Please copy/paste & sign/send this great letter by Maureen Silverman, a local resident.and activist on behalf of our savior, the National EPA Ombudsman.
(8/7/02) Coeur d'Alene Press 08-04-02 Whitman Deposition By David Bond, Staff Writer
Five days
before her scheduled visit to North Idaho, EPA Administrator Christine
Todd Whitman will be in a hearing room with ousted EPA whistleblower Hugh
B. Kaufman to answer allegations he has made that she broke federal conflict-of-interest
laws on ombudsman cases involving Superfund deals. Kaufman, an outspoken
critic of how EPA has handled its Superfund efforts in the Silver Valley,
the Spokane/Coeur d? Alene Basin and 20 other states, will depose Whitman
9 a.m. Thursday on videotape at the law offices of Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto
in Washington, D.C.
Kaufman exercised his right to depose Whitman after she appealed a Labor
Department order reinstating Kaufman as chief investigator for EPA National
Ombudsman? cases ?a post she abolished earlier this year.
A cavalcade of EPA players will join Whitman this month for video-taped
depositions by Kaufman. This is not Kaufman? first fight with his EPA
higher-ups. Work by him led to the firing and jailing of former Superfund
chief Rita Lavelle during the Reagan Administration. Kaufman, a Viet Nam-era
Air Force officer, has won National Whistleblower awards and received
numerous merit pay raises for his ?ffectiveness?in the agency. His deponents
this month and next will include: Emmett D. Dashiell, Jr., EPA assistant
inspector general for investigations; Robert Fabricant, the EPA general
counsel who according to EPA documents instructed Whitman not to participate
in Superfund matters on sites at which she and her husband, John, had
financial interests as responsible parties ?notably Citigroup, the New
York-based financial and insurance conglomerate; Gary L. Johnson, deputy
EPA Inspector General, who met with Idaho congressional members earlier
this year in Boise to assure them ombudsman investigations in North Idaho
would continue despite the abolition of the office Thomas Voltaggio, deputy
EPA Region 3 administrator, who consulted with Whitman and two Pennsylvania
senators on the heavily-lead-polluted Marjol Battery Co. site near Scranton,
PA; Jane Kenny, EPA Region 2 (New York) administrator, who consulted with
Whitman on a daily basis after the World Trade Center attacks last September.
Congressional leaders have alleged that Whitman ordered Region 2 to downplay
the risk to public health from fallout from the buildings?ollapse. A Citigroup
subsidiary, Travelers Insurance, was the insurer for WTC liabilities and
faces substantial liabilities. Whitman and her husband are major shareholders
?and he is a partner ?in Citigroup companies. They also own bonds in the
WTC? owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Kathleen Callahan,
EPA Region 2 assistant administrator, on the same issues; EPA Deputy Region
8 Administrator General Jack McGraw, who according to EPA documents met
with Whitman concerning a nuclear waste facility in Denver, Colo., which
Citigroup owns; EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley, who under Whitman?
orders has taken over the national ombudsman? office and seized all files
developed by National Ombudsman Robert Martin and by Kaufman. Martin ?another
frequent visitor to the Spokane/Coeur d?lene Basin ?resigned from the
EPA in protest of the seizure.
Also sought by Kaufman are documents, emails and other communications
between (Seattle) Region 10 and EPA headquarters, and Idaho senators Larry
Craig and Mike Crapo and their staffs concerning his and Martin? probe
into alleged EPA improprieties in the Spokane/Coeur d?lene Basin.
Kaufman declined to comment in depth on his case against Whitman. ? believe
it would be discreet that I not comment on many of the documents and individuals
that will be involved in the litigation at
this time,?Kaufman said Saturday. ?hese documents are in the public record and I believe they speak for themselves.? Kaufman also is issuing subpoenas for residents of Superfund sites around the country for a Sept. 24 court hearing in Washington, D.C. Among those summoned is Robert Hopper, owner of the Bunker Hill Mine in Kellogg. Hopper has alleged, and Kaufman and other former ombudsman staff have confirmed, that EPA willfully and fraudulently attempted to acquire title to some of Bunker Hill? land, seize the mine and operate it in deliberate violation of the Davis-Bacon Act. An in-progress investigation by EPA ombudsman staff also found that EPA is the Basin? biggest polluter and is discharging acid mine waste into Hopper?s mine, then billing Bunker Hill to treat it.But that investigation, as well as two others into the Spokane/Coeur d?lene Basin, is on hold pending resolution of Kaufman? job status.
(7/18/02) Washington Post 7-18-02 Investigators Find Whitman Had No Stake In Cleanup by The Associated Press. Obviously a coverup going on here. Martin & Kaufman have brought serious allegations against Whitman. They are not going to leave any stone unturned in their persuit of the truth!
Coeur d'Alene Press
07/21/02
ombudsman wars
By DAVID BOND
Staff Writer
EPA's Office of Inspector General acted under direct orders from Administrator Christie Todd Whitman to seize National Ombudsman Robert Martin's files and to seize them in a h
urry, according to a confidential memo obtained yesterday by The Coeur d'Alene Press.
The memorandum
appears to fly in the face of EPA claims that the Inspector General functions
independently of Whitman's direction and reports only to Congress. The
e-mailed memo, authored by Deputy Inspector General Gary L. Johnson and
distributed to about a dozen EPA staffers at the
Washington, D.C. headquarters, said it was "very clear the goal of
the Administrator was to complete the relocation of the Ombudsman function
to the OIG (Office of Inspector General) no later than 4/22."
"I told her our office would work toward that goal," Johnson
continued in his April 17 memo.
"Given the above, we need to get this done and I don't understand
what the problems are," Johnson wrote. "I'm just trying to enlist
all of the resources offered by the Administrator's office to help us
get this done," the deputy IG concluded. Johnson and an EPA accountant
- Mary "Peggy" Boyer, who has now been assigned Martin's caseload
- were in North Idaho and Spokane this week to hear citizen concerns,
both pro and con, about EPA's continued presence in the Spokane/Coeur
d'Alene Basin.
Boyer evicted a National Public Radio reporter from her Wednesday meeting
with the Spokane-based Lands Council because he was tape-recording the
session. A Spokane newspaper reporter
was allowed to remain. The eviction prompted Guy Hand, who was working
on an episode for the popular NPR series "Living on Earth" to
cut short his visit to the Basin. He had planned to cover a meeting of
the Silver Valley Natural Resources Coalition with Boyer and Johnson on
Friday. Johnson and Boyer were traveling Saturday and not available for
comment. A follow-up memo from Johnson to EPA staff directed a records
inventory of Martin's files. That apparently never occurred. Boyer, Johnson
and their boss - EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley - have complained
publicly that the files, now in Tinsley's possession, are all jumbled.
Reached at home on Saturday, newly-reinstated ombudsman investigator Hugh
Kaufman said the condition of his and Martin's files was caused by the
IG's office. "The Inspector General, under orders from Whitman to
seize our ombudsman files, sent in an unsupervised crew of common laborers
to pull all of our file documents out of our file room and box them up
in random order - creating a chaotic mess that they are now complaining
about after having created it in the precipitous seizure of all of our
files in the first place," Kaufman said.
Whitman ordered Kaufman removed from assisting the EPA ombudsman on some
two dozen investigations, including three ongoing in the Spokane/Coeur
d' Alene Basin. Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor ordered Kaufman's
reinstatement. Martin, meanwhile, has resigned, saying Whitman's assignment
of him to the Inspector General's office would take away his independence
from Whitman. Whitman will be in North Idaho on Aug. 13. She has until
the close of business Monday to appeal Kaufman's reinstatement to ombudsman
status.
(4/27/02) New York Times 4-26-02 Bad Air Days By Paul Krugman
(4/27/02) SeattlePost 4-26-02 EPA chief denies conflict-of-interest allegations By Robert McClure
(4/23/02) Seattle Post 4-23-02 Watchdog quits EPA: Silenced, he says By Robert McClure & Paul Shukovsky
(4/23/02) FOX News 4-23-02 EPA Ombudsman Quits Amid Controversy By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
(4/23/02) Financial Times 4-22-02 US environment chief quits after 'harassment' By Nancy Dunne
(4/23/02) Mutlinational Monitor April 2002: Citi’s Interests at EPA -- An Interview with Hugh Kaufman
(4/22/02) A Day of National Tragedy - the National EPA Ombudsman Resigns - Read his Resignation Letter Read more about the National Ombudsman
(4/22/02) CNN 4-18-02 CrossFire Transcript About EPA National Ombudsman
(4/14/02) We truly regret to inform our readers that Judge Roberts has ruled against our dear and beloved EPA National Ombudsman. We are truly devistated! However there is hope... we will soon post information on how YOU can come to the rescue of the EPA National Ombudsman. Keep checking our website for details that are soon to follow!
(4/3/02) ENN 3-15-02-EPA Ombudsman Fights For His Job By Kendall Beaudry
(4/16/02) ENN 3-29-02 Whitman wields a big stick, but with questionable power by Kendall Beaudry
(4/8/02) Denver Post 4-6-02 EPA PR Chief Runs Into Hornets Nest At Hearing by Mike Soraghan
(4/8/02) Ombudsman 1-10-02 Memo in support & Kaufman-declaration [p.27] 1.6M
(4/8/02) Ombudsman 1-10-02 TRO & Martin declaration 584K
(4/3/02) Ombudsman 3-27-02 Findings/Recommendations to EPA Region II Head
(7/16/02) NY Times
7-16-02 EPA
Must Reinstate Whistleblower EPA Ombusdman Chief Investigator Hugh
Kaufman:``suffered a continuing pattern of discrimination''. CONGRATS
to OUR BELOVED OMBUDSMAN!!!!!!!!!!
(4/1/02) Full Transcript in back of EPA Ombudsman 2nd Investigative Hearing 739K
(3/10/02) Staten
Island Advance 3-9-02 Article about Kaufman and the EPA Inspector General
Investigation of EPA Chief Whitman by Diana Yates and Heidi Singer
(3/7/02) National EPA Ombudsman Chief Investigator Kaufman working with DOJ on investigation of EPA Chief Whitman. Also he tells of NYC Board of Ed Chancellor Levy similar conflict of interest. Kaufman also says that "The U.S. government is imitating the former Soviet Union in its handling of the aftermath of (the World Trade Center collapse)," and ""When we get Whitman into court she'd better bring a toothbrush". See the attempt by some EPA officials who do not like Kaufman to discredit him. Kaufman asks you to read the letter OSHA sent on to Lowell Peterson, lawyer for Local 78, about asbestos.
(3/1/02) Daily News 2-28-02 EPA Ombudsman Poor Air In Schools
(2/28/02) Full Transcript w/Index in back of EPA Ombudsman 1st Investigative Hearing 1.17MB
(2-5-02) Eat The State - 1-17-01 Nature And Politics: [about Kaufman]
(2-5-02) Letter To Whitman From EPA Ombudsman Martin 11-27-01
(2-5-02) Forum On Environment And Health Concerns 11-15-97 Dangers Of Sludge
(2-2-02) Daily News 2-2-02 Kaufman Rips into EPA
ENN-11-29-01 EPA Shuffled Martin After Irking Bush/Clinton
EcoglobeNews 10-10-99 Toxic Sludge In USA-Martin
ENS Removal Of EPA investigator Called Politcal Revenge
TampaTribune 11-29-01 Local Congressman Riled About EPA ombudsman
GovtTestimony 10-3-00-The Role of the EPA Ombudsman in Addressing Concerns of Local Communities
St. Petersburg Times 5-23-00 Stauffer Ombudsman Back In Business.
The Votes are in: the Ombudsman Office won with 965 votes vs 745 votes from VOTE.COM Keep up the GREAT WORK. "..[EPA Head] Mrs. Whitman wants to protect the financial interest of the Citigroup Co. that she has had a longstanding and ongoing financial relationship with." See the detailed story in Salon magazine. LA Times: "EPA national ombudsman Robert J. Martin has accused Whitman of trying to muzzle him at the very time he is challenging an EPA agreement beneficial to a primary backer of Whitman's husband's venture capital firm. Congress is likely to hold hearings on the controversy in the coming weeks".