4.02.2008
Update: SIGIR's Wiccan Scandal
Government official (and alleged Wiccan) Ginger Cruz is in the news again. A deputy of Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), Cruz had been accused of sexually harassing co-workers, cooking the books, and threatening hexes on those who crossed her.
Ginger Cruz
"Current and former SIGIR employees have told investigators that Cruz threatened to put hexes on employees and made inappropriate sexual remarks in the presence of staff members. Cruz is a self-described wiccan, a member of a polytheistic religion of modern witchcraft..."
While a grand jury investigation into these claims did not produce any indictments, a new grand jury investigation is underway to see if Cruz and Bowen improperly read staff e-mails.
"In 2007, after the Army ruling [against e-mail monitoring], Bowen and Cruz continued to monitor staff e-mails, according to SIGIR employees at the time. At one point, Cruz held a stack of papers in her hand and claimed they were e-mails of a senior employee, one official said. Staff members also said that Cruz bragged to senior staffers in early 2006 about reading workers' e-mails and in one case shared e-mails from one employee."
According to Bowen's attorney, Bradford A. Berenson, the reading of staff e-mails was a part of established SIGIR policy that staff had been made aware of.
"...as part of an authorized internal investigation into possible press leaks. SIGIR policy permits such e-mail reviews and all employees are notified, regularly reminded and trained on these policies."
Ginger Cruz maintains she is the victim of a smear campaign by former employees, and that she isn't a Witch.
"A previous article in the Post quoted unnamed sources and employees who claimed Cruz was a "witch", allegations that she vehemently denies, calling the allegations "ludicrous"."
So, is Cruz an innocent victim caught up in a vendetta by former employees? Did she ever truly consider herself a Wiccan, or is she now disavowing the faith under political and social pressures? It seems odd that people would invent Wiccan allegiance for Cruz, did they think it would strengthen claims of sexual harassment? It should be noted that her disavowal of Witchcraft is recent, and appeared in a local Guam (her native land) television station web site.
Whatever the eventual outcome of this latest grand jury hearing, it is comforting to know that no indictment was handed down relating to claims of "hexing" or "witchcraft". Perhaps we can avoid the slippery slope to "spectral evidence" for awhile longer. As for Cruz, whether Wiccan or not, it is clear that the press jumped at the chance to sensationalize claims of magical malfeasance, almost to the point of overshadowing the more serious claims of fraud. If this was a smear campaign, it looks like cries of "witch" worked just fine. Perhaps next time claims of "witchcraft" will be met with a bit more skepticism by reporters.
Labels: Ginger Cruz, Iraq, Military, persecutions, SIGIR, Stuart Bowen, Wicca
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Cases against Iraq IG, deputy, end without charges
LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press
July 16, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government has cleared the top U.S. watchdog of Iraq reconstruction projects and his deputy of fraud and abuse allegations lodged by former employees, officials said Wednesday.
On July 3, federal prosecutors alerted the office of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen that a grand jury declined to indict him or deputy Ginger Cruz.
Last week, on July 9, the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency similarly cleared him and Cruz of any administrative charges stemming from the accusations. The executive branch council was created to investigate allegations of misconduct by inspectors general at federal agencies.
Both notices came in letters to Bowen's office, said SIGIR spokeswoman Kristine Belisle.
"I always had faith that we'd be cleared of the allegations," Cruz said in an interview Wednesday. "We knew there was no basis to them."
Cruz described the investigations dating back to 2006 as "very thorough." She said it combed through all of her e-mail, and multiple people were interviewed for it.
"To be completely cleared of anything criminal and anything administratively is a very welcome sense of closure for me personally, and the organization," Cruz said.
A complaint to the presidential council filed by anonymous former staff members in 2006 focused on a number of fraud and abuse allegations, as well as descriptions of possible workplace violations, including sexual harassment. It included charges that Bowen's office overstated the amount of savings that it generated in order to justify a budget request and that money was wasted on a book project.
A grand jury based in Richmond, Va., was investigating whether Bowen and Cruz inappropriately accessed employee e-mails and used taxpayer funds to pay their legal expenses associated with the 2006 administrative probe, federal officials confirmed in December.
Both Bowen and Cruz denied any wrongdoing throughout the investigations. In a memo released to the media, Bowen said the office paid $32,700 of Cruz's legal fees and none of his own. He said that SIGIR's general counsel determined that some of her fees could be paid by the agency since the administrative review "covered actions taken in her official capacity."
Bowen's office polices an uneven reconstruction effort in Iraq that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion. His latest report, issued in April, found that millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors — including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete.
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Cases against Iraq IG, deputy, end without charges
LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press
July 16, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government has cleared the top U.S. watchdog of Iraq reconstruction projects and his deputy of fraud and abuse allegations lodged by former employees, officials said Wednesday.
On July 3, federal prosecutors alerted the office of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen that a grand jury declined to indict him or deputy Ginger Cruz.
Last week, on July 9, the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency similarly cleared him and Cruz of any administrative charges stemming from the accusations. The executive branch council was created to investigate allegations of misconduct by inspectors general at federal agencies.
Both notices came in letters to Bowen's office, said SIGIR spokeswoman Kristine Belisle.
"I always had faith that we'd be cleared of the allegations," Cruz said in an interview Wednesday. "We knew there was no basis to them."
Cruz described the investigations dating back to 2006 as "very thorough." She said it combed through all of her e-mail, and multiple people were interviewed for it.
"To be completely cleared of anything criminal and anything administratively is a very welcome sense of closure for me personally, and the organization," Cruz said.
A complaint to the presidential council filed by anonymous former staff members in 2006 focused on a number of fraud and abuse allegations, as well as descriptions of possible workplace violations, including sexual harassment. It included charges that Bowen's office overstated the amount of savings that it generated in order to justify a budget request and that money was wasted on a book project.
A grand jury based in Richmond, Va., was investigating whether Bowen and Cruz inappropriately accessed employee e-mails and used taxpayer funds to pay their legal expenses associated with the 2006 administrative probe, federal officials confirmed in December.
Both Bowen and Cruz denied any wrongdoing throughout the investigations. In a memo released to the media, Bowen said the office paid $32,700 of Cruz's legal fees and none of his own. He said that SIGIR's general counsel determined that some of her fees could be paid by the agency since the administrative review "covered actions taken in her official capacity."
Bowen's office polices an uneven reconstruction effort in Iraq that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion. His latest report, issued in April, found that millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors — including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete.
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