Amtrak OIG investigation report on dismissed Amtrak executive

[Thirdrail7]

This isn't a strawman argument. Perhaps not in this case, but there are countless examples of waste (aka stealing in many cases) that seems to get a general yawn. For example - the one person who made hundreds of thousands of dollars giving names to the TSA then kindly retired with no public retribution. Sure, moonlighting and getting paid from the Feds isn't the same thing as giving incompetent employees and contractors Amtrak's money. But the OT issue, the cafe car theft issues, etc., barely gets a twitch in the eye.

I, for one, am glad that if nothing else Mica's vocal opposition is helping to uncover waste and fraud. Mica ISN'T getting his way - Amtrak is STILL HERE!

Sorry. No time to post an appropriate rebuttal meme.

I think it is a general understanding that in any operation or institution, there will be a handful people that may use their influence. power or knowledge to game a particular system. This problem is not limited to Amtrak. It is a part of every day life.

I read the IG's report on OT and note that it stated a lot of it was based upon the unique operating agreements/contracts and accounting practices. Hence, if you knew how some of the agreements were worded, you could easily see how some of the things can occur.

A lack of consistent structure will do that.

 

[Ryan]

This isn't a strawman argument.

Your claim was that people are saying "it's ok to steal". Unless you can point to someone saying that it's very much a straw man argument. Nobody here is saying that it's ok. Jim's point, which apparently sailed over your head was that Mica seems to take special pains to take news out of Amtrak (usually in the Food/Beverage arena) and turn it into blanket "Soviet style" Amtrak sucks arguments, which are colossally unproductive.

Arguing back that it's not ok to steal is a textbook straw man.

 

[Eric S]

A far bigger problem at Amtrak is almost consistent mismanagement of large capital projects. But other than occasionally hyperventilating about it, what has anyone ever done to actually fix the problem?

This. And not just Amtrak, but other transit agencies (New York's MTA for example). Actually getting US costs down to something resembling the level of other first world/expensive countries would do wonders. Unfortunately I just don't see many elected officials pushing to see that projects are delivered in a cost-effective manner - all too often the focus is just on eliminating projects altogether when faced with bloated budgets and blown timelines.

 

[afigg]

I haven't had a chance to read the report, was misuse of Amtrak vehicles discussed?

For the OIG investigative summaries on the executives that I posted, I think the short summary is all that is made public. There is presumably a more detailed OIG report, but since it is a personnel action, it is going to be kept confidential.

As for the above posts on whether a crime was committed, what the executive did, working on personal or other business on company time and the iPhone & laptop provided by Amtrak, that sort of misbehavior that is rarely prosecuted. People get terminated for it or sometimes just reprimanded and told to stop it. In this case, he or she got dismissed and lost their day job. End of story.

 

[Carolina Special]

Mica has recently been in the news for a bill that would cap airline bag fees at $4.50, instead of the amounts that the carriers have recently been increasing to pad their profits, as reported in "The Hill". The $4.50 is the same amount as the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) that is added to every plane ticket. The airports want the PFC raised to $8.50, which the airlines are fighting and Mica clearly wants raised.

It is unlikely that Delta and United are big fans of Mica.