Inspector: Justice employees pushed relatives for jobs

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's inspector general said Thursday that eight high-ranking employees in the department's management division improperly promoted the hiring of relatives for summer or full-time work or assisted others in doing so.

Seven of the employees violated federal law restricting employment of relatives and the eighth violated a federal ethics standard, the inspector general concluded. A ninth, the highest-ranking person mentioned in the IG's report, was criticized for failing to respond to indicators that her subordinates may have violated anti-nepotism laws.

The IG's report is the third investigation of improper hiring practices in the division. The inspector general criticized two previous directors of the Facilities and Administrative Services Staff in 2004 and again in 2008 for manipulating the competitive hiring process to favor particular candidates.

The investigation began after Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., reported that the children of three senior Justice Management Division officials had been hired illegally. The probe led to uncovering additional instances of nepotism.

In the new report, the IG found that an assistant director for human resources and the director of the Facilities and Administrative Services Staff engaged in nepotism by hiring each other's children.

According to the IG, Pamela Cabell-Edelen waged a sustained campaign to secure a job for her daughter, which resulted in hiring the daughter as a secretary by the director of FASS, Edward Hamilton. Shortly after Cabell-Edelen improperly advocated for her daughter's appointment, Hamilton began advocating with Cabell-Edelen and other department officials for his son's appointment to a post in the management division, the IG said. The report also said that LaTonya Gamble, a subordinate of Cabell-Edelen, improperly manipulated the hiring process to help Cabell-Edelen's daughter.

The IG concluded that Cabell-Edelen and Gamble made false statements to investigators and that Hamilton made misleading statements to investigators in an effort to minimize his role in getting his son a job.

Additionally, the report found that:

--Michael Clay, the deputy director of FASS, and Jeanarta McEachron, the assistant director for human resources, simultaneously attempted to assist each other's relative in securing federal employment. Clay improperly persuaded McEachron to hire his daughter. McEachron improperly persuaded Clay to attempt to help her brother find a position at the Justice Department.

--Human Resources Director Rodney Markham made efforts to secure employment for two relatives -- his nephew, who went to work in the Justice Department's national security division, and cousin, who went to work on the budget staff.

--Nancy Horkan, the senior adviser to the deputy assistant attorney general for human resources and administration, Mari Barr Santangelo, made efforts to secure jobs in the department for Horkan's son and niece. Melinda Morgan, the management division's finance staff director, engaged in misconduct by appointing Horkan's son, the IG said.

Horkan's son and niece worked on the finance staff and the human rights staff. Santangelo was the highest-ranking person mentioned in the report. The IG said Santangelo was responsible for a management failure, especially given Santangelo's awareness of previous instances of nepotism.

Cabell-Edelen, Markham and McEachron are no longer with the Justice Department. Possible administrative discipline for the others ranges from a reprimand to removal from their jobs. The federal anti-nepotism law at issue in the IG investigation does not carry criminal penalties.

Spokeswoman Gina Talamona said the Justice Department takes the findings in the report seriously and that the department is moving immediately to address the findings.