Posted on 10/11/2012 3:29:44 AM PDT by marktwain
Veteran ATF agent Vince Cefalu, a whistleblower who became a particularly controversial figure after voicing concern about the failed Operation Fast and Furious, was “unceremoniously” handed his dismissal papers on Tuesday, according his spokesman.
An ATF official met him at the Denny’s parking lot in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada, near his home, where Cefalu turned in his credentials, said his spokesman Patrick Crosby, a former spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, who now has his own public relations firm.
Crosby said Cefalu was fired for “lack of candor.” He did not elaborate.
Cefalu has hired an Atlanta law firm to fight the dismissal.
Cefalu worked for more than two decades for ATF, often in an undercover capacity in major cases involving motorcycle gangs in California and the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia.
Wade Drew, a spokesman for ATF, said he could confirm that Cefalu worked for ATF for nearly 25 years and that he was no longer with the agency. But he said ATF does not comment on personnel or disciplinary matters.
In recent years, Cefalu has been one of the more publicly vocal critics of ATF management. He claims to have gone through all the proper channels to voice his concerns about ATF management, but all to no avail.
“I have just been trying to do my job: make good cases, put away the bad guys, keep the our citizens and our agents safe,” he said in a statement after his termination. “ATF management has been bending the rules and breaking the rules. The agents want ATF to be the proud agency it once was, not a place where some managers jeopardize our citizens and our cases. The behavior of ATF management has been speaking for itself with all the transfers, reassignments, resignations. It has been a mess and an embarrassment. That’s not the ATF I have devoted my career and life to, and I do not regret trying to change it.”
Zahra S. Karinshak, an Atlanta-based attorney from Krevolin & Horst, who represents Cefalu, said in a statement:
“Vince has tremendous courage. Anyone who infiltrates the KKK and biker gangs to bring them to justice has an incredible sense of dedication. Vince has a team who will fight for him in court as aggressively as he fought violent crime on our streets.”
ATF had tried firing Cefalu last year. However, he appealed the termination. It became final on Tuesday.
Theyre making an example of this man
Great opportunity for the Republicans. Rehire him with a promotion over those who fired him, with instructions to “clean house”.
We saw this coming. Big mistake for ATF tho.
BTT!!!
Sweeping up the last loose ends on the Fast and Furious coverup.
I couldn’t believe this when I saw it this morning. But had too much going on to respond beyond the ping list. After thinking about it, I wonder if they think they’ll skip further investigation with the loss of the WH.
My guess would be yes.
Well, there are differing opinions on the actual reality of that bit of hope.
Still, good luck to Mr. Cefalu and his legal team. They are going to need it.
It is viewed as treason to the company or organization. I have rarely seen a case where a whistle blower stayed with a company after the case is over. They either get fired or leave under their own power.
Case in point, a local high school principal got fired for a trumped up accusation. She fought it all the to the Iowa Supreme court. Won, and while she got her job back she was made to sit a room with no contact with students.
The case is still on going, but she will have to leave.
I applaud what the agent did. But blowing the whistle outside the organization is a career ending move.
and take their pentions away
“in a Denny’s parking lot”
???
Real professional operation.
Although not every whistleblower is management material, that is where I’d start looking for someone to clean house.
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