SavingSeaFood - 75% - 80% of Dale Jones' Files Destroyed; Conduct of Deputy Mark Spurrier Questioned

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75% - 80% of Dale Jones' Files Destroyed; Conduct of Deputy Mark Spurrier Questioned

A letter sent yesterday by Dennis Kucinich, Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform disclosed that "the large amounts of documents" shredded at NOAA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) headquarters included "75-80% of the files of [former] Director Dale Jones."

The letter also raised serious concerns about the role and motivations of Mark Spurrier, formerly the No. 2 official at OLE.

The destruction of documents took place in November during the closing phase of the Inspector General's investigation into widespread claims of miscarriages of justice visited upon the commercial fishing industry.

Writing to Lois Schiffer, the general counsel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Barbara Fredericks, the assistant general counsel for the Commerce Department, Kucinich said Mark Spurrier — formerly the No. 2 official at OLE, an attorney, may have given legal advice improperly — for lack of authority to do so and lack of training in the field of law enforcement law — to agents in the department.

The letter also said Spurrier "may have maintained an outside legal practice during his employment" without permission, and described his statements to the Inspector General as "conflicting rationalizations".

Read the letter from Chairman Kucinich.

Read the article about the letter in the Gloucester Times.

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