Spokane7
59°
February 19, 2012 in Nation/World
Police boat on West Side served personal purposes
SEATTLE – Federal fish cops in Seattle bought a $300,000 luxury boat to spy on whale-watching tours – but didn’t go through an appropriate bidding process, held barbecues onboard, ferried friends and family across Puget Sound to restaurants and resorts, and used the boat for what one visitor called “a pleasure cruise.”
When confronted, one federal employee in Seattle misled inspectors about how the vessel was used, and one interfered with federal investigators, according to an internal investigation by the Commerce Department. Those documents were released Friday by U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass.
At issue is a 35-foot, 14-passenger boat purchased by federal agents with the National Marine Fisheries Service using money seized from fishermen who violated the law.
The 2008 purchase wasn’t illegal, according to the Commerce Department, but federal agents manipulated the acquisition process and misrepresented the urgency and need for the vessel.
The fisheries service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has a law enforcement branch employing special agents with the same powers as the FBI.
The boat ultimately was used for just 119 hours, according to the documents, and remains moored in Western Washington.
“The sad truth is that it was a fishermen-funded party boat for bureaucrats,” Brown said on the Senate floor.
Brown, a harsh critic of NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco’s environmental policies, has repeatedly called for her resignation after a series of scathing inspector general reports in 2010 that criticized heavy-handed fisheries enforcement and mismanagement of an asset-seizure fund.
Last week Brown received a heavily redacted follow-up report about misuse of a Boston Whaler bought by the Seattle law enforcement branch.
In a statement, NOAA officials said the agency has since “conducted a top-to-bottom overhaul of its enforcement program.”
The Seattle office in 2006 sought to buy a $146,000 boat to police halibut fishermen and to keep tabs on San Juan Island whale-watching tours without tipping them off.
But after shopping online and at boat shows and talking to other cops, one agent instead submitted a request for the Whaler. The 345 Conquest comes standard with a 20-inch flat-screen TV, hardwood cabin floors and vanity countertops, which cost more than twice as much as the original request: $300,787.
Questions were quickly raised.
“I don’t understand from the document exactly what NOAA is purchasing the boat for,” one agency-procurement official wrote in 2008. “Why is this exact model the only one that meets the minimum requirements?”
That official said the whole process was “wired from the start to get that one boat.”
The first time a fisheries-service agent boarded the boat in June 2008, he brought his wife and a friend. They ran out of gas, called Seattle Harbor Patrol and had to be towed back to the Ship Canal. They refueled and motored the boat through the Ballard Locks to the dockside Boat Shed Restaurant in Bremerton, had dinner and then returned to Seattle.
A month later the same agent took the boat to Poulsbo for lunch and went back to Seattle. He picked up some friends who brought aboard a six-pack of beer and sped down to Gig Harbor for dinner at Tides Tavern. One passenger told investigators the trip was “every bit a pleasure cruise.”
Twice that summer, while the boat was moored at Elliott Bay Marina, a fisheries-service employee grilled burgers and hot dogs with a small group that included at least two other special agents. A supervisor told an employee his wife could come aboard any time and “kick back and watch TV.” One agent later told investigators the gatherings kept up the vessel’s appearance as a recreational boat and not an unmarked police vessel.
Once in August 2008, the boat ferried around a special agent’s visiting parents to Blaine, in Whatcom County. The boat that day blew out a $10,000 engine as a result of what investigators called “operator error.”
The agency has since banned use of the boat and is in the process of selling it, agency spokesman Connie Barclay said in an email.
Salmonella linked to chicken handling 
mikeln on February 19 at 1:33 a.m.
Did they ever use it to catch someone else breaking the law?
oneanddone on February 19 at 5:42 a.m.
Hey mikeln - you shoulda capitalized the word ELSE for emphasis.
rosehips on February 19 at 7:31 a.m.
Something is stinky in the Puget Sound and it ain’t dead fish.
SpokaneLiberal on February 19 at 7:33 a.m.
There should definitely be firings over this. However I don’t have a problem with people grilling burgers and hot dogs on the moored boat as long as they didn’t do it on company (aka taxpayer) time and supplies. That one seems pretty unimportant to me. Now the pleasure boating, the blown engine, the family perks, the initial purchase, etc. are all unacceptable and (IMHO) illegal.
force_vector on February 19 at 8:23 a.m.
They should have bought a new Mercedes to drive to the boat so as to further the false appearance and really be able to keep tabs on those whale watchers. Assuming of course that they were able to drive to the dock without running out of gas and/or blowing an engine.
Listen, whales don’t like to be looked at. You see a whale, and decide to watch it, then you too will be watched (through a hot dog bun and a little mustard). This whale watching thing has gone on long enough. I propose life sentences for all of them (don’t worry, it’s really only like 5 years due to age but it sure sounds tough, right?).
Don’t even get me started on bird watchers…
Leftofliberal on February 19 at 8:27 a.m.
This was a release by Sen. Scott Brown of Mass. In an effort to get his name out in his campaign against Elizabeth Warren. All of this is old news already dealt with by NOAA. Not what he says.
DHF on February 19 at 8:36 a.m.
Some how I just dont get it. Is it illegal to watch whales. Why do you need a 300 grand boat to spy on people watching whales. I get the abuse factor of using Government property for personal reasons, but the whale watching tours lost me.
rosehips on February 19 at 8:41 a.m.
Perhaps they are spying on the whale watching crew members to make sure they aren’t illegally attracting whales to their boats?
force_vector on February 19 at 8:42 a.m.
Leftofliberal - I’m guessing you’re on the east coast, likely volunteering your time (or perhaps even getting paid for it) on behalf of Elizabeth Warren. Spell out how you would say Worcester so I can know whether I’m right or not.
johnclarke on February 19 at 8:45 a.m.
Leftofliberal on February 19 at 8:27 a.m.
This was a release by Sen. Scott Brown of Mass. In an effort to get his name out in his campaign against Elizabeth Warren. All of this is old news already dealt with by NOAA. Not what he says.
Bingo. Hearings were held on this back in June of 2011. Whatever, who really cares about a 300k boat which did not disappear like the billons in cash in Iraq.
force_vector on February 19 at 8:55 a.m.
JC - You’re right. We should only care about waste and abuse on a log scale. Anything less than 10^9 is not worth talking about.
johnclarke on February 19 at 9:18 a.m.
OBVIOUSLY any abuse should be “worried about” and it sounds like it was dealt with. My point is why do we need to focus on this long after it’s been dealt with and for such a small amount? I don’t see Scott Brown jumping up and down over the massive fraud known as Homeland Security. That’s because it’s not “threatening” the fishing industry in New England, nor is the $300k boat that is the center of this nonsense.
dkmiles on February 19 at 11:38 a.m.
$300,000 wouldn’t operate Air Force 1 for two hours. The culture of abuse of federal funds starts right at the top.
SpokaneLiberal on February 19 at 2:27 p.m.
We decided long ago that as a country we would not allow the assassination of our leaders if at all possible. As such Air Force One and the Secret Service are expensive line items. But that isn’t abuse or misappropriation.
If you can’t see the difference dkm then we are so far down hyperbole lane that nothing has any meaning - and that is almost as an insidious threat as anything else.
dataxman on February 19 at 4:42 p.m.
SpokaneLib - the abuse is when it is flown cross country for a fund raiser - but a quick appearance at some factory and a speech about jobs is thrown in so the taxpayers pay for it. Considering the whisper number is a billion dollar campaign for the president - he can afford to pay full freight for his fund raising junkets
SpokaneLiberal on February 19 at 7:26 p.m.
We can play the blame game with any president about mixing fundraising and the actual business of running country.
The blame for that lies at the feet of the Supreme Court with their rulings about money, speech, and campaign contributions.