Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
If you’re having trouble finding an example of anal retentive bureaucratic reasoning, you need look no further than the Army Inspector General’s six-page opinion (PDF) that U.S. Senate candidate John Walsh “…used his government position for private gain.”
The IG concluded that Walsh used his federal email account to “solicit/coerce officers and warrant officers to become members of NGAUS in order to further his election as the NGAUS Vice Chairman, Army.” Here’s the full paragraph (note the “…official use only. Dissemination is prohibited…” admonition at the bottom):
The alleged private gain was not pecuniary. Walsh was trying to drum up political support for Montana’s National Guard, political support that would help procure better equipment and benefits for members of the Montana guard. In other words, he was a commander working to obtain every advantage for his subordinates. That’s usually known as leadership. I strongly suspect that similar activities occur in most if not all states.
Someone in the guard didn’t like having his arm twisted, and may have held a grudge against Walsh on an unrelated matter. That someone complained that because Walsh used his federal email account to promote the guard association, he was misusing government resources to obtain a private advantage. The IG found a minor, technical violation of federal email rules, and employed anal retentive bureaucratese to write a six-page opinion when a one-paragraph, half-page opinion would have sufficed. Those six pages converted a wee little molehill to a righteous mountain, but looked a lot better on the IG’s staff officer’s record than a sensible one-page-one-paragraph report.
Still, exactly why Walsh used his government email account for his project instead of a private email account deserves a clear explanation. It was probably convenience. But if he was addressing his messages to government email addresses — I don’t know whether he was — he might have reckoned that keeping the email in-house was a reasonable security procedure.
This incident was known to Governor Steve Bullock before he selected Walsh as his running mate. Bullock, an attorney, rightly judged the matter as small beer and not a disqualifier for elective office. The only reason the matter is being raised now is that control of the U.S. Senate is up for grabs. The stakes are higher, and Republicans will do anything to drive a stake through Walsh’s reputation.
Further reading. Charley Johnson’s report in Montana’s Lee Newspapers.