Posted on 10/28/2014 12:34:26 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
Vice President Biden and several top White House officials have vacationed with their families at the same log cabin in Grand Teton National Park. Located on Jackson Lake, the rustic getaway is the perfect escape from the fast-paced Washington grind.
The cabin also happens to be owned by the federal government, and was banned 20-some years ago by the National Park Service for anything other than “official use.”
Some great reporting by Time’s Zeke Miller has prompted the Interior Department to ask for an investigation into Biden’s stay, as well as uses of the cabin by several Obama cabinet secretaries, such as Education Secretary Arne Duncan and former transportation secretary Ray LaHood.
Government officials, including Biden, who use the Brinkerhoff lodge are often given briefings and tours that satisfy the “official use” requirement, Jackie Skaggs, a Grand Teton National Park spokeswoman, told Miller. At issue is whether those officials should reimburse the government for extended stays, and for bringing friends and family along.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This has been going on forever. I used to date an undersecretary of the Interior and he used to list the places that only the highly placed could go.
Diversity a specialty of new Teton superintendent
Vela, who grew up in Wharton, Texas, has significant experience with the Park Service and other federal and state agencies. He was special assistant for Hispanic Affairs to the late U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and was regional director for the Park Service’s Southeast region, overseeing 66 park units in nine states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
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Grand Teton’s superintendent post is one of a handful reserved for Park Service employees in the senior executive service, a cadre of specially trained personnel who command higher salaries than other superintendents. Vela graduated from the agency’s SES program in 2006.
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Parks also must become relevant to a more diverse population than they have been historically, Vela said, including “communities of color.” How do we make them accessible to the entire American public, he asked.
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Definitely an affirmative action hire:
Want to attract a new generation to the national parks? Find a few new rangers.
By Brentin Mock
28 Mar 2014 7:01 AM comments
Come 2016, the National Park Service will turn 100 years old. In anticipation of the centennial milestone, the agency announced this week a new public engagement campaign to “reintroduce the national parks … to a new generation of Americans.”
This is the federal agency responsible for not just Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, but also the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and Governor’s Island in New York City, which holds the Statue of Liberty. Still, it is having a hell of a time attracting young people to the parks, particularly people of color.
Shelton Johnson, an African American ranger at Yosemite National Park in California, talked about the challenge of getting black youth into the great outdoors in Ken Burns’ 2009 PBS documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. “How do I get them here?” Johnson asked. “How do I let them know about the buffalo soldier history, to let them know that we, too, have a place here? How do I make that bridge, and make it shorter and stronger? Every time I go to work and put the uniform on, I think about them.”
Part of the problem is that, despite the mosaic of nationalities of people who’ve frequented the parks, there’s not a lot of people like Johnson putting that uniform on. The staffing at the Park Service has remained perpetually and overbearingly white throughout its century-long history.
The National Park Service is among the worst on diversity of all federal agencies. For a read on how the agency’s own employees feel about it, check out the 2013 “The Best Places to Work” report, which scores departments based on the yearly Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. According to the report, NPS has one of the lowest scores for diversity, ranked number 258 out of 300 agencies scored. For African Americans, it’s ranked 150 out of 195.
Numbers I obtained directly from the National Park Service on its staff’s racial composition show why its rankings are so pitiful. Last year’s third quarter statistics show a roughly 82 percent white workforce, with black workers making up just above 6 percent of the staff. For Latino Americans, it’s less than 5 percent; Native American, less than 3 percent.
Have you ever seen his tax returns and amounts given to charity? He certainly doesn’t tithe. He doesn’t even tithe divided by 1,000!
BTW, has anybody raised the question of why was Biden’s son tested for cocaine by the Navy? I know pilots and commanding officers are tested, but an ensign in a part-time job? Maybe it wasn’t just use that he got caught doing.
Biden has not had a problem with charging rent to the Secret Service for the use of his home property guard house.
Pay me for my place, let me into yours for free. What a hypocrite.
How many other dachas are being provided for the Democrat intelligentsia at our expense?
“I’d suggest giving up the “death” part.”
Deal! Great advice!
“Yellowstone is my favorite place ever.”
I remember hiking there in the spring and being in a valley watching recently born buffalo babies with their mothers. It was amazing.
More criminal behavior by our “betters”. These bums should be in prison and then exiled.
I fished my way down river in Haden Valley through Buffalo Ford.
Saw a grizzly 100 yards across river. I was on the end of the gravel bar and the gravel was shifting under my feet; I’m already up to the top of my waders, so made my way out and moved down river.
Saw six large male bison ford the river. Most awesome sight.
Came across a herd just north of there of about a hundred cows, calves and bulls and decided to detour to the highway. About that time the herd started to move and I spent twenty minutes watching them cross the road while I stood behind a tree. Cows went first with spirited calves behind followed by more cows. Bulls followed slowly. Traffic was stopped both ways and I had a front row seat.
Not to mention the fishing and thermal features along the way.
who cares??? this is federal property...the Vice-President should certainly be able to stay there.
Thanks a ton for sharing these. I’m going to bed early tonight and will have these scenes in my head.
So who do I call to make my peak-season reservation for 4 nights at $300 per night?
Not to mention how much the Navy continued to pay him AFTER he tested positive.
For those same four nights, he charged the Secret Service $295 to guard his Delaware home.
You're joking, right?
Substitute "Dick Cheney" for "Joe Biden", and imagine the media firestorm.
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