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The on-going emptying of the "swamp" before LANS goes away. There's a lot of big fat alligators at the bottom that have no intention of leaving (e.g. Wallace, Girrens, Benner, Yarborough, Mason, Leasure, Cabbil, etc.) either.
John Tapia was Rich Marquez's and Carolyn Zerkle's "boy". He was carefully cultivated to perform in accordance with their dictates. It turns out that Rich Marquez owned two companies and sold IT products. Who did he designate as the head of the IT organization for LANL - Carolyn Zerkle! Who did Carolyn designate as the head of the receiving department - John Tapia. For those that are skeptical that this "just happened", remember that it was John Tapia who testified to Congress that the large amounts of missing property was just an accounting error. And he reported to both Rich Marquez and Carolyn Zerkle in the Lab's chain of command.
Also, it is alleged that John Tapia threw Rich Marquez a birthday party at a local casino using a lab purchase card and called it a conference event. In addition, it is alleged that John Tapia committed time card "irregularities" when he was being paid for the same hours expended at both the Lab and a local electric cooperative on which he served on the Board of Directors. John Tapia resigned in lieu of being terminated by the Lab - same as Rich Marquez.
It is all allegations at this point that there is a connection between Rich Marquez having an IT contract, Carolyn Zerkle having responsibility for the IT program at LANL, and John Tapia having responsibility for the warehouse operations, which include supporting the IT organization. Carolyn and Rich directed that John Tapia be noncompetively promoted to his position as a management official in the procurement organization.
In the coming days, more will be more known regarding the continuing investigation. Rich Marquez earned $492K per year before he was canned (forced to resign) John Tapia earned well over $250K before he was canned (forced to resign). These two highly paid individuals were deep in some type of activity that warranted a termination. More to come.
As Montano told the story, an angry senior official refused to allow the audit to be shared with the Department of Energy in order to protect the University of California’s award fee. For his efforts, Montano got nine months of cubicle confinement and professional humiliation. And the University of California began to lose its grip on three national weapons labs."
As an employee, Charles Montano reported to line managers Carolyn Zerkle and Rich Marquez during the relevant period of time and they were involved in the disciplinary and retaliatory actions taken against Charles Montano. And John Tapia was the individual who testified to Congress that nothing was wrong when the number of items purchased didn't match the property records.
The Lab Director and Deputy Director resigned, the Bechtel/UC team won the new contract, and Rich Marquez and Carolyn Zerkle were promoted by the new Bechtel management team. And John Tapia was noncompetitively promoted by Rich and Carolyn to a senior procurement official position.
On Tuesday, Montano was given an award by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a national network of organizations devoted to issues of nuclear weapons and nuclear waste. He was recognized for his lifetime achievement as a whistleblower at LANL, where he worked for 32 years and retired in 2010, when his long-standing complaint of whistleblower retaliation was settled. During his embattled career he stood up to withering retaliation, while revealing business practice scandals at the lab, fighting for workers’ rights and uncovering pay discrepancies for female workers.
At a ceremony in the Senate Hart Building, Montano, along with Sen. Diane Feinstein, (D-Calif) and Rep. Adam Smith, (D-WA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, also were honored
I disagree that Montano is as bad. I don't hear any rumors that he lined his pockets with Lab dollars. He blew the whistle on Lab corruption and was placed in the basement of the same building that senior managers worked constantly to harass and intimidate him instead of investigating his findings of procurement corruption.
It was Montano's official job duty to audit lab contracts for fraud, waste and abuse. And that is exactly why Pete Bussollini was sent to federal prison when he caught committing procurement fraud. For example, Pete ordered many computer monitors that were really HD TV's for the ranch that he was going to help run for Burick, the number two man at the Lab at the time. The day the FBI showed up, Burick was found dead with a bullet to the head at the ski hill. Burick's plan was to equip his ranch with TV's and other items purchased with Lab $ and Bussollini and Alexander were the two henchmen who were convicted of their crimes. This is not in dispute.
This string merits prize for fiction. But I will bite. Name the 2 IT companies. Should be easy to validate. Give dates Tapia testified. Again, public record. Timing of FBI and Burick death. Also easy to document. Finally, Montano had nothing to do with Bussolini procurement discovery. And Zerkle reports to PAD for Operations.
In the coming days, more will be more known regarding the continuing investigation. Rich Marquez earned $492K per year before he was canned (forced to resign) John Tapia earned well over $250K before he was canned (forced to resign). These two highly paid individuals were deep in some type of activity that warranted a termination. More to come.
April 21, 2016 at 2:55 PM
So when does Zerkle "resign"? Something is going on with LANS that is for sure.
In the tv series Breaking Bad, one of the primary characters has a line "I know somebody who knows somebody"
That has become the LANL motto in the waning days of the lab contract where corruption is as prevalent as blue meth in the fictional Breaking Bad:
Beth Sellers knew somebody who would cover up and/or be a party to avoid disclosing that she had obtained her husband a big bucks contract at LANL (who was the LANL buyer)?
Burick knew somebody (Bussollini) who would carry out his procurement fraud;
Rich Marquez knew somebody who would cover up that he has an IT contract for which he provides contract employees as a sub-sub contractor and not disclosed to LANL;
Zerkle knew somebody who would approve the noncompetitive appointment of John Tapia as a procurement manager;
Tapia knew somebody who would not question his timesheets and would approve his time sheets for THREE YEARS while he worked a second job as the head of the electric coop. The DOE contract limits a Lab employee to community service of 80 hours per calendar year; Tapia allegedly provided community service at 40 to 80 hours PER MONTH;
cant help but wonder how our congressional delegation is dealing with another scandal. on one hand, it needs to preserve the jobs but on the other hand,nit is tough to fight for federal dollars when senior management cant keep its own management team on an honest time and attendance, ethics, conflict of interest program - and these individuals have q clearances.
You can fire anybody for sexist remarks...like you.
May 3, 2016 at 3:35 PM
Since when is a statement of fact a "sexist remark"? Calling names or accusations instead of engaging on a factual issue is a "progressive" hallmark. At all costs, stamp out all opposing (i.e., incorrect) thought.
26 comments:
The on-going emptying of the "swamp" before LANS goes away. There's a lot of big fat alligators at the bottom that have no intention of leaving (e.g. Wallace, Girrens, Benner, Yarborough, Mason, Leasure, Cabbil, etc.) either.
Marquez left a couple months ago, and now Tapia is gone as well.
Any chance the departures are somehow related?
who gives a rats a**. This is LLNL-The True Story. Go start your own blog.
John Tapia was Rich Marquez's and Carolyn Zerkle's "boy". He was carefully cultivated to perform in accordance with their dictates. It turns out that Rich Marquez owned two companies and sold IT products. Who did he designate as the head of the IT organization for LANL - Carolyn Zerkle! Who did Carolyn designate as the head of the receiving department - John Tapia. For those that are skeptical that this "just happened", remember that it was John Tapia who testified to Congress that the large amounts of missing property was just an accounting error. And he reported to both Rich Marquez and Carolyn Zerkle in the Lab's chain of command.
Also, it is alleged that John Tapia threw Rich Marquez a birthday party at a local casino using a lab purchase card and called it a conference event. In addition, it is alleged that John Tapia committed time card "irregularities" when he was being paid for the same hours expended at both the Lab and a local electric cooperative on which he served on the Board of Directors. John Tapia resigned in lieu of being terminated by the Lab - same as Rich Marquez.
It is all allegations at this point that there is a connection between Rich Marquez having an IT contract, Carolyn Zerkle having responsibility for the IT program at LANL, and John Tapia having responsibility for the warehouse operations, which include supporting the IT organization. Carolyn and Rich directed that John Tapia be noncompetively promoted to his position as a management official in the procurement organization.
In the coming days, more will be more known regarding the continuing investigation. Rich Marquez earned $492K per year before he was canned (forced to resign) John Tapia earned well over $250K before he was canned (forced to resign). These two highly paid individuals were deep in some type of activity that warranted a termination. More to come.
"BY ROGER SNODGRASS
Los Alamos Daily Post
When millions of dollars of purchases at Los Alamos National Laboratory were called into question by Charles Montano and a fellow auditor in 2003, the governance of the lab was challenged.The investigation into procurement processes at Los Alamos National Laboratory was one of many scandals detailed in Montano’s 2015 exposé, Los Alamos: Secret Colony, Hidden Truths, a record that continues to serve as a glossary on current events.
As Montano told the story, an angry senior official refused to allow the audit to be shared with the Department of Energy in order to protect the University of California’s award fee. For his efforts, Montano got nine months of cubicle confinement and professional humiliation. And the University of California began to lose its grip on three national weapons labs."
As an employee, Charles Montano reported to line managers Carolyn Zerkle and Rich Marquez during the relevant period of time and they were involved in the disciplinary and retaliatory actions taken against Charles Montano. And John Tapia was the individual who testified to Congress that nothing was wrong when the number of items purchased didn't match the property records.
The Lab Director and Deputy Director resigned, the Bechtel/UC team won the new contract, and Rich Marquez and Carolyn Zerkle were promoted by the new Bechtel management team. And John Tapia was noncompetitively promoted by Rich and Carolyn to a senior procurement official position.
On Tuesday, Montano was given an award by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a national network of organizations devoted to issues of nuclear weapons and nuclear waste. He was recognized for his lifetime achievement as a whistleblower at LANL, where he worked for 32 years and retired in 2010, when his long-standing complaint of whistleblower retaliation was settled. During his embattled career he stood up to withering retaliation, while revealing business practice scandals at the lab, fighting for workers’ rights and uncovering pay discrepancies for female workers.
At a ceremony in the Senate Hart Building, Montano, along with Sen. Diane Feinstein, (D-Calif) and Rep. Adam Smith, (D-WA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, also were honored
Don't kid yourselves. Montano is just as bad as the rest.
I disagree that Montano is as bad. I don't hear any rumors that he lined his pockets with Lab dollars. He blew the whistle on Lab corruption and was placed in the basement of the same building that senior managers worked constantly to harass and intimidate him instead of investigating his findings of procurement corruption.
It was Montano's official job duty to audit lab contracts for fraud, waste and abuse. And that is exactly why Pete Bussollini was sent to federal prison when he caught committing procurement fraud. For example, Pete ordered many computer monitors that were really HD TV's for the ranch that he was going to help run for Burick, the number two man at the Lab at the time. The day the FBI showed up, Burick was found dead with a bullet to the head at the ski hill. Burick's plan was to equip his ranch with TV's and other items purchased with Lab $ and Bussollini and Alexander were the two henchmen who were convicted of their crimes. This is not in dispute.
This string merits prize for fiction. But I will bite. Name the 2 IT companies. Should be easy to validate. Give dates Tapia testified. Again, public record. Timing of FBI and Burick death. Also easy to document. Finally, Montano had nothing to do with Bussolini procurement discovery. And Zerkle reports to PAD for Operations.
In the coming days, more will be more known regarding the continuing investigation. Rich Marquez earned $492K per year before he was canned (forced to resign) John Tapia earned well over $250K before he was canned (forced to resign). These two highly paid individuals were deep in some type of activity that warranted a termination. More to come.
April 21, 2016 at 2:55 PM
So when does Zerkle "resign"? Something is going on with LANS that is for sure.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
who gives a rats a**. This is LLNL-The True Story. Go start your own blog.
April 21, 2016 at 12:20 PM
Payback for sending us all your carpetbagging managers. It's our blog now. Get used to it. And, we'll take your lunch away too!
Have heard that some individuals that left LANL got well into the seven figures to remain silent.
No one here cares about LANL except three retired LANL people.
Right, that's why 80% of the posts are about LANL.
LLNS employees not caring about LANS employees is not advisable. The monopoly rules for one are generally available to the other.
"One" meaning either LLC contractor.
In the tv series Breaking Bad, one of the primary characters has a line "I know somebody who knows somebody"
That has become the LANL motto in the waning days of the lab contract where corruption is as prevalent as blue meth in the fictional Breaking Bad:
Beth Sellers knew somebody who would cover up and/or be a party to avoid disclosing that she had obtained her husband a big bucks contract at LANL (who was the LANL buyer)?
Burick knew somebody (Bussollini) who would carry out his procurement fraud;
Rich Marquez knew somebody who would cover up that he has an IT contract for which he provides contract employees as a sub-sub contractor and not disclosed to LANL;
Zerkle knew somebody who would approve the noncompetitive appointment of John Tapia as a procurement manager;
Tapia knew somebody who would not question his timesheets and would approve his time sheets for THREE YEARS while he worked a second job as the head of the electric coop. The DOE contract limits a Lab employee to community service of 80 hours per calendar year; Tapia allegedly provided community service at 40 to 80 hours PER MONTH;
LANL - Breaking Bad.
April 24, 2016 at 8:38 PM
Culture of arrogance. We are "scientists" so we are special. Its all starting to come together.
LANL, wow full of conflicts of interest and general corruption, not to mention the implied or real theft of gov't property ?
Great place for Science ? Not so much anymore.
cant help but wonder how our congressional delegation is dealing with another scandal. on one hand, it needs to preserve the jobs but on the other hand,nit is tough to fight for federal dollars when senior management cant keep its own management team on an honest time and attendance, ethics, conflict of interest program - and these individuals have q clearances.
Two more brainless deletions on this thread.
So when does Zerkle "resign"? Something is going on with LANS that is for sure.
April 21, 2016 at 8:06 PM
The "Big Blonde" has more power than the Lab Director. Never gonna happen.
You cannot fire a woman at a National Lab.
Scooby is all about his little editorial angle. His deletions have nothing to do with content or blog "rules"
April 27, 2016 at 6:18 PM
You can fire anybody for sexist remarks...like you.
You can fire anybody for sexist remarks...like you.
May 3, 2016 at 3:35 PM
Since when is a statement of fact a "sexist remark"? Calling names or accusations instead of engaging on a factual issue is a "progressive" hallmark. At all costs, stamp out all opposing (i.e., incorrect) thought.
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