| Page 3 of 3 < |
Investigation Faults Ehrlich In Firing of State Workers
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
At the state's Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, five workers were dismissed on one day. The chairman, an Ehrlich appointee, defended those moves, but the review found his explanation wanting.
"It is difficult to reconcile the Chairman's view that he was improving the Commission when he failed to consult with other commissioners regarding the terminations, failed to review personnel files and failed to consult with the supervisors of two of the employees who were terminated," the report says.
Stoltzfus said yesterday that although Coe was hired with support from both parties -- and had conducted a well-received review of the state's savings and loan crisis 20 years ago -- the lawyer was "snookered" this time by Democrats.
The investigation, based mostly on the testimony of disgruntled former state workers, was generated by Steffen's ill-advised boastings and the actions of a few other misguided aides, Stoltzfus said. "I saw some crass behavior by certain people who first came in to work for the governor," he said. "It was a new regime. They behaved in a way they shouldn't have. But you can't legislate for crass behavior."
Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons (Montgomery), a Democrat on the committee, said he agrees that the investigation did not uncover "a reign of terror." But there were "serious abuses," he said.
"Unfortunately, the Republicans decided at the outset that they did not want to be bothered with the facts," Simmons said. "They do not understand . . . it was wrong to dismiss these people."
Coe's report found two major flaws with the Ehrlich administration's handling of personnel matters. The firings "were not reasonably calculated to improve the performance of State government," the report says, and the firings demoralized the state workforce veterans.
"Employees who were the primary providers for their families were suddenly without jobs through no fault of their own," Coe wrote.
Staff writer John Wagner contributed to this report.
