Chapter 56

The calls took twenty minutes and not ten. When I saw that I was going to run late getting back, I sent more donuts and coffee out to the media group to keep them pacified.

I walked back to the fancy podium with a handful of notes that I read while waiting for the coffee was heating up on the plate warmer that was out of view of the media.

One note left me angry was about the USS Nevada that had collided with the North Korean sub was undergoing repairs in Japan so it could make the trip back to the US. The Nevada’s crew had been removed when it docked and returned to California for advanced debriefing and interrogation.

NCIS was conducting those interrogations in California. A temporary crew was sent to the Nevada along with another large group of investigators.

Experts from the Navy’s nuclear propulsion division, Electric Boat Company - a division of Huntington Ingalls - were all sending investigators. The Nevada was having too many electrical glitches on too many systems. Sabotage was suspected.

The question was where did it happen? The Nevada had a five-year maintenance drydocking before departing to Japan and was immediately sent on this mission. It was docked in Japan for only three days taking on provisions, medical supplies and several test kits (they were called).

I learned that test kits were a cover name for secret projects that were to be completed while submerged. They could have been health related - about effects of long voyages. They could have been new equipment to be field tested in actual conditions. They could have been top secret eavesdropping modules that were to be deposited near some country’s coast.

I needed to get a detailed description of the test kits and if they had been completed. Were they something that could have been interfering with the Nevada systems? Another question, was there a saboteur in the Nevada’s crew - or in the shipyard?

“OK, ladies and gentleman, let’s get started. Who wants to go first?” I asked.

“Tiffany, you’re first, what’s the question?” I asked.

“In your tax returns, it looks like you sold all or part of your family business and then donated the money. The recipients of the donations were blacked out. Why?” She said.

“The tax return is pretty much self-explanatory. Who I donated the money to was a personal decision and no one really needs to know. The ones that got the money know who they are. There was a nondisclosure requirement in order to receive the funds,” I said.

“That’s the only question and statement I’m going to make about my tax return. You have them because I was required by law to release them. I am not required to discuss and explain it line item by line item,” I said.

“Becky,” I said.

“There is a lot of discussion on the tax changes, there are a lot of people really concerned, social security recipients, and many agencies and of course most states along with some senators and representatives,” she said.

“As I said there was a lot of yelling and screaming along with a lot of four-letter words; mostly from people and agencies with their hand out and some congress persons afraid they would not have money to give away for bribes to vote,” I said.

“Social security was protected and slightly enhanced. Small business and large were protected by limiting their tax burden to the ten percent. Some large and small business were, are upset because it limits their ability to use creative accounting to pay miniscule amounts of taxes, they will pay ten percent. Tax fraud under the new rules will be tough and there are heavy penalties for doing so,” I said.

“The agencies that are still in effect are angry because of the new accountability measures. In the past all they had to do was go before Congress and cry “We need more money to do the job” and twenty percent was the magic number, knowing they would end up with ten, year after year it was the same thing,” I said.

“Now the GSA will have new tools to check the numbers. Before, an employee of an agency was never removed from the budget formula for several years. A replacement employee was added as a new position. The agency gained every year in extra money with that scheme. That is why agencies had plenty of money to give away, and use for special pet projects without needing Congressional approval. That was how they funded all the weapons and ammunition, and also acquired the manpower for the SWAT equipment and for the SWAT teams. There wasn’t any in-depth accountability,” I said.

“The new rules and new systems will flag retiring employees, fired employees and those funds will be withdrawn from the agency budget authority immediately. An employee wanting to retire must pick a date and give the agency a one-year notice. That retirement date will be written in stone; there will be no changing it,” I said.

“The agency will not be able to request a replacement employee be hired until the retiring employee is physically gone. They will have to go through the complete process and approvals and an employee cannot be hired until the next year’s budget was fully funded and approved,” I said.

“One of the things that were happening was an employee filled out the retirement papers, then a new employee or a contractor was hired. Then the employee withdrew the papers to stay another year or two,” I said.

“Because of union rules, the agency could not fire the new employee or contractor. Agencies gain and gained people they didn’t need or want, blowing the budget out the roof,” I said.

“Harold,” I said.

“Doesn’t those changes fly in the face of the union rules,” he said.

“The very first page of the union agreement says and I quote, ‘The government shall in all cases do everything prudent and necessary to protect the government and citizens interests with this labor agreement. This agreement shall not be construed to override those interests. The President and or Congress shall have the authority to cancel or modify this agreement as necessary to that end. Any changes are binding,’ I said.

“That paragraph gives the Congress or me the authority to rescind the unions authority to operate. I will use that authority if necessary. Top government individuals and union officials are negotiating the necessary changes. There are only a few in a labor agreement that spans a thousand pages. I see no reason the changes cannot be made,” I said.

“Amanda,” I said.

“There are already multiple state and county Boards of Education saying they have no days to set aside to give the testing. What is your response for that?” she asked.

“The Department of Education had made it mandatory nationwide for the testing. As I said, any school district that does not issue the test and complete the testing in the required time frame will make their state ineligible to receive federal educational funding next year,” I said.

“Even though local school boards have immense power over curriculum, staffing, transportation and days scheduled, every state Board of Education has an immense power over the local school board,” I said.

“Practically every school has optional days to work the testing in. They have weather days that didn’t get used, spring break and the like. If necessary, extend the school year by the necessary days,” I said.