Ethics Charges Against Top D.C. Judge "Vindication," Union Says
Monday, February 10, 2014(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
The District’s
chief administrative law judge was charged with
engaging in retaliation against
rank and file administrative law judges last
Thursday, when the Board of Ethics
and Government Accountability alleged 19
counts of wrongdoing against Mary Oates
Walker, the chief judge and top
official of the D.C. Office of Administrative
Hearings. DC Mayor Vincent
Gray on Friday placed Walker on leave with the
intention of firing her for
cause. Walker allegedly
steered a $43,000 city contract to the husband
of a business partner, hired
that business partner into a city job and lied
to investigators probing the
actions, and then went after her employees, the
law judges who tried to hold
her accountable. “It’s a tremendous
vindication for the judges,” said Paul
Shearon, secretary-treasurer of the
International Federation of Professional
and Technical Engineers, the union backing an
organizing drive by the rank and
file administrative law judges, who allege that
Walker “harassed or retaliated
against employees acting in good faith” by
reporting potential wrongdoing. Adapted
from reports in The Washington
Post.