When I hired into the full-time spot I was forced to share an with the two more despicable people in the entire building. IF you every want to think of anyone as evil incarnate, these two people fit the bill perfectly. They hated everyone, didn't want anyone to come into the office (even though by the nature of their jobs people had to), wanted people to leave them alone until they retired, and always kept the lights off in the office. Yes, you read that correctly, they kept the lights "off."
When I started work in the office Base Safety approached me about the working conditions. They knew about the lighting situation and wanted to "stick to them" because they hated those two for things they had done throughout the years, and they wanted my help. I told in very strong words to leave me out of it because of they included me war would break down and my life would be miserable. They didn't listen and used me anyway, and thus I was branded a traitor and a turncoat, and those co-workers treated me like crap for the next 4 years until they retired.
The blame for their behavior fell squarely on the shoulders of management, and they knew it, but they refused to addressed the issue. I would file complaint after complaint alleging harassment, creation of a hostile work environment, the fact that they bathed once a month (I'm not joking either), they would go outside and smoke for 6 hours a day and not do any work; anything that showed they needed counseling or even administrative or punitive action taken against them, but they did NOTHING, against them that is.
Management took action alright, but they did so in regards to my yearly appraisal. Instead of giving me the customary high marks for my work they cut my scores in half as a warning to stop the complaints. Of course, that itself was a form of harassment, this from management this time, and this came, I was told, all the way from the Wing Commander to get me to shut up. They didn't want it going off the base.
Like I said, epic. Your post was detailed enough to understand your situation of being caught in a power struggle so you don’t need to PM unless you just want to get it off your mind. It certainly appears you did everything possible to resolve the situation but it was not a winnable struggle. I hope you find a route to a successful job and career but I’m not certain how I would turn in your situation so I don’t think I can add any value here.