State putting damper on whistle blowing
Associated Press
COLUMBUS — Top-level insiders in Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration have been hush-hush about policy discussions, and a form they have to sign reminding them that they can be fired for any reason helps explain why.
The administration’s unclassified employees — those managers, senior policy advisers, division heads and others devoid of job protections provided to most state employees — must acknowledge that they serve at the pleasure of their bosses and can be fired for any reason, according to the form they must sign.
That’s put a damper on would-be whistle-blowers who could tell all to watchdog groups, political rivals or the media, said Catherine Turcer, a lobbyist for Ohio Citizen Action, a nonprofit good-government group that relies on insiders to root out wrongdoing.
“It certainly is a chiller on people who are known to leak information to the public,” Turcer said. “People are less likely to come out with information about what’s happening in their workplace. And their workplace is government.”
The memo reads, in part, “Employees in the unclassified civil service of the state of Ohio serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority and may be removed from their unclassified position at any time and for any legal reason.”
In the space just above where the employee is to sign, it says, “I acknowledge that I … have no protection under the civil service laws of the state of Ohio.”
Such forms aren’t unusual in state government. They are an administration’s attempt to lay out the price for disloyalty. But for people who are new on the job and especially in an economy where it’s tough to find another job, such language is intimidating, Turcer said.
Democrats had been out of power in state government for more than a decade when Strickland headed the ticket that gave them four out of five executive offices in 2006.
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Filed by Associated Press February 25th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 4% |
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