We certainly get this type of reporting all the time from the left. My guess that he didn't get a court appointed lawyer because this is a civil rather than a criminal case.
I also believe that if he had a good lawyer, he would not be in his present predicament, and would have his rights intact. There is a fair amount of case law on the books about this type of situation, but you have to appeal to the correct precidents to win in court. Make a mistep, and *bam* you can lose it all.
And isn't that all about making us fearful of opposing the bureaucracy? What did one of the founders say? Something about 'where government fears the people you have a republic, where the people fear the government you have tyranny'?
More people need to speak out to their elected representatives (the ones that actually have to fear losing their jobs based on peoples opinions) about reigning in the bureaucracy. Government agencies should be directed by elected officials, and kept under control by them. Too often, we have the paid staff in our agencies telling the elected officials what to do and how to do it, which defeats the purpose of electing representatives...