Joe Davidson calls EPA's OCR "a disaster area"
In today's Washington Post, columnist Joe Davidson says, "If the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Rights were a chunk of ground, it would be declared a disaster area." Mr. Davidson recounts the findings made by Deloitte Consulting in a report released last month. He also noted the call made by the National Whistleblowers Center to oust OCR's director, Rafael DeLeon. EPA spokesperson Adora Andy told Mr. Davidson that EPA would look into our allegations about Mr. DeLeon's off-color remarks. EPA said the same thing to POLITICO on Monday. How long does it take to ask Mr. DeLeon if he called Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Ms. Susan Morris "pink elephants?" How long does it take to ask him if he chided Dr. Coleman-Adebayo for being a "Rosa Parks of the EPA" or if he referred to a lapdance at a staff party? Or, is EPA unsure if a director of the "Office of Civil Rights" should do any of these things? Joe Davidson's article could give these questions the prominence we need to get some answers soon. Thank you, Mr. Davidson.
.jpg)
Bamboozled
Joe Davidson’s article, “Highly Critical Report on EPA’s Office of Civil Rights," April 27 misses the point. Rafael DeLeon was the very fox who caused the dysfunction, as a previous Director, of the EPA OCR henhouse. He is also responsible for a reprehensible vendetta against, and the eventual firing of, the very Civil Rights Hero, Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, who worked so hard for so many years to get the NO FEAR Act passed. To reappoint this management bully, and praise his support for implementing NO FEAR sends a chilling message to EPA employees: "Retaliation against employees and victims is rewarded with praise." Perhaps Administrator Jackson should examine the actual record; she appears to have been bamboozled by EPA career mismanagement.
Dwight Welch
Former EPA Scientist's Union President