12.29.12
DMR's Bill Walker suspended by Commission on Marine Resources in Biloxi
Sun Herald
BILOXI -- The Commission on Marine Resources voted unanimously Friday
evening to suspend Department of Marine Resources Executive Director Bill
Walker indefinitely without pay, pending the outcome of an investigation by
the FBI and State Auditor's Office.
Commission Chairman Vernon Asper said the Federal Bureau of Investigation
has joined a state auditor's probe of DMR spending. Asper said the
investigation could be completed as early as February.
Walker sat, expressionless, on the dais with the five commissioners while
his suspension was announced. Walker was briefly called in to a three-hour
closed session, where DMR attorneysSandy Chesnut and Joseph Runnels
reviewed emails, contracts, receipts and other documents with the
commissioners, Asper said.
Some of the documents they reviewed, Asper said, were first reported on in
the Sun Herald, including an oil company check made out to the Mississippi
Marine Resources Foundation, anonprofit Walker also directs.
DMR records show that, from 2000 to 2009, oil companies donated rigs to the
DMR, along with more than $7 million the agency could use to maintain the
rigs as fishing reefs.
One donation was different. When Chevron U.S.A. Inc. donated a rig to DMR
in October 2009, the oil company's $115,000 check for maintenance was made
out to Walker's foundation.
Asper said commissioners reviewed the paperwork associated with that
donation, first reported in the Sun Herald. If Chevron also wrote a check
to DMR, as Walker once indicated, that check has not been found, Asper
said.
He said the commissioners are frustrated because they were unaware of what,
if anything, has been going on in the agency.
After Chesnut announced the decision to suspend Walker, Asper said;
"We considered a reasonable amount of information regarding the allegations
that have been made against the agency and, after careful consideration, we
feel that this decision is warranted, that we need more investigation, and
that the agency would be best served if Dr. Walker stepped aside and
allowed the investigation to proceed.
"We all very much appreciate the work that Dr. Walker has done. We think
the world of him. We think he's just done a fantastic job with the agency
and we hope that in a few weeks we are back here announcing that we were
wrong and that there really was no wrongdoing whatsoever within the agency.
But that's something that will come out in the investigation."
Walker has led the state agency since 2002, overseeing the use of state
Tidelands funding, an array of federal grant resources and millions in BP
cleanup money. It's the only state agency based on the Coast.
DMR is supposed to spend Coastal Impact Assistance Program money
Mississippi receives from the federal government for conservation measures.
The auditor's office has not commented on its investigation. Preliminary
reports from a federal audit question DMR practices, including the lack of
bids for work and high appraisals for land purchases.
The DMR's head of the CIAP program also used federal money she oversees to
buy her parents' property in Pascagoula for the DMR, and federal money was
used to buy property Walker's son owned in the Gulf Hills subdivision north
of Ocean Springs.
The CMR had other questions about Walker's Marine Resources Foundation. The
foundation owns two recreational fishing boats, which the DMR leases. DMR
has spent more than $1.46 million of public money to repair, upgrade and
insure the boats.
The agency also has taken state legislators and other influential folk on
state-sponsored fishing trips.
After the meeting adjourned, Walker told the Sun Herald: "I don't have a
whole lot to say about this. They made this decision. I'll respect it and
deal with this the best I can."
"I'll work with them through this process. And we'll see where it goes."
He said he will take the next few weeks to "think about what I'll do about
retirement."
Walker declined to comment about his foundation.
For the first two hours of the executive session, Walker's wife, Sharon,
and son, Scott, sat in a Land Rover SUV in the parking lot of the Bolton
Building, where the DMR offices are.
Scott Walker said, "We're here waiting, but didn't want to bother going in
there."
Gov. Phil Bryant's office responded to Bill Walker's suspension with a
short statement. "The Governor supports the decision of the commission and
continues to instruct the agency to cooperate with authorities and be
transparent throughout the investigative process," it said.
Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network, said
late Friday, "We've been concerned since we had heard there was an audit
and that there may have been some misuse of funds.
"And we have been concerned for awhile about the expenditure of CIAP funds
in Mississippi on projects we felt might not have been appropriate."
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/12/28/4378855/cmr-again-behind-closed-doors.html
Bill Walker suspended as head of Department of Marine Resources
Mississippi Press
By Warren Kulo | GulfLive.com
updated December 28, 2012 at 7:59 PM
BILOXI -- Bill Walker has been suspended without pay as the Executive
Director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, the Commission
on Marine Resources announced after an executive session Friday afternoon.
After commission attorney Sandy Chesnut announced the commissioner's
unanimous vote to suspend Walker, chairman Vernon Asper said the decision
was a "difficult" one to make.
"We appreciate the work Dr. Walker has done for this agency," Asper said.
"The evidence was such that the commission was compelled to take this
action."
Asper said that during the executive session, which lasted more than three
hours, commissioners were presented with evidence regarding allegations
against the DMR, which is under federal and state scrutiny for some of its
spending. Asper would not elaborate on what the evidence was.
He did term some of the evidence as "very suspicious."
But Asper, who was appointed spokesperson for the commission, also said he
hopes further investigation will clear Walker of any wrongdoing
"I hope we're back here in a few weeks saying we were wrong, that there was
no wrongdoing on the part of the agency."
After the meeting, Walker said he understood the commissions' decision.
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for these commissioners," he said.
"This was a hard decision to them to make and I respect the decision they
made. I will do whatever is asked of me to assist in the investigation.
"We're just going to have to let this thing play out."
Walker, who was appointed head of the DMR in 2002 by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove,
has come under fire in recent months -- first from a preliminary report in
a federal audit which questioned funds spent on land purchases made through
a federal program funded by offshore money. The report found the department
paid far more in most cases than the estimated value of the properties.
More recently, the DMR has come under scrutiny by the Gulfport-based Sun
Herald, which has reported friends, relatives and local officials have been
hired by the DMR for contract work. The Sun Herald also questioned $1.46
million the department has spent since 2007 to lease two recreational
fishing boats from a foundation meant to support the department. Walker
manages the foundation.
Walker has previously announced his intention to retire at the end of June.
After Friday's meeting, he said he could "retire any time I want, but right
now I'm on leave from the department."
Asper said DMR Deputy Director Danny Guice Jr. would likely take over
Walker's responsibilities, although Asper said that could change. Walker
hired Guice in November and indicated Guice would likely succeed him.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/12/bill_walker_suspended_as_head.html#incart_river
Walker suspended indefinitely during DMR investigation
WLOX
BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -
Dr. Bill Walker has been suspended without pay indefinitely while an
investigation goes forth. Federal investigation are looking into
allegations of misspending and favoritism at the Department of Marine
Resources, the agency run by Dr. Walker.
DMR attorneys were expected to share information they've learned about that
investigation with commissioners at Friday's closed door meeting.
Terrance Friday will have more on the decision to suspend Dr. Walker and
the related investigation tonight on WLOX News at 10pm.
http://www.wlox.com/story/20451519/walker-suspended-indefinitely-during-dmr-investigation
