Hugh Latimer is reported to have said “Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out ” as he stood outside Balliol college (with his friend Nicholas Ridley) awaiting execution for teaching heresy. I am reminded of these words as I contemplate the decision before me. I must either agree to go to LA, to fix a problem not of my making (which management DID create) or face the fact that my separation from my agency will be adversarial. This despite the fact that I have no assurance that doing this thing will speed my departure. Indeed, I have every reason to believe that management’s promises are worthless, and that any deal brokered by them is negotiated in bad faith. What, then, to do?
I admit that I am more than a little dismayed and angered by the attempt to blackmail me into going to LA. I am also angered by the fact that they have, cavalierly, chosen to disregard that the leave I am requesting is mine as a matter of right. I earned it, and now management is threatening to extend me, to deny my leave, and to cause me financial and familial hardship, and all because they failed to do their jobs. Setting aside the issue of how BIlbo became as he is, a matter I had no hand in, there is still the matter of fairness and forewarning.
It is not as though FPS management had no forewarning of my departure. They knew, in May of this year, that I had been offered (and had accepted) a job with the US Capitol Police. They also knew that I was merely waiting on the completion of a background investigation and a security clearance. Indeed, management had been previously (and amply) warned, by me, on previous occasions that my departure presented some serious issues for the agency, and that they needed to develop a transition plan. I had also, previously, advised management that it was ill considered to place so many high level responsibilities (four program areas) on one person. I had advised them that they were, in fact, creating a single point of failure mechanism which could have serious consequences should I become ill, die, retire, or quit.
Management chose to do nothing. Agency management sat on their hands and whistled while events wended their way to where we are now. As it stands, their answer appears to be that somehow it’s acceptable to threaten me (with extension), with all that entails, because senior management could not be bothered to do what was required of them. I have come to realize that this is not a one time aberration, from an otherwise exemplary pattern of performance, but rather it is part of a larger whole. It is the same philosophy of management that deemed it acceptable to take money for repairing security systems (in the region) while not doing the work. It is the same type of management practice that, in my humble opinion, made it easier for the San Diego Courthouse to be bombed in May of this year.
I have made my decision, and it is this: I will play the man. I will do what is necessary to leave, on schedule- but know this as well… the agency has burnt this bridge. When I am gone they will receive no help, no advice, and I will answer no questions from this agency. I gave them fair warning of my new job, and how it would affect them. I treated the agency’s managers fairly and professionally and had my courtesy and professionalism returned with petty extortion. I will not make that mistake again.