Description:
I recently wrote a blog about what I think about Governor Perdue's proposing joining other Republican Govenor's in NOT accepting certain portions of the stimulus. However, I am glad he is just as insensed about the firing of the Commissioner of GDOT, as I am. After all, she was instrumental in discovering the most likely "intentional" practice by GDOT administrators of not entering contract allocation of resources on the computer data bases, to cover the shortfall that befell the department. First, this discovery should be investigated for intent to defraud tax payers and cover-up the trail of misappropriation of money, intentional abuse of power to hide the deception from auditors, and corruption. Ms. Evans should be applauded, and commended by all of us, because she uncovered what could have been further misallocation of resources, costing the tax payers untold billions of dollars in the future. She had a tenacity to not only perform an audit, but she got personally involved in the audit which lead to her finding the room with the stacks and stacks of contracts yet to be entered opn the computer, which would have set off bells and whistles, to alert state officials and auditors. The question I have is, how many other departments have engaged in this same behavior, to stagger the entering of data, just to facilitate the spending of money that is not in the budget. Yet, I go back to the original point in my blog of how this happened. There was no doubt in my mind that no fewer than twenty employees (not counting department heads, and managers) that knew about it, knew it was wrong, and did nothing, because of the fact that civil servants are no longer protected from being fired without cause, and no employee in their right mind is going to call the Office of the Inspector general, because of that lack of protection. I am a police officer, and if I bring a complaint to anyone outside my agency, and report wrongdoing, I KNOW I will be fired. So, who is going to risk losing their job, when the state thinks so little of their employees, by allowing employees to be fired without cause. That is the rude awakening I think to the down side state laegislators and the governors did not think of, when they made Georgia an "at will state". Because, it is for this such reason that the board is going to get away with terminating this commisioner, who every Georgian owes a debt of gratitude.
It is my belief that the timing of this termination is suspect, since she would hold her department accountable, and monitor the allocation of the stimulus dollars in such a way that would have threatened the stronghold the GDOT board has on this department and the use of this money in a partisan way, to benefit board members, and their pet projects. In fact, there should be an investigation to determine if there is a connection with certain board members, and the "intentional" obstruction of acounting documentation of the contracts that were not entered, which hid the abuse of overspending, and the stealing of tax payer money, which was mostly responsible for the shortfall in our budget.
I am proposing two things:
First, calling on every Georgian to bombard the board with complaints, and targeting those board members that voted for her termination, to possibly be recalled, investigated, and petitioned for removal by those board members contituents.
Second: Every Georgian should now call, write, and petition their legislators to repeal Georgia as an "at will state" which will lift the obstacle that deter career public servants from coming forward when they have knowledge of this type of abuse and criminal behavior. How can we as tax payers expect someone to come forward with complaints, when there is no protection for them from termination. Oh, and if you enterject that the whistle blower law allows someone to come forward, without fear of retaliation, that law is a joke. I was told by the OIG that if someone comes forward, it only keeps their name confidential. It doesn't help the person if the complaint is so specific, that a person or a department knows where the information came from, and this in turn results in an investigation to determine who sprung the leak. You can still be terminated because of this "at will status" of our employment laws, and then wait 5 years while you duke it out in court to get your job back. Removing the "at will status" of our state's employment laws provides an obstacle from being fired for no reason, personality conflicts, and serious reasons of excessive honesty that certain employers find offensive, and an impedimant for corruption, and abuse of power. Think about the Peanut Corporation of America as well. This type of unfettered criminal bevhavior would still be going on today, if it weren't for the deaths of non-Georgians, where agencies from other states had to blow the whistle in order to precipatate national attention, that costs this state in money, and in loss of trust for the products of our state.
If you are a tax payer, you should see that the "at will status" of our employment laws is primarily connected to these instances of abuses, and to repeal these laws is to once again return the checks and balances to expose corruption, waste and unlawful behavior that is so lacking in our public and private sectors.
JOIN ME IN THE FIGHT TO TAKE OUR STATE BACK..." OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE" DO THESE WORDS SOUND FAMILIAR? Well, if they don't, it is because the U.S. Constitution is not honored nor enforced in this state
