Bishop Hill Top climate official likely to be jailed
Dec 16, 2013 Bureaucrats You have to laugh - one of the US Environmental Protection Agency's top officials, and the man at the head of its climate change work, spent much of his time at home enjoying himself. He told staff at the agency that he was working for the CIA.
This story was apparently accepted without demur by top brass at the agency:
Beyond Beale’s individual fate, his case raises larger questions about how he was able to get away with his admitted fraud for so long, according to federal and congressional investigators. Two new reports by the EPA inspector general’s office conclude that top officials at the agency “enabled” Beale by failing to verify any of his phony cover stories about CIA work, and failing to check on hundreds of thousands of dollars paid him in undeserved bonuses and travel expenses -- including first-class trips to London where he stayed at five-star hotels and racked up thousands in bills for limos and taxis.
The unscrupulous led by the incompetent. You can see how we have ended up in the fix we are in.
Reader Comments (31)
When you are following a narrative making decisions is a formality, our CCC is another prime example.
From the article: " Kern also said Beale was driven “to manipulate those around him through the fabrication of grandiose narratives … that are fueled by his insecurities.”"
That sounds familiar.
" ...........hundreds of thousands of dollars paid him in undeserved bonuses and travel expenses -- including first-class trips to London where he stayed at five-star hotels and racked up thousands in bills for limos and taxis."
And to think he and his employer had no conscience about having such a large CO2 footprint. Have they no shame?
Still, in the greater scheme of things this guy is small fry...it's the politicians that we need to see being locked up for their crimes!
Mailman
This is typical of a work environment in which it is almost impossible for anyone to be fired and is no surprise to anyone who has ever worked for government at any level, or known anyone who has. Until recently, one of my daughters worked as a file clerk for the police department at one of the local municipalities. One day shortly after she started working, her boss called her into his/her office and told her that she needed to work more slowly. Seems she was making everyone else in the department look bad.
A Licensed Professional Civil Engineer friend of mine who works for the (U.S.) federal government finished a project in a couple weeks. When he met with his supervisor to present the results of his analysis, he was encouraged to review it again before submitting it. So he took a few days to go over it with a fine-tooth comb. Again, when he met with his supervisor, he was encouraged more pointedly to take some time to make sure his analysis was correct. When he responded that he didn't need more time, his supervisor told him that he was no longer working on the project and gave it to another Engineer in the department. As it turns out, his supervisor had allocated six months for the analysis, and it would have made his supervisor -- and everyone else in the department, I suppose -- look bad if it was completed in only two weeks.
For a very short six weeks in 1985 I worked for a large government contractor in Texas. One of the reasons for the short duration of my employment there was because of the government/union environment in which things are so compartmentalized that it unnecessarily increases the time it takes to get anything done. I went back to working in the private sector as quickly as I could and never looked back. Honestly, I don't know how people can stand to work in those kinds of environments. They're obviously wired differently than I am. ;-)
So will he be played by Matt Damon when the film comes out.
When there is so much money sloshing around it is not surprising that it fills a few peoples boots.
or Leonardo De Caprio
Still got his pilots uniform from Catch Me if You Can
From the Ecclesiastical Uncle, an old retired bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate with minimal qualifications and only half a mind.
I note the full article reported that it was doubted that Beale's fraud could occur at any federal agency other than the EPA because their mission is the most important thing and they ( the EPA) tend to be trusting and accepting.
Of course! So EPA staff are selected for their predisposition to believe any old story, probably about anything, given the works about global warming, and then set to work spending the poor US taxpayer's money on it.
It's a start.
Yes, it is a reflection of the culture of the agency, where just about anything, no matter how absurd, is capable of being believed.
In the agencies where I worked (in Australia), to say that these kinds of claims would be regarded with some scepticism is an understatement. That said, we are not immune - there was a chap in the Queensland Public Service who claimed to be a prince and got away with quite a bit of money.
In the EPA, believing six impossible things before breakfast is par for the course. So, it is entirely congruent with the corporate culture.
...one of the US Environmental Protection Agency's top officials, and the man at the head of its climate change work, spent much of his time at home enjoying himself. He told staff at the agency that he was working for the CIA...
Cut this man some slack, for God's sake!
There's been nothing to do in the Climate Change world for the last 10 years. Since 2000, every item of work undertaken shows that Climate Change doesn't really exist, and cuts the justification for his own job.
Under those circumstances, who can blame him if he retreats into a hole and tries to produce as little as possible. And when he does produce something, saying that it's classified so nobody can be told about it...
Give him a break!
He was doing less economic damage than his colleagues. :)
My search for someone, anyone, anywhere who is impressive in some moral sense, or in some intellectual sense, and also a leading promoter of climate alarmism continues to be without success. At least I can strike this Beale chap off my list without further ado.
How come that the cause of saving the planet from our overwhelmingly beneficial carbon dioxide releases has a leadership, and associated apparatchiks like Beale, that is so riddled with charlatans, schemers, irresponsible careerists, and just plainly unsettling personality types? Is it because the cause itself is a rotten one?
From his defence lawyer:
"...“Mr. Beale has come to recognize that, beyond the motive of greed, his theft and deception were animated by a highly self-destructive and dysfunctional need to engage in excessively reckless, risky behavior.” Kern also said Beale was driven “to manipulate those around him through the fabrication of grandiose narratives … that are fueled by his insecurities.”"
But enough about his EPA work. Let's hear about the charge that he took money without doing the job he was paid for...
Of course the EPA auditors gave some slight hint in 2010 (perhaps earlier ?). Now think EU accounts over many years.
Still, in the greater scheme of things this guy is small fry...it's the politicians that we need to see being locked up for their crimes!
Mailman
Dec 16, 2013 at 11:00 AM | Unregistered CommenterMailman
Ain't that the thruth !! but it won't happen.
This is typical of a work environment in which it is almost impossible for anyone to be fired and is no surprise to anyone who has ever worked for government at any level, or known anyone who has.
UK met off, NOAA, NASA, Hadley CRU, etc Need I continue? No, of course not.
Agreed StephenR.
You can be wrong, wrong and wrong again and still carry on picking up your salary. Heck some are even promoted or enobled to Lord over us.
Compare and contrast with Villas-Boas who has a couple of bad games and is out on his ear.
How about introducing that culture to climate "science"? Two forecasts wrong and you're out. Hmm, yes that would concentrate minds somewhat.
In the culture of big green and big climate Mr. Beale is remarkably unremarkable. The ecocrats are parasites and con-artists. Mr. Beale fits right in.
Re "The unscrupulous led by the incompetent. You can see how we have ended up in the fix we are in."
The most frightening part about this is that the same people are making Life Changing decisions for both the US public and US Industry which is adversely affecting their Unemployment, GDP and the countries Debt.
While the US citizens, like the UK citizens just sit and do nothing, all too busy on their phones or watching reality TV.
No wonder India, China and Brazil are laughing all the way to the Bank.
Why are we not surprised- again?
Where ever there is "green" bureaucracy there is corruption, driven by (as this parasite's lawyer said)
"the motive of greed, and to manipulate those around him through the fabrication of grandiose narratives"
Greed and grandiose narratives. Where have we seen this before? IPCC? Parliament? DECC?
I wonder how many at our own Environment Agency are secret agents - they've certainly invested hundreds of thousands - probably millions in setting up intelligence gathering and by some accounts are pretty cavalier when it comes to using RIPA to snoop around and rather inventive when it comes to logging what they're up to on their timesheets.....
The Surveillance Commissioner isn't keen to talk about the EA's activities. The EA record all sorts of stuff in their MEMEX intelligence database (including this comment more than likely!)
Not good for the CIA either. They're going to find it harder to get people to do unpaid work for them now.
His activities were far more costly to the people of the U.S. (and elsewhere) when he actually turned up for work. It is the valuable per capita output (a.k.a. 'real incomes') that regulation prevents that is the thing to consider. If such officials worked for nothing it would hardly make a difference.
Bob, excellent point. If the entire workforce never turned up, but got paid, it would be a plus for the US economy.
Beale is unlucky. In Britain instead of getting a prison sentence he would probably have got a knighthood at the very least!
Perhaps this is the most telling para:
Sullivan said he doubted Beale’s fraud could occur at any federal agency other than the EPA. “There’s a certain culture here at the EPA where the mission is the most important thing,” he said. “They don’t think like criminal investigators. They tend to be very trusting and accepting.”
Could be said of the whole culture around climate change alarmism - just substitute "scientists" for "criminal investigators"
@ John Shade:
My search for someone, anyone, anywhere who is impressive in some moral sense, or in some intellectual sense, and also a leading promoter of climate alarmism continues to be without success. At least I can strike this Beale chap off my list without further ado ...
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I think that's a very powerful statement.
A few decades ago a sociology professor here did not return to his work. He just left almost without a trace except for his bank account. The University went on paying his salary each month for more than twelve years. It was only then that some questions were asked in the faculty board. This was not really done, because professors enjoyed academic freedom as it was called in those days. Poor Beale, we live in harsh times.
You couldn’t make this up.
John Beale, the fantasist and fraudster who ripped off the US Environmental Protection Agency for a fortune over more than a decade (he was a senior employee who claimed to be working for the CIA undercover, hence rarely showed up for work and charged the agency for his expensive travel and hotels) is married to a Dr Nancy Kete. She is the CEO of the leftist Rockefeller Foundation, and also “served on President Obama’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. In her role as Senior Advisor on Corporate Safety and Risk Management, Dr. Kete provided recommendations on unilateral steps the industry should take to improve safety above and beyond what the regulations would require.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Kete worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency where she led the development of the acid rain control title of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the first and as yet most successful application of market instruments for pollution control. ”
http://reclaimourrepublic.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/john-c-beale-and-a-nancy-kete-and-a-million-dollar-fraud-scheme/
The US is being run by criminals.