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Wildlife Service not reconsidering nomination


The Associated Press
August 15, 2001

Topeka — A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman says the nomination of Kansas parks head Steve Williams to lead the agency is not being reconsidered.
Williams, 44, has been secretary of Kansas Wildlife and Parks since 1995. He was fired earlier that year as deputy executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. He said Monday that he was surprised that questions were being raised about an issue he thought had been resolved long ago.
A Pennsylvania newspaper, the Erie Times-News, reported over the weekend that Williams was fired after an investigation of altered payroll records.
Williams said he has never hidden that he was a target of an investigation. He was fired after allegations that he told an employee to doctor computer records to give him and another employee raises.
Williams was never charged in the case and denies any wrongdoing. He said he has a letter from the former executive director of the Game Commission that clears him.
"There was never any indication I did anything wrong," Williams said, adding that he had told federal officials about the Pennsylvania firing.
"The department is completely confident that he will be confirmed by the Senate and will be a superb director of the Fish and Wildlife Service," said Mark Pfeifle, a spokesman for the agency, which is a division of the Interior Department.
President Bush has announced his intent to nominate Williams to head the service, and that nomination will stand, Pfeifle said.
Williams said his record as head of the Kansas agency and the support he has received for the federal job "speak louder than folks who obviously have ill will toward me for something that happened more than six years ago."
According to Pennsylvania Supreme Court documents, Williams told subordinate Robert Toth in January 1993 to alter computer payroll records so that Williams and another Game Commission employee would get longevity raises.
The request came after a Pennsylvania Office of Administration policy change that granted longevity pay seven years after an employee was hired, instead of after one year.
The altered payroll records were discovered after two two-week pay periods. Williams was told to repay the state $55.50, which he did.
After the state's inspector general finished an investigation, Toth and Williams were both fired in January 1995.
Williams said he recalled telling Toth to "check into" the payroll maneuver. When his paycheck increased, Williams said, he assumed that officials had approved the move.
A year after Williams was fired, Donald Madl, the executive director who fired Williams as ordered by the Game Commission, wrote a letter to Kansas Gov. Bill Graves.
The letter, saying Williams was "exonerated from any wrongdoing," arrived as the Kansas Senate was ready to confirm Williams' appointment.
Two Pennsylvania game commissioners, however, said Madl's letter was not authorized by the commission.
The questions of Williams' credibility came as a surprise to Gordon Stockemer, who serves on the Wildlife and Parks advisory commission.
"I've sat at commission meetings for six years and never once felt like Steve was trying to put something over on the commission," he said.

Originally published at: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/au...e_service_not/