« Now this is too dang much | Main | Maine vs. Mass gun laws »
More on ATF director resignation
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting on a few scandals that may have prompted the BATFE director to resign. As I noted earlier, the resignation was not at a time a bureaucrat would voluntarily choose (just before he got in his "high three" years of salary on which his pension is calculated).
"A report on ATF is expected soon from Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, whose office has been investigating allegations that Truscott put through or proposed hundreds of thousands of dollars of unnecessary plan changes and upgrades to ATF's new 438,000-square-foot headquarters. The building, under construction in northeastern Washington, is at least $19 million over budget.
Sources familiar with the project told the Washington Post this year that Truscott planned to buy, among other things, nearly $300,000 in extras for the new director's suite, including a $65,000 conference table and more than $100,000 for hardwood floors, custom trim and other items. These sources described Truscott as overly focused on the building's luxurious details, from soap dishes to tile colors and said he wasted valuable time with innumerable project meetings and field trips to the site....
Justice investigators also questioned ATF employees about a costly trip that Truscott and others took to London last year and about allegations that ATF staff members helped assemble a school video report for a young relative of Truscott's, according to officials interviewed in the inquiry and who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation."
(Hat tip to Prof. Joe Olson).
· BATFE
4 Comments
What do you expect as our wonderful government grows faster than the population or the economy? His replacement will find hiw own ways to pick the taxpayers pocket.
With the Second Amendment in place how do these parasites get jurisdiction over the keeping and bearing of firearms?
When do we impeach the judges that let goverment step on our gun rights?
According to another article, that $65,000 conference table was not approved, being replaced by one half the cost.
This still means that our government is spending $32,500 on a FREAKING TABLE.
During my exhaustive research of the Helen Brach murder investigation there is a clear pattern that I see. ATF Rotunno is an expert at deception to support his theories. Before ATF Rotunno leaked the Plemmons lies to the media he was heavily promoted as a great man in a book called Unbridled Rage by Gene O’Shea.(I want to make it clear that all I say about Gene O’Shea and his book are just my and a few others opinions.)
I feel that this was part of Rotunno’s plan to win public opinion of what great work he had done of getting people convicted for murders. Then his new fabricated story would carry more weight. In Unbridled Rage a lot of stories about Silas Jayne and his family are told by Rottunno and other law enforcement agents. After all the lies I have pointed out about ATF Rotunno’s disregard for the law and lying, do you believe his stories?
Rottuno paints a picture to support his con. Gene O’Shea appears to be his P.R. man. Not once throughout this book does he say anything negative about Rotunno. It appears to me and a few others that O’Shea has a hidden agenda in writing this book!
He really sucks up to Rotunno a lot. I and some others are very, very suspicious of Gene O’Shea becoming Illinois Gaming Commissioner. Did Rotunno or his ATF buddies have something to do with Govenor Blagoavich appointing him to be Illinois Gaming Commissioner?
He was a reporter at the Daily Southtown newspaper in suburban Chicago while working very close to Rotunno then he becomes Illinois Gaming Commissioner. Very, very interesting! I think this should be investigated! What do you think?
In the 1995 Ken Hansen murder trial, Hansen’s defense attorney O’Donnell says as Gene O’Shea writes in O’Donnell’s opening statement, “The state’s case was nothing more than fabrication, woven from lies and stories of paid witnesses who were working hand in hand with federal agents to rebuild the tarnished reputation of the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms, O’Donnell said.”
“An unholy alliance was created a few years ago, that alliance was between William Wemette, a man who has to please people who pay him money, provide him housing, give him free telephone service, and a unit of government called ATF,” O’Donnell said. “The ATF in 1993 was probably the most discredited law enforcement agency on the face of the earth after the Waco disaster and Ruby Ridge. They desperately needed to seek to rehabilitate their image before the public.”
William Wemette was and FBI informant from 1971-1989. Then the ATF gets new information from him in the 90’s about a murder that happened in the 50’s. Very, very suspicious looking! Maybe another ATF setup! What do you think?
O’Shea writes about the 1995 Bailey trial, “Judge Shadur found that Bailey had conspired to murder Helen Brach based on a “preponderance of evidence.”
This is just from Joe Plemmons testimony! Bailey was convicted of stealing from rich woman. But to sentence him for conspiring to kill Helen Brach on Joe Plemmons word alone looks real weird to me!
O’Shea writes, “On a moment’s notice Rotunno would find himself switching gears from a suburban family man with a wife and three daughters to his undercover persona as a ruthless drug dealer who “moved” truckloads of marijuana. Gang members came to admire Rotunno, nick naming him “Red” because of the government-issued undercover hot rod he drove, a fully loaded red Mustang.”
So Rotunno is a trained liar. I bet he is so good at lying that he could look you in the eyes and make you believe his lie. He can probably lie constantly to a lie detector and pass the test!
O’Shea writes, “Rotunno, with all of his years of undercover work, had honed his instincts, and trusted them. His intuition had gotten him out of a jam on more than one occasion; sometimes he just knew he was right about a suspect or theory.” “Like many lawmen, Rotunno was very good at reading personalities. He often relied on his internal lie detector when sizing up witnesses and informants. Rotunno was also a guarded individual. He rarely shared his opinions or true emotions, and when he did, it was only around those he trusted. Rotunno’s guarded demeanor would pigeonhole him as “bad cop” in an interrogation situation.”
So once Rotunno creates a theory he will do whatever it takes to support his theory. In the Helen Brach murder investigation, he has lied and fabricated evidence to support his theory. He thinks he is above the law. He has broken the law over and over. Why should Rotunno be able to break the law and not be fired and prosecuted?
Remember ATF Bob Hauffman saying on Jan 10, 2005 on “60 Minutes” that he could substantiate one of the three ATF woman agent’s claims that ATF agents sexually harassed them. He went on to say that all the criminals that he has put away in his career, all of them have more honor than the top official in the ATF! He said I know this is a sad commentary but that is my experience as an ATF agent! How can we blame ATF Rotunno? He is just following their example!
I other words, he was acting like any other politician with his hand in the public till.