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More coverup at Fast and Furious
William McMahon, an agency official who has been questioned by Congress, is off in the Philippines, working for a private firm, while also on the BATF payroll. Here's the Issa letter.
It says he's taking annual leave from the agency (apparently planning to retire once that runs out). This is quite unusual. You can always take your annual leave, but taking another job while on it is another question. Also, the Issa letter talks of this having been in effect for nearly half a year. There are limits on the maximum leave a Federal employee can have. In my day, it was 40 days. More than that was "use or lose," lost at the end of the year. I think Senior Executive Service (which he may or may not be) now has 90 days. Either is far from half a year.
· BATFE
Comments
Laws and rules, like taxes, are for the little people.
Posted by: Hartley at August 22, 2012 11:22 AM
Being somewhat cynical, (okay a lot) I wonder if the man will ever make it back to the U.S.
Posted by: Rich at August 23, 2012 07:05 AM
Ordinary people lose their job if they "vacation" and take another. They have clearly terminated their employment with the first employer. I guess spreading out his "vacation" pay instead of taking it in a lump may be advantageous to reduce taxation, moving income into next year if he has enough accumulated vacation or separation pay.
Someone is doing someone a favor, and obviously the favor was earned some way. Has this guy been deposed by anyone remotely independent of ATF about F+F?
Posted by: Harry Schell at August 23, 2012 11:24 AM
I have to agree with the "little people" comment above. I guess when it comes to the government nothing surprises me. Cover ups will happen and I just don't see anything changing in the near future, as much as I'd like to see changes to the way some of the government operates.
Posted by: Sarah at August 24, 2012 06:52 AM
Probably admin leave related to the IG investigation rather than annual leave.
Posted by: patrick at August 24, 2012 03:18 PM
I guess this is how you keep a potential witness happy in the "most transparent administration in history"... Chicago style.
Posted by: Dave at August 25, 2012 06:39 AM