NOAA enforcement job requirements smack of politics
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Anyone applying to be police chief for the city of Gloucester is required to have a college degree.
Indeed, current interim chief Michael Lane has a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Northeastern University, while Manchester chief Glenn McKiel holds both a Master's degree in Criminal Justice from UMass-Lowell, and a Bachelor's degree in management and finance from New Hampshire's Franklin Pierce College — a real strength, given that police chiefs on all levels these days need to deal with budgets, manage grants and handle other administrative issues.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce, however, doesn't recognize the importance of that — even through its eventual new director of federal fisheries enforcement will lead a national force of more than 200 agents, working under a budget of more than $50 million, working closely with state and law enforcement leaders — and, oh yes, earning between $119,554 and $179,000.
Why? That's open to speculation. And that's because the explanations by Justin Kenney, spokesman for NOAA chief Administrator Jane Lubchenco, don't hold any more water than some of the pseudo-science writings Lubchenco and her Environmental Defense Fund cronies have used to hold down fishermen's catch limits even though current data shows most stocks are recovering — or have recovered.
Kenney says the idea of leaving out a degree requirement is aimed at ensuring the embattled agency does not want to "eliminate qualified candidates just because they may not have a degree."
"There may be experienced wildlife enforcement agents used at the state or federal level that do not possess degrees, but have demonstrated through leadership certain skills that we desire," he added.
There might be a context to that if he had said there might be candidates with enforcement experience, and experience in working with the commercial fishing industry. But, of course, it doesn't.
Kenney also claims the choice of not requiring a degree came not from NOAA, but through Commerce's Office of Personnel Management. But if that's the case, it only casts new questions for Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who, based on this precedent, would likely not now require degrees for any top Commerce management posts.
And if that were the case, how did NOAA get its posting out there for several months last year with a degree requirement built into the job description — a tidbit that Kenney and, by extension, Lubchenco now say was a "mistake?"
Given these questions, and given Lubchenco's history of dealing with her law enforcement wing, it's difficult not to share the same concerns of North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones.
"There's an odor to this," Jones told the Times through his spokesperson, Catherine Fodor. "I hope it's not a sign that, instead of insisting on finding the best candidate available, the agency is attempting to return to the cronyism that helped create the problems that got us here in the first place."
Indeed, leaving out any degree requirement smacks of NOAA having a candidate lined up for the post — only the chosen candidate, while perhaps chock full of the EDF's and Lubchenco's brand of political Kool-Aid, doesn't have the degree initially required for the post.
Indeed, instead of valuing education — especially given the mix of administrative law, budgeting and management knowledge needed for this job — NOAA has set the stage for hiring another Lubchenco caddy in the mold of former Maryland trout-stocker Eric Schwaab, who laughably serves as head of NOAA Fisheries.
Surprised? Don't be. Let's face it, if Lubchenco and Locke took seriously the need for viable leadership in fisheries enforcement, they would have long since cut all ties to deposed fisheries police chief Dale Jones, who was driven out of this same job after an Inspector General's report found widespread wrongdoing, from financial mismanagement to excessive enforcement.
Perhaps neither Lubchenco nor Locke care if NOAA's national fisheries chief wouldn't qualify to be chief of Gloucester, Manchester or many other communities. But fishermen, fishing communities and even NOAA's own agents deserve a lot better.
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