Group alleges Park Service violated employee free speech

A federal employee advocacy group is demanding that the National Park Service retract part of an ethics policy, claiming it limits the free speech of some employees.

In a Sept. 16 memorandum, Karen Wade, the Park Service's director for its Intermountain Region, outlined ethical responsibilities and appropriate conduct for federal employees as listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, including acceptable use of government charge cards, retention of frequent flier miles, use of a government-owned or leased vehicle and accepting gifts from outside sources.

But at issue is one part of the memo. It was entitled "non-official expression," and directed Park Service employees in the Intermountain Region to seek the approval of regional officials before writing or speaking about any topic related to their work, even if they were speaking outside of work in a nonofficial capacity. The Intermountain Region consists of Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a nonprofit group formed 10 years ago by a former Forest Service employee, this directive deviates from federal regulations and violates the employees' first amendment right to free speech. "This is a departure from the standard," said Dan Meyer, general counsel for PEER. "What the Intermountain Region is seeking to do is gag all speech and if they don't mean that, they need to retract and reissue their policy and clarify what they are doing."

On Monday PEER sent a letter to Parks Service Director Fran Mainella asking her to retract that portion of the memo and fire the officials responsible for the action.

An agency spokesman said the language in the memo is included in the Code of Federal Regulations and the ethics memo issued last week is circulated annually by the Park Service to remind its employees of their ethical responsibilities as federal employees.

"The guidelines for nonofficial expression has nothing to do with any restriction of freedom of speech," said Rick Frost, spokesman for the Intermountain Region. "The basic idea is that people can't use government time or equipment to develop written work for personal use, and they can't use their government title or position when expressing personal opinions or ideas."

In December, Park Service officials agreed to clarify its policy on employee speech about park-related issues in a settlement with a veteran employee. The agency issued the employee a gag order after he spoke out about illegal hunting in Yellowstone National Park.

"What the Park Service has just issued is clearly an anti-free speech policy," PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said in a press release issued Monday. "It's apparent that the National Park Service needs to be reminded again that its employees are American citizens with First Amendment rights."

PEER officials said they plan to take the issue to court if it cannot be resolved.