WATCH

FALSES INUMUM OMNIBUS
by Ed Magnuson

There is an old lawyer's saying, "Falses inumum omnibus". Roughly translated, if you lie about one thing, you lie about everything. And former DEA Deputy Administrator Stephen Greene has been accused of not being always truthful in some of his EEO testimonies. This poses a certain ethical and potentially embarrassing problem for Administrator Thomas Constantine and the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Justice, whose officers are supposed to tell the truth all the time.

The cornucopia of alleged unfair and highly contested decisions made by Mr. Greene while Acting Administrator, Deputy Administrator, and Career Board Chairman assures his presence in the courts well into his "welcomed" retirement. For years, the Deputy Administrator played the maestro for an orchestra reminiscent of a Franz Kafka novel -- everyman's problem with a mindless bureaucracy with the truth being an accepted casually. But the concert is over and the unpleasant reviews will continue until justice is served for those whose careers have either been cut short or sidetracked.

As a wise lawman once put it, "Justice has not to do with punishment but the clear satisfaction of getting to the bottom of something, getting some questions answered and the real value of some rules affirmed." And that's really what DEA agents looking forward to the Deputy Administrator's testimony in their upcoming legal actions are and have been trying to do: reaffirm the value of truth in government.

In late 1993, the Deputy Administrator swore to affidavit which used his Career Board's minutes almost verbatim to refute my claim of discrimination. However, when I used the affidavit and same Career Board minutes at a Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) hearing, one year later, to irrefutably show that DEA had lied to me, the Deputy Administrator changed his position. This is all a matter of testimonial record.

Although the Deputy Administrator swore that he was fully aware of the penalty for perjury and, therefore, thoroughly and carefully reviewed the Career Board minutes before signing the affidavit, he then astonishingly stated that the Career Board minutes were inaccurate. The result of errors committed by a GS-15, who the Deputy Administrator never counseled, but later 'rewarded' him with an "Excellent" evaluation and a transfer to his home of record, Hawaii.

The underlying and not satisfactorily answered question is: if the above is true, as the Deputy Administrator stated, that he was at all the Career Board meetings and, in fact, chaired them; knew what was said and done; and carefully and thoroughly reviewed the minutes before signing the affidavit; why did he not know that they were inaccurate at that time?

It does not take a "rocket scientist" to figure it out. The accuracy of the minutes served a purpose at the time of the affidavit and their inaccuracy served another purpose at MSPB hearing!

Sadly, I was not alone in my opinion of the Deputy Administrator's almost 6 hours of sworn testimony. To the horror and embarrassment of DEA attorneys, the well respected and esteemed former Special Agent in Charge of the St. Louis Office, Mr John P. Sutton, testified in no uncertain terms that the Deputy Administrator was not truthful in his testimony. An obvious unprecedented low point in the history of DEA.

However, the Deputy Administrator's apparent propensity to say what sounds best, despite its validity, was not unique to my situation. In the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) case brought by Special Agent Ray Tripiccio, the Deputy Administrator's again took the sworn position in both an affidavit and at hearing that the minutes of his Career Board were inaccurate. He stated he did not use his position to influence the selection of a candidate for an advertised vacancy.

As in my case, honest and truthful managers, Group Supervisor John Coonce and retired ASAC Thomas Clifford, came forward and provided damming testimony concerning the accuracy of the content of the minutes. The EEOC found that SA Tripiccio had been discriminated against but DEA took the bizarre and almost Machiavellian stance that S/A Tripiccio would not have been selected for the position anyway.

SA Tripiccio, as is Frank White and numerous others, are eagerly awaiting their turn in Federal courts to reaffirm the value of truth in government and expose DEA's overdeveloped bureaucratic system for what it really as. A sincere word of advise for Administrator Constantine, who will also be called upon to testify: Remember that old lawyer's saying, "Falses inumum omnibus."