Palmer v. United States Civil Service Commission

• Decision Date: 12 January 1961
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 2696.
• Citation: 191 F. Supp. 495
• Parties: Glen D. PALMER and State of Illinois, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Illinois

191 F. Supp. 495

Glen D. PALMER and State of Illinois, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, Respondent.

Civ. No. 2696.

United States District Court S. D. Illinois, S. D.

January 12, 1961.

William H. South, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Illinois.

Grenville Beardsley, Atty. Gen. of Illinois, for plaintiff.

Harlington Wood, Jr., U. S. Atty., Springfield, Ill., for defendant.

POOS, District Judge.

This case is here on appeal from an Order of the United States Civil Service Commission. The State of Illinois and Glen D. Palmer, Director of Conservation of the State of Illinois, perfect the appeal from the Order.

The Commission issued its "Letter of Charges" to the State of Illinois and Glen D. Palmer, in which it charged that it was in receipt of information which warranted it, under the provisions of Section 12 of the Act of August 2, 1939, as amended July 19, 1940, 54 Stat. 767 (U.S.C.A., Title 5, Section 118k), in making an investigation of improper political activities of Glen D. Palmer, Director of Department of Conservation, State of Illinois. The "Letter" stated that the term "Republican Party" means a political party whose candidates for Presidential electors received votes in the last preceding election at which Presidential electors were selected; the term "political campaign" means the political campaign of a candidate for nomination by, or election as the candidate for nomination by, or election as the candidate of, a political party as defined above, and the term "political management" means the management of a political campaign as defined above. The "Letter of Charges" is dated June 9, 1958, and it charged as follows:

I.

That Glen D. Palmer has been employed by the Department of Conservation, State of Illinois, since Jan. 28, 1953.

II.

That by virtue of said employment his principal employment is in connection with an activity, the Department of Conservation, State of Illinois, which is financed in whole or in part by loans and grants made by the United States.

III.

That while so employed the said Glen D. Palmer took an active part in political management and in political campaigns, in that:

(a) The said Glen D. Palmer has served as precinct committeeman and Chairman of the Kendall County Republican Committee, Kendall County, Illinois, from Jan. 28, 1953, to the present.

(b) The said Glen D. Palmer did file Primary Petitions for Precinct Committeeman of the Republican Party with the County Clerk, Kendall County, Illinois, on Jan. 18, 1954, and Jan. 16, 1956, and as a result thereof was a candidate for and elected to that position in the primary elections of April 13, 1954, and April 10, 1956.

(c) The said Glen D. Palmer did solicit signatures on his own behalf on a primary petition for Precinct Committeeman of the Republican Party in the town of Bristol, Kendall County, Illinois, for the primary election held on April 8, 1958.

(d) The said Glen D. Palmer did file with the County Clerk, Kendall County, Illinois, a Primary Petition for Precinct Committeeman of the Republican Party and an Oath and Statement of Candidacy for the primary election of April 8, 1958.

(e) The name of Glen D. Palmer did appear on the ballot as a candidate for and the said Glen D. Palmer was elected as a Republican Party Precinct Committeeman, Bristol Township, Kendall County, Illinois, in the primary election of April 8, 1958.

IV.

That the acts herein described on the part of Glen D. Palmer are in violation of Section 12(a) and Section 15 of the Act of Aug. 2, 1939, as amended, 5 U.S. C.A. §§ 118k(a), 118k-1.

This letter was dated and signed in Washington, D. C. by the Assistant General Counsel of the U. S. Civil Service Commission, and was duly served on the respondents, the State of Illinois and Glen D. Palmer.

The State of Illinois and Glen D. Palmer filed answers to the "Letter of Charges", issue was joined, and the matter came on for hearing before the U. S. Civil Service Commission.

Glen D. Palmer entered into a stipulation with the Commission at the hearing, the effect of which admits the political activity described in Paragraph III of the "Charges". This stipulation was entered into on Sept. 3, 1958, and later, on Oct. 24, 1958, a further stipulation was made in which it was agreed that Glen D. Palmer has held the office of Director of Conservation of the State of Illinois from Jan. 28, 1953, to the present, and that the salary of the Director of Conservation of the State of Illinois is $12,000 per annum.

The United States Civil Service Commission made its case by three witnesses, James H. Wilder, a bookkeeper in the Treasurer's Office of the State of Illinois; Francis A. Whitney, Supervisor of Accounting in the Department of Conservation; and Sam A. Parr, Administrative Assistant in the Department of Conservation of the State of Illinois, all of whom developed the facts on which the Commission entered its order against Glen D. Palmer and the State of Illinois.

The facts show that all monies spent by the Department of Conservation are appropriated by the General Assembly of Illinois, the Legislative Branch of the State Government; that no federal money is spent by the Department, the Department only spending money in accordance with monies appropriated to it by the General Assembly. This is in accordance with the Constitution of the State of Illinois, which provides, in Article IV, Sec. 17 and 18, S.H.A., as follows:

"Sec. 17. No money shall be drawn from the treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law, and on the presentation of a warrant issued by the auditor thereon; and no money shall be diverted from any appropriation made for any purpose, or taken from any fund whatever, either by joint or separate resolution * * *."

"Sec. 18. Each general assembly shall provide for all the appropriations necessary for the ordinary and contingent expenses of the government until the expiration of the first fiscal quarter after the adjournment of the next regular session, the aggregate amount of which shall not be increased without a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, nor exceed the amount of revenue authorized by law to be raised in such time; and all appropriations, general or special, requiring money to be paid out of the state treasury, from funds belonging to the state, shall end with such fiscal quarter * * *"

Thus, under the above quoted sections, the General Assembly must, every two years, appropriate all money spent in running State government. This money can only be withdrawn from the State treasury on a voucher issued by the Auditor of Public Accounts.

The facts further show that there are nine divisions in the Department of Conservation, namely, the Division of Park Memorials, Forestry, Fisheries, Game, Game Management, Engineering, Law, Education and the General Office; that all the Divisions in the Department of Conservation are financed through the Game Fund except Engineering, Parks and Forestry. All divisions are administered by the Director. The Director's duties are full time. The duties that the Director is required to fill are almost a two-man job. The size of the Department requires of him sixty hours a week to handle the work. He is a member of from nine to twelve committees; is required to run the administrative staff, and to administer the entire conservation program, including the ramifications of the entire nine divisions. He must travel throughout the State and out of the State on conservation business. Within the Department there are ten to twelve boards, commissions and councils which the Director, under statutory duties, must run. In addition to the statutory duties, other duties are planning of lakes, acquisition of land, engineering, stocking of lakes, thirty memorials and forty-five parks to be looked after, plus two conservation areas, new picnic areas to be looked after, new additions to buildings to be supervised, new buildings in process of erection to be supervised, the collection of admission fees, new highway construction to lake areas, construction of lakes, game propagation, many game farms, the rearing, raising and distribution of game birds, supervising personnel, personal interviews with fish and game enthusiasts, requests for stocking of fish to be disposed of and the delivery of fish to lake areas, experimental work with new species of game birds for Illinois, development of game propagation lands, forestry and nursery developments, distribution of trees to the public, accounting in connection with all projects, preparation of budgets, educational film service, public relations work, filling speaking engagements at public fish and game meetings. He must also meet the public who come to his office on conservation matters. These duties are all required by State Law. In addition to these duties, he also has duties with Federal Aid projects, and included among these are the setting up of various developments and new projects, and those that might come under federal aid are submitted by the Department to federal governmental agencies for approval and then turned over to the coordinator, a State employee, who must have his name submitted to and his appointment approved by the Federal Government, after which appointment he handles all such projects and from time of approval he takes over and does the departmental work on these projects. This is done under the rules and regulations of the Bureau of Sports, Fisheries and Wild Life, a division of the United States Department of the Interior. The Department of Conservation has had such a coordinator since 1942.

The duties of the coordinator are to take the project or projects over and carry through until completion, and after completion send the reports in to the Federal Government for reimbursement so that the State of Illinois can recover the monies appropriated by the General Assembly.

The record further shows that all money spent on these projects is State money,...