Seattle Times investigation of Mount Rainier NP

[num1mc]

 

That Seattle Times link is absolutely shocking. Worthy of its own thread here.

 

This ones for Fairweather:

 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016356020_rainier02m.html

 

The Times has a front page investigation of former Mount Rainier National Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga and his business relationship with Peter Whittaker and RMI.

 

What it boils down to is that Uberuaga did not recuse himself from his substantial role in the review of climbing guide concessions in MRNP, even though he had sold his house to Peter Whittaker for what the Times refers to as a inflated price.

 

Uberuaga did a very poor job in his disclosure of this sale to NP investigators.

 

The Times quotes (probably at this point fiercely hated) competing guide service owner Eric Simonson:

 

To what extent was influence exerted? I don't know, but clearly Peter Whittaker has no reason to piss off the superintendent. If throwing him an extra hundred thousand or so on his house (sale) was a way of making him feel the love, then you know, feel the love

While I am not as seemingly alarmed as Fairweather, how Uberuaga handled all this is disconcerting. But much of this is due to the close proximity that NP staff and concessionaires live, and the length of time that Uberuaga has worked at MRNP (since 1984).

 

While the price Whittaker paid for the house is much higher than it's assessed value, $465 K for 2+ acres along a highway into a park is not extreme, especially since we don't know the present zoning of the property, and it is across the street from Whittaker's Rainier Base Camp. The former Uberuaga property could be residential, with Whittaker basing his price on it's commercial value. The property could also be worth much more to Whittaker than any other buyer.

 

This type of action is why you will probably see NP management scale employees move around much more, to prevent inevitable chumminess

 

FW, I wait for your views

[ScaredSilly]

Wow!!! And I thought things were chummy at Teton but that certainly out does it.

[CascadeClimber]

Based on my experience with the for-show-only public comment meetings on the climbing fee increase, I am not at all surprised by this.

 

That this was allowed to happen, Dave's "I didn't read what I was signing" excuses, and expecially that he was later promoted to a position with more contractual oversight and given a raise to $153k/year is, in my opinion, unconscionable.

 

[KirkW]

In late 2008, they referred the case to federal prosecutors in Seattle, who declined to prosecute.

 

The Park Service gave Uberuaga a letter of reprimand.