Regarding the settlements agreed to by boat owners, Lang told The Standard-Times, "People who agreed to these dispositions were in many cases told that if they went ahead, penalties would be far worse if they lost." In that sense, he said, settlements weren't voluntary and need a review.
"Don't stand behind the pretense that these were voluntary actions. There were no voluntary actions. There were no voluntary pleas."
Lang criticized Locke for what he said was using a broken bureaucracy to police itself. And he expressed doubts that Eric Schwaab really will produce a re-examination of the fishing rule-making within the agency.
And he said it was disingenuous of Locke to hold up judicial "finality" as a higher goal than seeking justice in closed cases. The reviewing of judicial decisions "happens all the time," Lang said. Taking the decision about which cases to review out of the special master's authority is "tying his hands," Lang said.
At this point, he said, he has concluded that NOAA needs a top-to-bottom investigation by an outside authority. "There needs to be a full-blown investigation into the entire agency," he said. "The idea that they wouldn't completely take the hood off and look at every single fact pattern is very troubling."
NEW BEDFORD — U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has once again denied the appeals of the fishing industry and political leaders, ruling that he will not expand the group of law enforcement cases to be reviewed by the "special master" looking into fisheries law enforcement abuses.
In a five-page memorandum, Locke one by one denied every request for his intervention in the matter. He said he would:
* Not address cases where no civil penalty was imposed, instead referring them back to NOAA for "lessons learned."
* Not review any cases that went before a federal judge, citing the need for "finality" in the judicial system.
* Not address cases that are currently before an administrative law judge or the NOAA administrator, on the grounds that the inspector general's reports so far have made the courts aware of past abuses and will avoid them today.
* Not address cases that were not brought forward during the investigation by Inspector General Todd Zinser.
* Not put a hold on payment of civil penalties already assessed.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is attending the international economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, told The Standard-Times, "I am appalled at this latest assault on the fishing industry by Gary Locke." Frank was already angry with Locke for "betraying" him by rejecting Gov. Deval Patrick's call for higher fish quotas and financial help for the industry.
Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.