Despite District Clerk's Claims of ‘retaliation', Collin County Passport Office Permanently Closed

The U.S. Department of State has permanently barred the Collin County district clerk's office from accepting passport applications, District Clerk Lynne Finley said Tuesday. Officials notified Finley on March 19 that her department would no longer be able to accept new applications at its two offices in Plano and McKinney.This comes after a months-long investigation into fraudulent passports during which Finley claimed the closure "retaliation" by the Dallas-based passport agency that oversees her passport offices. She said that she had suggested changes in procedures at the Dallas Passport Agency, a branch of the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, to stop such fraud and that the closure was punishment for "essentially whistle-blowing."  Continue reading...