National Park Service: National Park Service - Noble Cause Corruption with "The Case of the Indian Trader"

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

National Park Service - Noble Cause Corruption with "The Case of the Indian Trader"

"Americans have grown accustomed to hearing about scandal and corruption in government. But few people are aware that such problems exist within the National Park Service." -- Paul Berkowitz, Retired Criminal Investigator, National Park Service

Overview
In April 2011, the University of New Mexico Press published Paul D. Berkowitz's new book, "The Case of the Indian Trader: Billy Malone and the National Park Service Investigation at Hubbell Trading Post."

This is the story of Billy Malone and the end of an era. Mr. Malone lived almost his entire life on the Navajo Reservation working as an Indian trader in Arizona; the last real Indian trader to operate the historic Hubbell Trading Post. In 2004, the National Park Service (NPS) launched an investigation targeting Mr. Malone, alleging a long list of crimes that seemed similar to Al Capone's criminal capers. In 2005, Federal agent Paul Berkowitz was assigned to take over the year-and-a-half-old case. Mr. Berkowtiz's investigation uncovered serious problems with the original allegations made by the NPS, raising questions about the integrity of his NPS supervisors and colleagues as well as high-level NPS managers. In an intriguing account of whistle-blowing, Mr. Berkowitz tells how he bypassed his chain-of-command and delivered his shocking findings directly to the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

These quotes below about the National Park Service come directly from Mr. Berkowitz's book; all quotes are found in Chapter Three, entitled, "The Agency." These quotes illustrate how the National Park Service appears to use any means necessary to accomplish its "noble cause" goals.

On the "Cult" of the National Park Service

"Given its system of recruitments, rewards, and sanctions, it's not all that surprising that the NPS has evolved into a very insulated, provincial, and sometimes cult-like organization."

On Protecting the "Green and Grey" of the National Park Service

"To allow a problem to surface into the public arena is an unforgivable act that could embarrass the agency and tarnish the image of the green and grey."

On the Prime Directive – Do Nothing to Compromise the National Park Service Image

"One simply does not challenge the NPS culture or its leadership or mention problems and make complaints outside of the internal agency structure. The image of the agency is paramount, and that’s one reason why it so successfully garners public and political support. Do nothing to compromise the image or damage the reputation of the agency, which certainly precludes airing a problem in public."

On Preventing National Park Service Misconduct Disclosure

"In practice, this mantra is not so much directed at preventing acts of misconduct that might cause embarrassment to the agency as it is preventing the exposing of such acts to the outside world. Likewise, concerns about liability arising from agency or employee misconduct or negligence are addressed not so much through the establishment of systems to guard against misconduct, negligence, or incompetence as through systems to prevent the documentation of such acts."

On the National Park Service Regulating, Restricting, Spinning and Fabricating

"Instead, information about NPS activities is regulated and restricted through carefully crafted press releases that are designed to suit management needs. These press releases often spin facts and fabricate accounts about embarrassing matters."

On Manipulation of Investigations and Blue Ribbon Panels by the National Park Service

"Credibility problems are exacerbated through manipulation of the [National Park] services own ad hoc workgroups, investigative teams and 'blue-ribbon panels' made up of selected colleagues and even handpicked and contracted groups of retirees. The manner in which these teams and workgroups are assembled generally assures a desired finding or outcome or at least obfuscation of facts that might damage the reputation of the agency."

Mr. Berkowitz, the author of these words about the NPS's culture and tactics, could have been writing about the National Park Service at Independence National Historical Park (INHP), a unit of the National Park Service in Philadelphia.

Mr. Berkowitz could have been writing about Jonathan and Leslie Bari who own and operate The Constitutional Walking Tour which provides guided walking tours of the INHP area and how the Baris have been treated in such a random and arbitrary manner by NPS officials during the past seven years from 2005-2011 at INHP .
While Mr. Berkowitz does not mention, or even reference the NPS in Philadelphia (and The Constitutional Walking Tour has no relationship whatsoever with Billy Malone and/or Hubbell Trading Post), Mr. Berkowitz nonetheless provides a powerfully clear template that has described the random and arbitrary actions by the National Park Service officials that began immediately after The Constitutional Walking Tour's successful launch season in Summer 2005 at INHP. Mr. Berkowitz's book described the culture that directed the NPS's rationale and mandated their actions by officials with the NPS and the Independence Visitor Center Corporation.

When Mr. Berkowitz invoked the term, "Noble Cause Corruption," he got it right. To the Independence National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park Service and the Independence Visitor Center Corporation in Philadelphia, getting rid of The Constitutional Walking Tour, by any means necessary, has been a "noble cause".

Note:
With regard to the issues with the National Park Service and The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia, these issues have to do with complaints by The Constitutional Walking Tour and its owners against the NPS with regard to the NPS's random and arbitrary treatment of The Constitutional Walking Tour as well as the NPS's violations of the Constitutional rights of the owners of The Constitutional Walking Tour.

Background on The Constitutional’s disputes with the NPS and Independence Visitor Center

The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia (“The Constitutional”) offers guided walking tours of the Independence National Historical Park area by providing a primary overview of Independence Park and visiting more than 20 of Independence Park’s most historic sites including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Carpenters’ Hall, Declaration House, etc.

From 2005 to 2010, the Independence Visitor Center Corporation sold tickets for The Constitutional’s various tours only at the IVC’s main information and sales desk. The IVCC has received a 20.0% (twenty percent) sales commission on each ticket that it has sold for The Constitutional (ranging on average in gross price from $12.50 to $17.50). Since 2005, The Constitutional has requested to also license a dedicated ticket sales booth from the National Park Service and IVCC on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms commensurate with Ride the Ducks and Philadelphia Trolley Works, for example. Additionally, since 2005, The Constitutional has requested to also license marketing opportunities and commercial use authorizations from the National Park Service and IVCC on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

The Independence Visitor Center (“IVC”) is owned and operated by the United States of America - National Park Service (“NPS”), which then sub-contracts with the Independence Visitor Center Corporation (“IVCC”), a taxpayer supported public charity, to manage the IVC.

The IVCC and NPS have preferenced third parties including Ride the Ducks and Philadelphia Trolley Works, and the IVCC and NPS have discriminated against The Constitutional Walking Tour. The National Park Service has enabled the creation of this unfair business environment. The National Park Service and the IVCC have ignored and circumvented Federal management and concessions laws for the sale of goods and services at Independence National Historical Park that require open, transparent, competitive and appealable processes awarding concessions contracts for the sale of goods and services including tours.

To facilitate the administration of the National Park Service System, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, acting through the NPS, is authorized under the National Park Service Organic Act (“Organic Act”) to carry out twelve categories of activities, none of which include transferring administrative responsibility to a private party [i.e., IVCC] or engaging in cooperative administration with a private party [i.e., IVCC]. 16 U.S.C. § 1a-2(a)–(l). Rather than grant the NPS discretion in its dealings with park concessioners, Congress established “carefully controlled safeguards against unregulated and indiscriminate use” of the parks in the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (“Management Act”), which governs all national park public accommodations, facilities, and services. 16 U.S.C. § 5951 et seq.; see also 36 C.F.R. Part 51.2 (“policy underlying concessions contracts”). The safeguards are not limited to nationwide policy: Congress also manages the parks with significant visitor traffic on a park-by-park basis. See, e.g., 16 U.S.C. §§ 21–40c (Yellowstone), §§ 91–110d (Mount Rainier), §§ 212–218a (Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace), and §§ 410z–410z-5 (Boston National). One of the dozens of national parks managed by specific statutes is Independence National Historical Park (“INHP”). 16 U.S.C. §407m–407s. As such, compliance here going forward would require the NPS, first, to reassume from the private IVCC the NPS’s duties “to administer, operate, manage, lease, and maintain” properties at INHP pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 407s; second, to award “all proposed concessions contracts … through a competitive selection process” pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 5952; and, third, to issue commercial use authorizations in a rational manner pursuant to a reasonable interpretation of 16 U.S.C. § 5966(c).

The IVCC and NPS have arbitrarily and randomly selected business partners in a non-competitive and clandestine manner; as such, the actions of the NPS and IVCC have from an economics perspective stifled competition, innovation and consumer choice. Ultimately the IVCC’s actions have enabled prices to increase for its preferred vendors to strengthen the for-profits’ financial performance. Visitors to Philadelphia will be better served when the IVCC’s management, manners and methods are fundamentally changed. This would include having the National Park Service abide by Federal concessions management laws. Specifically, this will entail only having the NPS award concessions sales contracts and not having the IVCC involved in any of the selecting, awarding, contracting and managing of Independence Park’s third party concessions, including inside the Independence Visitor Center. This is the model that is practiced in virtually every other of the 390 (three hundred ninety) National Park Service units across the United States (in 49 states) including at Yosemite, Yellowstone, Statue of Liberty, etc. Additionally, visitors and all stakeholders will be better served once the operation of the taxpayer funded IVCC is totally transparent and accountable. While part of the issue centers on a publicly funded charity competing against the private sector (i.e., by offering guided tours and services), it more so has to do with the manner in which the IVCC and NPS operate and discriminate against third party concessionaires, tour operators and vendors in a random and arbitrary fashion (i.e., with the licensing and leasing ticket sales kiosks by the IVCC to third party companies, for example).