Federal lawmakers worked yesterday, without immediate success, to obtain a U.S. Commerce Department inspector general's report on a government document-shredding incident that apparently cost Dale Jones, the government's police chief for the oceans, his job.
Congressional sources said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration required a formal, written congressional inquiry in response to telephone requests for a copy of the report that was recently delivered to Jane Lubchenco, head of NOAA, by IG Todd Zinser.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, all Massachusetts Democrats, were all pressing for information regarding Jones' Thursday ouster. A letter to satisfy NOAA requirements was being drafted in Tierney's office late yesterday.
"Sen. Kerry will work with his colleagues in the Massachusetts delegation to obtain this report and make it public if possible," said Kerry spokeswoman Brigid O'Rourke.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.