The National Journal & Investigators Eye Gettysburg Park
By Kathryn Jorgensen
(April 2009 Civil War News)

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Two investigative reports by Edward T. Pound of the National Journal put Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg Foundation on the radar of official Washington.

The attention-grabbing stories were “A New Battle Rages At Gettysburg: Gettysburg National Military Park had a $103 million makeover, but conflict at the iconic site continues” on Feb. 21 and “Park Service Employees Allege Pressure on Gettysburg Project: Interior IG Is Investigating The Gettysburg Superintendent's Role In Developing A Massive New Battlefield Museum” on Feb. 27.

The National Journal is part of the print, online and broadcast National Journal Group, described on its Web site as “the leading source of nonpartisan reporting on the current political environment and emerging policy trends.”

Pound is a veteran journalist and Pulitzer-Prize nominee with more than 30 years in Washington, reporting for newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today.

He recently told Gettysburg WGET radio host Fred Snyder that he started writing about Gettysburg 10 or 11 years ago, covering the public-private partnership plan as it evolved. He broke the news that Robert Kinsley was chosen for the museum and visitor center project.

With his long interest in Gettysburg, Pound followed developments over the years. When he heard that Superintendent John A. Latschar would become president of the Gettysburg Foundation he felt there was potential for conflict of interest and started investigating. (Latschar has since been told there could be a conflict and was advised against taking the position.)

Natl. Journal Highlights
The first story set the stage, giving Latschar’s background, his accomplishments in Gettysburg, and conflicts with preservationists, businessmen, battlefield guides and the Rosensteel family.

Pound noted that the partnership of the private, nonprofit Gettysburg Foundation and the National Park Service “became one of the most important arrangements in the Park Service system, which is always hard-pressed for cash.”

Latschar’s “can-do” reputation includes his loathing “rules that get in the way — his mental toughness, and his ability to forge close relationships with higher-ups.”

In a long interview with Pound, Latschar said he had always been truthful with the public, giving what was the best information he knew and believed at the time.

He spoke of the wide support he enjoys among historians, preservationists and local business leaders and said some critics "are not going to be happy until I am dismissed from this position in disgrace. It's unfortunate that it has sunk to that level."

Interior Department investigators are looking into whether Latschar misused $8,700 in park and Eastern National funds that paid for a fence around four acres of pasture behind his house where his wife, Terry, exercises her horses under a park permit. He denied pressuring the park maintenance chief to replace fencing and “exudes an air of confidence” about the Inspector General’s inquiry.

Pound’s first story explained the arrangement between the NPS and foundation, which operates and maintains the visitor center. It earns revenue from admission fees initiated after revenue shortfall projections and a share of proceeds from the for-profit shop and restaurant.

Foundation chairman Kinsley, who put together the winning package to build the visitor center complex, is chairman and CEO of Kinsley Construction, a York, Pa., major construction contractor.

Kinsley, his family foundation and partnerships have donated nearly $8.4 million to the Gettysburg Foundation.

On the other hand, LSC Design, a Kinsley son’s company, and Kinsley Construction received a total of $8,509,825 through contracts for supplying equipment, drawings and supplies, “at cost” construction management, and architectural design and engineering work.

Kinsley told Pound he was not profiting from the foundation contracts. He said he recused himself from board discussions and an independent auditing firm is reviewing his companies’ charges.

Kinsley Construction also earned an additional $2.5 million as principal subcontractor on two 2007 NPS contracts awarded to minority-owned Puente Construction Enterprises, which has main offices in Woodbridge, N.J., and Philadelphia.

Gettysburg Foundation President Robert C. Wilburn told Pound the museum and $15 million Cyclorama painting restoration added to the Gettysburg costs, as did increases in construction, design services, fundraising, exhibits and landscape restoration. He said the Gettysburg complex cannot be compared to other park visitor centers, which have an average construction cost of $6.7 million.

Wilburn said the visitor center is not oversized — the restaurant is too small in the summer and the gift shop is jammed. As for the museum, Cyclorama and film fee, he said the foundation had almost no negative comments and “people seem to think it’s a real bargain.”

NPS Development Advisory Board senior construction program manager Michael D. LeBorgne and retired senior program analyst for construction Roger K. Brown told Pound they objected in 2003 to the 139,000-square-foot project’s monumental scale.

LeBorgne said a reasonable size would have been 62,000 square feet, with an additional 20,000 square feet for foundation offices, the restaurant and shop.

They raised concerns about foundation president Kinsley’s companies working on the project and that revenues would not cover operating costs.

Latschar told Pound he does not recall questions being raised about conflict-of-interest and revenue shortfalls, but he complained to higher-ups, including NPS Director Fran Mainella, about LeBorgne’s and Brown’s unprofessional behavior.

The Development Advisory Board, at a rare meeting attended by Mainella, ignored the staffers’ concerns and approved the larger project although the board usually supports staff recommendations. Brown told Pound, “Clearly, there was political pressure brought to bear. It wasn't even subtle.”

Reactions
One result of the National Journal stories was an online petition drive, ”In Support of Dr. John Latschar,” on the Gettysburg Discussion Group site. At presstime it had 214 signers, including more than a dozen anonymous.

John Latschar gave several interviews to the Gettysburg Times and Evening Sun of Hanover. He expressed confidence that what he termed public slanders and false charges would be found baseless.

“I believe that they’ll find there’s nothing to the allegations, and it will close this door forever,” he told the Times.

In one interview he elaborated on questions the investigators asked about theft from the Eastern National bookstore and Eastern’s reservations office. Latschar said his wife’s nephew and two others were prosecuted for stealing money from the store.

As for the head of Eastern’s reservation office who took a similar job with the Gettysburg Foundation after Eastern lost the contract, Latschar said she did not give proprietary reservation and customer information to the foundation. He said it was the park’s information and the park gave it to the foundation.

Latschar told the Sun he will not be pressured from the job and has no retirement plans. He expressed concern if others would be reluctant to enter into similar public-private partnerships, noting, “Public servants are presumed guilty until proven innocent.”

Hohmann Letter
In a Gettysburg Times letter published Feb. 26 Richard R. Hohmann, president of the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides, called on U.S. Senator Bob Casey and Rep. Todd Platts to hold hearings.

“If Gettysburg is to be the model for the building of NPS visitor centers across the country, then opportunities for abuse must be eliminated,” he wrote.

The letter said superiors turned a blind eye as Latschar “took pragmatism and the concept of mission completion to unprecedented levels, and he screwed up.” Hohmann said Latschar refused to consult or listen to such groups as the guides, handicapped and museum curators.

Hohmann accused Latschar of ruling the park with a “reign of terror.” Rangers “who could hang him are afraid to cooperate with investigators for fear of losing their jobs and their pensions.”

Commenting on Gettysburg Foundation’s naming of Latschar to succeed Wilburn, Hohmann questioned why the foundation wanted someone lacking in public relations skills “who didn’t understand that the first rule in business is to treat the people with whom you do business with respect and dignity?”

Silbey Questions
Franklin Silbey is a longterm critic of the Gettysburg visitor center project and the superintendent, who is often quoted in the press, including the National Journal stories. He told Civil war News the National Journal stories raise serious questions that must ultimately be answered.

He asks why Eastern National, the non-profit concessionaire whose contract at Gettysburg was cancelled, and the NPS refuse to discuss the circumstances. And he wonders about how the for-profit Event Network was chosen to operate the park store.

Silbey notes the large parking lot for the new visitor center was formerly a small amusement park and partial wetland, acquired by the federal government years ago. He asks under what legal circumstances this public property was transferred and paved over for benefit of the Gettysburg Foundation and what the government got out of it.

He also questions the process by which Aquatic Resources of Seven Valleys, Pa., did significant work on the property and its contract.

Silbey said the factual content of the two National Journal stories alone require Congressional inquiry and oversight hearings in Washington.” While no one is accusing anyone of wrongdoing, the questions raised are germane, long overdue for answers and crucial to the public interest,” he said. “The park has been commercialized for private gain and the public needs to demand some Congressional action and real answers.”