This time, bossy GSA boss might not ignore lawmakers

In 2004, I thwacked the feds for failing to provide handicapped parking at the new Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse. They could do that because they provided no public parking.

Afterward, a high-ranking General Services administrator with Nevada ties, Tom Lorentzen, was asked by Nevada's two senators, John Ensign and Harry Reid, to see if anything could be done. Lorentzen was working with federal judges on the problem when another GSA administrator emailed him that this was none of Lorentzen's business. Bluntly and harshly, Lorentzen was told to butt out.

The bossy administrator was Jeffrey Neely, then the assistant regional administrator for the GSA's Public Building Service, now the head of the Pacific region. You know, the guy who took the Fifth Amendment six times on Monday, refusing to answer congressional questions about his "leadership" role in the $823,000 boondoogle/junket for GSA employees at the M Resort in Henderson. The guy who received a $9,000 bonus, even though his bosses knew he was under investigation. The guy likely to be criminally charged. Yeah. That Jeffrey Neely.

Lorentzen, who lives in San Francisco and now is a health policy consultant, has long ties to the GOP community in Nevada. He once worked for former U.S. Sen. Paul Laxalt and keeps in touch with many leading Nevada Republicans.

He held administrative jobs under President Ronald Reagan and both President George H.W. and President George W. Bush, leaving government for private health policy consulting when Democrat Barack Obama was elected president.

Lorentzen knows federal government from the inside, having worked at the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, the Small Business Administration and the GSA.

He recalled Tuesday going head-to-head with Neely over the issue of handicapped parking at the Las Vegas courthouse, a problem that had to balance concerns about terrorism and security against handicapped parking access.

At the time, the nearest public parking was two blocks away at a city parking garage. Not far for most, but a challenge for people in wheelchairs, especially in our ghastly summer heat.

I remember accompanying Paul Martin, founder and president of Nevadans for Equal Access, who uses a motorized wheelchair because of his muscular dystrophy. The distance, the heat and the ramp access were rough.

The column caught the eye of Ensign, who personally asked Lorentzen to see if anything could be done. Reid's office joined in, and federal judges Lloyd George and Philip Pro also were concerned.

When Neely wrote Lorentzen to back off, Lorentzen was furious. When he returned to San Francisco, he went to see Neely. "We had a knockdown. He tried to bully me, as he tried with other people."

Lorentzen offered to set up a meeting with the two senators and told Neely: "You tell two senators this is not their issue." They reached a stalemate.

Eventually, a solution of sorts was reached. Someone needing handicapped parking could call the courthouse and be allowed access to the employee parking lot next to the building.

Martin doesn't consider that much of a solution and doubts that many people in wheelchairs know that's an option. But it was an improvement, however slight.

Lorentzen described Neely as smart, self-centered, egotistical and a bully. "This wasn't about Las Vegas; this was about one man out of control."

Lorentzen admitted he was hesitant and cautious when he first went to GSA because of its reputation. "Even under the Reagan presidency, we had issues there."

He continued, "There are three agencies that tend to have difficult cultures - GSA, Housing and Urban Development and, to some extent, the Small Business Administration. They have lots of contracts and grants and opportunities for bad judgment."

Lorentzen has talked to GSA employees, and "they're depressed, humiliated and embarrassed." Unfortunately, videos of their 2010 conference don't portray that.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.