations. Do you really think that all these grievances, EEO complaints and lawsuits occur in a vacuum, without repeated attempts by the aggrieved employees to first communicate and resolve the problems informally? On the contrary, rather than being honestly and fairly addressed at the lowest possible level, even totally legitimate complaints usually morph into costly litigation because you and your staff refuse to hear anything that doesn't fit into your tidy little "template". The reports that you receive regarding these field situations are filtered and sugar-coated through so many layers of self-protecting censors (management, counsel, ELRB, etc.) that by the time it hits your radar, is so distorted that it bears little or no resemblance to the truth. How many of the pending disputes against ATF have you personally looked into, beyond your "These people are just a bunch of non-team player malcontents" briefings from Ronnie, Billy or Chief Counsel? The burden of establishing effective communications lies with and you and your executives. You have thrown down the challenge but offered no method or means of accomplishment. Accountability cannot be a one-way street. We have made suggestions, asked for direct meetings, suggested a working group comprised of field personnel chosen by their peers, rather than HQ. You have no doubt been counseled against meeting with “a bunch of misfits and whiners”, but if you take a closer look, most of the people demanding change and a voice are some of the most decorated, productive and loyal Agents this great agency has ever produced. You said that “all voices need to be heard”, but now what? Talk is cheap, so why don’t you get effectively engaged and make a concerted effort to evaluate the real reasons that all these disputes have risen to such acrimonious and costly and levels? Some great ways to demonstrate genuine good-faith would include: · Respond to CleanupATF.org with an open letter addressing our skepticism openly and without the distorting input of Counsel or your Executive staff. · Enact a working group (as a collateral duty) of field Agents, Investigators and clerical staff to provide current operational input regarding the Bureau’s strategic plans. · For a separate working group comprised of field personnel selected by their peers to review pending employee disputes and recommended appropriate courses of action consistent with the Bureau’s policies and the principles of fair, good faith problem resolution. · Aggressively seek effective methods for instilling a new corporate and management culture under which intimidation, harassment, retaliation, scorn for established complaint resolution procedures, false testimony, concealment or destruction of evidence, and a climate of fear are not acceptable methods of “leadership”. · Discipline or remove executives or managers who engage in unethical or incompetent conduct, rather than promoting, transferring or retiring them with “honors”. Fire and prosecute those that knowingly break the law by lying under oath or otherwise hurting their subordinates to protect or further their own selfish interests. · Order and fully support a thorough investigation of allegations regarding widespread and ongoing unethical and potentially unlawful conduct on the part of key officials within your Chief Counsel’s Office. This investigation should be conducted by an impartial third-party, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, and the findings, no matter how unpleasant, should be accepted by top management and proactively addressed. This would almost certainly result in the removal of certain officials that have repeatedly engaged in a pattern of unethical and abusive conduct. Much damage has been done, but this is a resilient Agency. Step up to the plate, Mr. Melson and take a committed swing.