Darth Stateworker
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Beating teabaggers over the head with facts since 2010!
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Karma: 10 |  | DOH ITS-2 IG charges / Times Useless blog response
« Thread Started on Sept 26, 2012, 4:53pm » | ![[Quote]](http://images.proboards.com/new/buttons/quote.png "[Quote]") |
Below is my response to the CapCon blog post ( http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archi....rged-docs-note/ ) on this, since the spam filter there seems to be instantly trashing my response to it when I try to post it:
This guy is a scumbag. Having seen firsthand when parking administrators have denied coworkers who should have gotten a handicapped spot because the spots were full up, this disgusts me to no end. One older woman in particular comes to mind - sweetest person I ever worked with. She could barely walk, even with the help of a cane, and she was stuck parking in the middle of nowhere and hoofing it in for quite some time. You will certainly not see me defending this guys actions.
That being said...
Four felonies?!?!?! $10,0000 bail?!?!?! Both seem just a bit excessive, like someone is trying to make an example or political statement out of this guy.
Let's put this into perspective: We're a state where millions of people go to work everyday and punch timecards - in both the public and the private sector. When was the last time you heard of anyone, public or private sector getting charged with a felony for fudging their timecard? Or for forging a doctors note for something? It simply does not happen. In either sector.
And the $10k bail? How does that compare to the bail amount for someone threatening to blow up DSS office: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/....ing-3895727.php Looks like you can threaten to blow a place up and walk away with no bail at all, but these non-violent charges warrant a $10,000 bail amount?
While this guy - if the allegations are correct - was totally in the wrong, it seems that firing him and suing him for the excess pay he received would be more than sufficient. If you want to throw some piddly-little violation or misdemeanor on there and toss him on probation, maybe I can even see a case for that. Maybe. But this is just a huge waste of tax dollars.
As an aside, I've noted this before: As much as you'd like to defend the practice Casey, Enough is pretty much spot on in regards to the general treatment of criminal reporting and ones status as a government employee, even if not eloquently worded: The press overall - the Times Union included - tends only to make an issue out of ones employer when reporting on criminal charges if one works for government. We never see headlines like "Burger flipper arrested for public urination!" or "Banker arrested for selling herself on street corner!". In this particular case I take no issue, because the guy was arrested and charged for committing crimes related to his job. But how many articles have we seen where some government employee is arrested for something completely unrelated to their job and their employment is not only fleetingly noted, but a prominent part of the discussion? Perhaps a more beneficial item to report here is to note the ridiculousness and inconsistency with which courts in this state come up with bail figures, given the glaring dichotomy between this guy and the bomb threat in Washington county I linked to above.
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NYS Techie
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Karma: 1 | | Re: DOH ITS-2 IG charges / Times Useless blog resp
« Reply #1 on Sept 26, 2012, 9:40pm » | |
Meh. I've done some research, and apparently according to the letter of the law, the guy did commit a class E felony. Apparently, any time you file a document which you KNOW contains a lie with any government office, that's the felony. And, of course, he's already admitted to it according to the article. Doesn't anybody know that they have the right to remain silent??? It's the first thing the arresting officer says to you for crying out loud.
The only words out of your mouth when you're in trouble should be "I would like to speak to an attorney." But I digress...
So, he submitted a false document for filing, and bingo, class E = up to four years. The operative words here are "up to". They don't have to give him the maximum, and as usual the Times Useless made the story "sexy" by stressing the four year thing. I've been reading statutes (maybe Casey doesn't have Google?) and it looks like it's up to whoever the judge is; the guy might not even get a year, since he has no priors and hasn't harmed anyone. He could get probation. Or community service. Or nothing at all. It's all up to the judge.
Incidentally...
I've been thinking that this "felony" thing is just another big stick for them to hit you with. And they can accuse anybody; even your co-workers can accuse you, right? They've set up a nice little McCarthy thing there. And if you don't accuse, someone can accuse you of failing to accuse! And people wonder why I never leave my cubicle.
My advice to you guys is: double check your time cards before you turn them in, and if you're late for work, charge the time -- even if it's only ten minutes, round up to the quarter hour and charge it. Make sure every scrap of paper is accurate, no matter what. I've been doing this for years, myself, because there are some people in the office who dislike me and would love to get me fired. Now that there are FELONIES hovering around, it's even more important.
Don't sign ANYTHING -- ANYTHING -- unless you've double checked it and you know it's completely reliable. Don't trust anyone's word on anything. If it's not in black and white, it ISN'T.
Remember, all it takes is one scrap of paper, one single scrap, to completely ruin your life. Don't give them ANYTHING they can use to hurt you. Everything must be absolutely accurate, and double-checked, or you're at risk.
Luckily, with a little diligence, you can be completely safe. So be diligent! Don't give anyone any excuse whatsoever to attack you.
I wish it wasn't this way, but it is what it is...
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Darth Stateworker
Administrator
Dark Lord of the Facts / Proud union thug
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Beating teabaggers over the head with facts since 2010!
Joined: Jun 2010
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Posts: 2,407
Location: Capital District
Karma: 10 | | Re: DOH ITS-2 IG charges / Times Useless blog resp
« Reply #2 on Sept 27, 2012, 12:31pm » | |
Well surely it will be plea bargained down to a misdemeanor or two. I don't really think what the eventually outcome will be is really the point. The point is more the HIGHER STANDARD public sector employees are held to.
And while he may have done it "on purpose", surely tons of people working for the state have made the mistake of submitting a timesheet that wasn't completely accurate, especially now that they are electronic in nature. For example:
Boss: Hey, send me your timecard so I can approve it. It's past due.
Employee: Sure - here it comes! (proceeds to just hit submit on LATS without looking over card, thinking he already noted his time off on the card)
Boss: Thanks! *Clicks approve
-------------------------------------------------------6 months later------------------------------------------
Cuomo admin official: This "Employee" guy is really a thorn in our side. Find a way to fire them.
Agency HR official: Yessir! Consider it done! *begins exhaustive review looking for ANY dirt they can find
Agency HR official (on conference call with Cuomo admin official and IG official): Hey! I found something! He came back from lunch an HOUR late 6 months ago and didn't seem to list that on his timecard! But you can CLEARLY see him walking back in the building an hour late on the security footage!
Cuomo official: Brilliant! IG official, you know what to do! Indict him for a felony! We will tolerate no subversion to our agenda, and no arbitrator will stop us from firing this clown for political purposes! Muhahaha!
...........and people wonder why we remain anonymous.
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Darth Stateworker
Administrator
Dark Lord of the Facts / Proud union thug
member is offline
Beating teabaggers over the head with facts since 2010!
Joined: Jun 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,407
Location: Capital District
Karma: 10 | | Re: DOH ITS-2 IG charges / Times Useless blog resp
« Reply #3 on Sept 27, 2012, 1:22pm » | |
Response to Seiler, since the response seems to keep ending up in the trash bin (go figure):
Quote:
"I’d have to say the fact that he’s a state data specialist is of note...."
And you'd be wrong Seiler. Unless it was something that had to do with his job, it is of no significance who he works for, what his title is, or what his salary was.
Just admit it - the press likes to point out when a government employee gets arrested for something, regardless of whether or not it's work related or not. Why? Because it sells newspapers and drives web traffic, not because it's relevant.
In this particular case for this particular post, I defend you doing so - the guy lied on a time card, making it by default work related, and therefore, relevant to the story. But the track record of the press overall (including you folks at the TU) on relevance quite simply shows the bias we keep noting. It's irrefutable. I mean, even if you think you've got a valid argument about the child porn guys employment relevance, what is the relevance of the employment of a retired corrections guard in the crime he committed? Did he learn how to shiv the guy in jail or something? /facepalm
Conversely, take a look at the ( http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/....ath-3896600.php )most recent article about guy that was murdered outside of the barber shop on Ontario. He worked for DGS. Was that noted in the article? Of course not. It was only passingly noted in the original article, far down in the text. Why is his employment less important here? Why is the article not titled "DGS employee SLAIN"?
Look - I'll defend you fellas when you're right and go after you when you're wrong. In this case - on the overarching argument and not just this particular case - you're wrong. The evidence of the press overall doing this repeatedly is insurmountable. We get it - we make your employers money when we screw up. Why deny it? It's factual - unless of course you care to find us a story where a government employee was arrested and charged with something and their employment status wasn't printed, or you can find a hidden treasure trove of articles talking about the crimes of various pizza delivery guys, auto mechanics, cashiers, and maybe even reporters... |
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