Sometimes I really miss the Bush Administration, the antics of Scott Bloch, the graft, simply because it made such ridiculous reading. Well, looks like I've just been given a trip down memory lane...
Boss Made Her a Sex Slave, Homeland Security Worker Says
By RYAN ABBOTT
WASHINGTON (CN) - A woman claims her boss in the Department of Homeland Security made her "a sex slave," and the agency reduced her hours and forced her to resign when she complained about it. She demands reinstatement, lost pay and damages, in Federal Court.
Tracie Dahl says she was working for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Havre, Mont., when Christopher (J) Clark, then deputy chief of staff to the Commissioner in the Homeland Security's District of Columbia office, interviewed her and hired her for a job in Washington, D.C.
She claims Clark began his long campaign of sexual harassment with "unsolicited and unwelcomed" personal emails before she even moved to Washington. She claims his unwelcome attentions progressed to invitations to "enjoy his beach house," and that he insisted on joining her on her drive from Montana to her new job.
Of course it didn't end there. Never does.
Dahl claims Clark met her in Minneapolis to join her for her move to Washington and "demanded sex" on each of the four nights they spent on the road.
Once in Washington in her new job, she says she tried to refuse to have sex with him, but "Clark exhibited an attitude including body language which conveyed that he was entitled to have sex with the plaintiff if she wanted to maintain her job and it so scared the plaintiff that she backed off her stance and even suggested make-up sex."
Clark also monitored her in Washington, "particularly her movements and communications with other people and he sought to restrict, insulate and isolate the plaintiff so as to maintain and continue his control and dominion over her," she claims.
And for Christopher Clark's harassment during the Bush Administration's laissez-faire days, the taxpayers are being sued for $500,000.
So who is Christopher J. Clark?
Well, he was Deputy Chief of Staff to the Commissioner of Customs and Border Proection W. Ralph Basham. Clark was the #4 most senior in that office. Although his name does not appear in the Plum Book, he was likely paid at a GS-15 rate or higher as a political appointee.
Clark today works for Alutiiq, LLC, an "Alaskan Native Corporation" (aka Beltway Bandit) that has lucrative contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. Clark works in Alutiiq's Vienna, VA office, which is their main place of business. Alutiiq as an "Alaskan Native Corporation" gets Federal contracting preferences because it is supposedly owned by a minority group. (But this is a subject for another post). Clark's LinkedIn profile is noticeably silent on his work for the DHS, probably out of embarrassment of the lawsuit.
Clark recently poppped up at DHS' Tactical Infrastructure/Border Fence Industry Day on April 14, 2009 as Alutiiq's representative. Still sucking at the teat of his former employer... or trying to.
Google cache of CBP site
Attendee List
(04/14/2009)
Attendee List
Attendee Company E-Mail
Anil Patbandla -- NGS -- anil.patbanla@nortelgov.com
Bob Bukoski -- NGS -- robert.bukoski@nortelgov.com
Chris Clark -- Alutiiq LLC -- cjclark@alutiiq.com
Frances Kinney -- HNTB -- pxkinney@hntb.com
Jim Bondley -- KBR -- Jim.bondley@kbr.com
Justin Russell -- NGS -- Justin.russell@nortelgov.com
Kevin Skyrmes -- KBR -- kevin.skyrmes@kbr.com
Larry Caynbyal -- L-3 GS+ES -- larry.caynbyal@L-scim.com
Wait? The Border Fence? That Fiasco? The Border Fence was a "virtual" fence project started during the Bush Administration supposedly able to deter illegal immigrants. The fence turned out to be a bottomless pit of waste and failure. Should we be reassured that someone like Chris Clark was consulting on this failure of a project? Or was he too busy harassing his subordinates to even know what was going on?
But Wait, There's More, Another Compromised Bush Political Operative Was His Boss...
While in his Deputy Chief of Staff role, Clark reported to politically-appointed Chief of Staff Steve Atkiss, who in turn reported to Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection W. Ralph Basham.
Atkiss was a Bush White House loyalist and Texas operative - and before becoming a Senior Executive Service employee at DHS ($140k + a year), the twenty-something Atkiss was managing Bush's photo ops at the White House.
But back then Atkiss was probably most notable for being a White House Official who likely violated the Constitutional rights of three Denver citizens by throwing them out of a taxpayer-funded event, because they arrived in a car with a "no blood for oil" bumpersticker as the result of a printed White House Policy. In 2005, the case was known as the Denver Three. The case is presently petitioning for review by the Supreme Court...
Activists' expulsion cited as Bush rule
By Bruce Finley
Denver Post Staff Writer
Posted: 03/02/2007 11:09:55 AM MST
A former White House official who ordered three activists expelled from a 2005 Denver public forum with President Bush says it was White House policy to exclude potentially disruptive guests from Bush's appearances nationwide.
The former official, Steve Atkiss, revealed the policy Friday in an interview after two volunteer bouncers identified him and a current White House staffer, Jamie O'Keefe, as the officials who ordered the so-called Denver Three activists sent away from the event.
The activists had done nothing to disrupt the forum, and two of them sued over the incident.
In sworn legal depositions, bouncers Michael Casper and Jay Bob Klinkerman for the first time named the White House officials who they say ordered the Denver Three to be excluded.
An American Civil Liberties Union legal team is challenging the expulsion in federal court, arguing that it violated the activists' constitutional free-speech rights. They had obtained tickets to attend the taxpayer-financed public forum about Social Security.
Guests who disagree with Bush can stay at public forums if they are well-behaved, "but certainly, if there's an indication somebody's primary intent is to cause trouble, we are looking to avoid trouble," said Atkiss, who now serves as a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection chief of staff.
He was interviewed Friday by cellphone from an Alabama runway where he was waiting for a helicopter.
"If it became obvious and apparent somebody is there to create a fuss, there was an effort made to ensure that didn't happen," Atkiss said.
http://www.denverpost.com/...
Back when the "expulsion" happened in 2005, Atkiss was a Texas-flavored big deal in the White House -- and efforts began immediately to obfuscate his role in the matter. From 2005 to 2007, the ACLU, the media and other concerned organizations attempted to investigate the expulsion of the "Denver Three." First reports stated that White House staff were impersonating Secret Service Agents. This claim was investigated but quickly discounted by the Secret Service -- who instead settled on an explanation of "overzealous volunteers." At the time, W. Ralph Basham, Atkiss' future boss at CBP, was heading the Secret Service. Did Basham's efforts to protect White House loyalist Atkiss ultimately get him promoted (and land twenty-something Atkiss in a job working for Basham?)
All Comes Full Circle
Chris Clarke had his payday, and so did Atkiss and Basham. They too are now sucking at the government teat, based on their prior positions at DHS, as part of Command Consulting Group another Beltway Bandit.
Did Basham or Atkiss Help Their Colleague With This Cover-Up?
According to the story about Clark:
Dahl says she filed an EEO complaint alleging sexual harassment after two Internal Affair agents questioned her about the relationship.
She says the agents and her other supervisors determined that the relationship was consensual, and the agency denied her transfer request and "reduced and denied the plaintiff any work assignments over several weeks and months."
Supervisors closed ranks and protected their own. Where have we heard that before?
Gosh. I miss those Bushies. Glad that the well-paid top dogs over at DHS were more concerned with cover-ups, tattoos, and sundresses rather than the task at hand.
[PS, Joe Hagin, a GOP operative of Karl Rove caliber, is also part of the "Command Consulting Group" of which Atkiss and Basham are a part].