A tangled web weaved through self deception?

ALEXANDRIA,Va.-The September 17, 1997 NCUA Board meeting was the first public witnessing of what is still continuing to play out as the agency's long day's journey into the light of illegal false duty location postings. The hiring and placement of employees in an attempt to diversify its workplace was uncovered by a highly critical Office of Personnel Management (OPM) review of NCUA's delegated hiring authority in June, 1997. Until that inflammatory September board meeting, the OPM report was supposedly a well-kept secret. The barely-contained screaming match that took place between as-yet unconfirmed Board Member Yolanda Townsend Wheat and Chairman Norman D'Amours began with her motion to add discussion of the report to the day's agenda. Board Member Shirlee Bowne seconded (CU Times, October 1, 1997). D'Amours stormed out of the meeting and left Bowne and Wheat to conduct their own meeting. Reams of procedural objections ensued. Old feelings reemerged about former Board Member Robert Swan, who challenged Wheat's recess appointment, taking his case all the way to the Supreme Court (it never granted certiorari). The General Accounting Office's (GAO) earlier released report on NCUA management practices was critical and caught the attention of Rep. Spencer Bachus, who at that time was chairman of the House Banking Oversight Subcommittee. Compiled by Washington Reporter GM Corrigan.