Friday, December 16, 2011

All that it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to to nothing - Speak Out, Speak Up and Make A Difference

Recently, there has been much comment about the topic of Federal workers receiving a pay increase, shrinking the federal government in general, and in particular those government Departments and Agencies which deserve, or alternately do not merit inclusion in our federal government, as it shall surely evolve after the 2012 election.

Most of my regular readers know by now that I have been involved in a long-running complaint against NorthPark Management Company, operators of NorthPark Center. That complaint has led to two recent communications between me and the Department of Justice. These two communications, reproduced below, show the difficulty of deciding just who in the government should stay and who should go.

The first is my ethics complaint against the two individuals who so mishandled my complaint against NorthPark. The two individuals mentioned in the complaint are probably not unique in their belief that they can serve the whole of the nation, whilst ignoring the cost to any one individual citizen. In this they are wrong and deserve to get the boot and join the lines of the unemployed.

The second is an email response I received from the director of the division that is responsible for responding to Freedom of Information Act Requests. A more reasoned, direct, and concise response could not have been expected. Obviously, there are many people working in the Department of Justice, under great obstacles and difficulties to faithfully and completely fulfill their responsibilities.

Robin C. Ashton
Counsel
Office of Professional Responsibility
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 3266
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Subject: Ethics Complaint Against Carmen Romero and Jana Erickson, United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Section

Subject Matter Styled: Department of Justice v. NorthPark Management Company; DJ# 202-73-256

Sir or Madame,

It is my understanding that your office has responsibility and jurisdiction for reviewing allegations of misconduct made against Department of Justice attorneys and law enforcement personnel that relate to the attorneys' exercise of authority to investigate, litigate, or provide legal advice.

The information contained herein, should provide all the information you require to investigate this complaint of unethical actions by two members of the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Section.

The names and titles of the individuals suspected of misconduct are:

Carmen Romero (she has never divulged her title to me)

Jana Erickson (she has also never divulged her title to me other than to say she is Ms. Romero's supervisor.

The details of the allegations are as follows and the case name is as referenced in the Subject Matter Styled referenced above:

Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson were asked to investigate the above referenced complaint against NorthPark Management Company. Both Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson were made fully aware from the outset, as outlined in my original complaint and during multiple conversations following thereupon, that I, the original complainant had incurred legal expenses in excess of $8,000 (now approaching $9,200) leading up to and through the “mediation” process prior to my requesting a formal investigation.

Page 2

Subject: Ethics Complaint Against Carmen Romero and Jana Erickson, United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Section

Subject Matter Styled: Department of Justice v. NorthPark Management Company; DJ# 202-73-256

Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson acted in bad faith during the negotiations leading up the the final settlement of the complaint, signed on November 28, 2011.

During the process of investigation and final settlement wherein NorthPark Management Company agreed to bring its facilities into compliance with the ADA, Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson arbitrarily and without consulting me agreed to a stipulation, in the form of a waiver written by the violator's attorneys, that I should sign a waiver of future rights to collect through future court procedures, the full amount of my legal expenses and damages. At no time did either Ms. Romero or Ms. Erickson make any effort to include in the settlement full compensation for my damages. Instead, in violation of their responsibility to act in good faith toward all the parties involved, they forwarded to me and asked me to sign a document prepared by attorneys for the violator under their investigation, wherein I would be obliged to give up any future avenues for recovery of the full amount of my expenses and damages related to NorthPark Management Company's violations of the ADA.

In doing so, Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson acted on behalf of and in favor of the party whom it was their responsibility to investigate. No settlement should have been concluded with NorthPark Management Company that included, without my prior consent, my agreeing to waive these rights of recovery of damages for the sum of $1,000.

Further, Ms. Romero refused to provide me, the original complainant, with a copy of the signed settlement of my complaint. She indicated the matter would be settled by the Department of Justice and that I was on my own when it came to seeking further recompense.

Since when does the Department of Justice attempt to obtain for the violator of one's civil rights a settlement totally and completely favorable to the party in violation of the ADA at the expense of the original complainant.

If this is the manner in which the Civil Rights Division, Civil Rights Section is supposed to act then I wish for you to state so in your response to this complaint so that I may further pursue the matter with my Congressman and Senators.

Respectfully,

Norris E. Stough

A very appropriate response to my Freedom of Information Act Request, made necessary by the two Department of Justice employees mentioned above who are perhaps unique in their ability to "kow-tow" to the very individuals they are charged with investigating.

RE: Freedom of Information Request 12-00089F

Inbox
x

Blog Related
x

Hermilla, Nelson (CRT)

Dec 15 (2 days ago)

to me

Dear Mr. Stough,

Thank you for your note.

The Freedom of Information Act provides all requesters with the right to sue on the basis of delay. I do not as yet know the extent of the volume of documents that may be responsive to your request. We will ascertain that only after conducting a thorough search for all records responsive to your request.

Therefore, at this moment, I do not know whether it will be necessary for this office’s response to your request to be delayed in any way. During the decades in which I have managed this unit, I have made extensive efforts to avoid all unnecessary delays. Please understand that because of the substantial demands on a very limited number of staff, it is not always possible to prevent some delay. Currently this office is understaffed. Because of the ongoing hiring freeze instituted early in 2011 due to reduced funding, this office has been unable to hire replacements for positions that have been vacant.

Assuming there are indeed documents responsive to your request, I can assure you that the Civil Rights Division will make every effort to provide you with access to any records to which you are entitled and do so as expeditiously as possible. Please understand that this office makes every effort to treat all requesters equitably which means, in that interest of fairness, that this office will be responding to some requesters that have made their requests prior to the time you made your request.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss your request in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me by calling 202-514-4210. I look forward to this opportunity to assist you.

Sincerely,

Nelson D. Hermilla, Chief

FOI/PA Branch

Civil Rights Division

United States Department of Justice

Washington, DC 20530

From: E Ponymous [mailto:stoughne@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 11:32 PM
To: Hermilla, Nelson (CRT)
Cc: Romero, Carmen (CRT); Erickson, Jana (CRT)
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Request 12-00089F

Dear Mr. Hermilla,

I received your letter today in response to my Freedom of Information Act request as referenced in the subject line of this email.

I have published your letter on my blog, so as to document date and reference to potential delays in responding which you included in your letter.

Please do not think that, though Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson feel no ethical conflict in carrying water for the violator it was their responsibility to investigate, this matter will disappear from public notice due to any backlog of requests and subsequent "delay" in your responding due to processing.

The readers of my blog will receive continuous updates on the length of time it takes you to provide documents which should already be "ready to hand" considering the immediacy of the settlement date.

Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson have acted unethically in their investigation of this matter and their treatment of me, the complainant who subsidized the Department of Justice's responsibility to the tune of over $9,000 of my own money and then
attempted to close the matter to the violator's satisfaction asking me to sign a document, prepared by the violator's attorneys, requesting that I give up my right to collect full compensation for my out-of-pocket expenses in pursuing this matter.

I have already begun the process of initiating a complaint against Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson based on their unethical conduct in this matter. Do not add yourself to that list by unreasonably, and without purpose, delaying your response to my request.

Norris Stough
10519 Yorkford Drive
Dallas, TX 75238
214-340-8119