Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Former U.S. Park Chief ‘Not Going Away’

By F.C. Lowe
The Winchester Star

For the first time in 28 years, Teresa Chambers is without a job.

She was relieved of her duties as the first female United States Park Service police chief in December 2003 after making comments to the press.

Even though she doesn’t go to an office each day, she is working for reinstatement to the position.

She will visit Winchester this week to tell her story. Due to a death in the family, her talk has been rescheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday in Hester auditorium, Henkel Hall, on the Shenandoah University campus, and is a delayed part of the Women’s Studies Month activities.

Her presentation, “The ‘Ascent’ to Whistleblower Status — and the Retaliation That Follows,” chronicles her appointment until her dismissal after comments about security concerns at the nation’s monuments.

This case appeals to students representing a number of academic disciplines on the campus, such as women’s studies, administration of justice and others, said Gina Daddario, co-chairwoman of the Women’s Studies Program and professor and chairwoman of the Department of Mass Communications.

“We also try to offer speakers and programs that celebrate women’s achievements and experiences,” Daddario said.

Chambers is basically telling two stories, Daddario said, — women in a male-dominated field and a whistleblower.

Entering the police cadet program Sept. 26, 1976, at age 19, Chambers was perceived as too kind, too young, too female, too smart, and tiny and frail.

Her uncle, William F. Baker, a retired Maryland state trooper, told her “You can do it.”

That was the spark that got her going into a law enforcement career, Chambers said.

“I have never been sorry I did it,” Chambers said. “I wouldn’t trade one minute of one day. It was the most rewarding work, and I want to get back.”

And that is what she is trying to do.

Taking care of legal strategies, with the assistance of her husband, Jeff, now consumes her time since she has been out of work for 16 months.

“We are not going away,” Chambers said. “My goal is to return to my former job.”

Her comments to the press appeared in a Dec. 2 article after she was interviewed Nov. 20.

“I had done hundreds of interviews and didn’t feel this one was any different,” Chambers said. She confirmed a situation where there were not enough officers and reaffirmed the idea that the officers were “stretched too thin.” Post 9-11, all police had to look at how they were doing things and had to use resources the best they could, Chambers said.

A shortage of officers was an everyday occurrence, Chambers said. This was especially true with the additional post-911 responsibilities and the areas the park service covered, including some of the country’s most recognizable symbols of freedom — the Statue of Liberty, monuments and memorials in and around Washington, and the area of the Golden Gate Bridge, Chambers said.

She said she informed her supervisor about the interview so he wouldn’t be caught off guard and was told “Don’t worry.”

The deputy director of the National Park Service, Donald Murphy, left a voice mail the evening of Dec. 2 and told her he, as well as the director, did not want her to do any more interviews because her message was not consistent with the Department of the Interior’s budget message. In addition, he said they would meet with her the next day to discuss the matter.

The meeting did not occur at all, Chambers said. On Dec. 5, she was told to bring the Park Police second in command to what was supposed to be a meeting with the director and deputy director of the park service.

Instead Murphy had assigned armed agents to his office to await Chambers arrival and take her gun and badge. Murphy refused to tell her what she was alleged to have done incorrectly, Chambers said.

“This was not the reaction I expected,” Chambers said. “It was surreal. No one explained what I should have done differently.”

For Chambers, 48, this was the pinnacle of her career and a job she said she often would want to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

Presently, she is asking for a review and has reapplied for her former position. Two of the six administrative charges against her were dismissed by Merit Systems Protection Board Judge Elizabeth Bogle Oct. 6, 2004.

In her decision, she found that the Department of the Interior “has not met its burden of proof of Charge 1, ‘Improper budget communications,’ and Charge 4, ‘Improper lobbying.’”

Chambers Web site, www.honestchief.com, gives up-to-date information on the situation.

The presentation is open to the public at 4 p.m. Thursday in Hester Auditorium.