Disgruntled Staffers Roast UN Minion

Kofi Annan's short-tempered deputy, Mark Malloch Brown (festooned in official East River Terrorist Cheerleading Society Harvest Moon Ball costume at left) , was recently the subject of sustained indignation by his former subordinates at the UN Development Program. In an email that reached this humble blog, they really toast this guy's tootsies. Good for them!

Brown, as we all may recall, is the ham-handed bully who went ape when a story ran in the New York Sun about Brown renting an apartment from George Soros at a below-market rate. Since the rent would consume most of Brown's salary -- he says he makes up the difference from his "savings" -- the whole thing really stank to high heaven. Brown went off the deep end at a UN press briefing on June 20, while sycophantic UN hacks nodded in agreement.

In the email that a dozen unhappy UNDP staffers are circulating, the staffers say they boycotted Brown's "lavish [and taxpayer-funded] farewell bash in the UN Delegates Lounge" on June 13. What is teeing off these UN people is what they describe as Brown's mishandling of a UN staffer who worked for the Kerry campaign.

"You and your internal UNDP investigators have whitewashed the case of Justin Leites despite overwhelming material evidence -- undeniable and undenied by Justin Leites himself -- that he violated his oath of office, UN staff regulations and the UN Charter by taking on the role of Political Director, Kerry-Edwards Presidential Campaign, 2004, in the State of Maine."

The staffers' email continues:

"In your June 27 email message to all UNDP staff, you acknowledged staff's right to report wrong-doings anonymously and, on other occasions, you have also acknowledged that whistle-blowing safeguards within the UN system still need strengthening. We're surprised therefore that you continue to question not only the anonymity of our complaint against Justin Leites but our very existence."

The email goes on to allege that "you chose to brush aside our complaint: No staff rules were broken, your spokesman William Orme asserted baldly and baselessly. OAPR then implied that it had a problem investigating an anonymous complaint."

Hey, this is starting to sound familiar! Remind anyone of a certain comedic NY Times bureaucrat masquerading as a "public editor"? I guess great mediocrities think alike.

Anyway, the email goes on in that vein:

"As Administrator you could have suspended Justin Leites until investigations and findings were made, or asked him to show cause why he should not be dismissed given the prima facie case and overwhelming material evidence. . . . Instead, the denials, delays and now the whitewash call into question your own motives:

"Why do you condone, encourage and protect such misconduct? Did you yourself give Justin Leites instructions to work for Kerry and have to shield him from accountability since Kerry lost and cannot reward him with another job? You knew that in 1996 Justin Leites had run the campaign in Michigan for Bill Clinton, for whom you had also previously campaigned (as a non-American interfering in US internal partisan politics)." The email includes this link.

Anyway, the email goes on and on like that. But honestly, I can see why a UN bureaucrat would want to get involved in US politics. After all, they pay half our budget, no? Oh, wait a second... it's the other way around, isn't it? Hmmmmm.........