Your Opinion - Laura Callahan

Where is the dress and why hasn't Monica flogged it to the highest bidder? Monica should demand it back and put it on ebay.

 

GCN

This is interesting and it says she may lose her job for loss of her security clearance, but...not a hint of illegal acts on her part.

 

Question

Roy,

Why is it that govenment workers get hired with fraudulent degrees? I am sure you have excellent information.
I am just kind of amazed that it would happen.

Thank you.

Mike

 

Re: Question

The government, as you already know, is highly bureaucractic and departmentalized. With thousands of public servants on the payroll it is difficult to police all HR functions. The screening processes that you would normally find in a private corporation just aren't there.
There are employees who work in the same department (same floor) yet they never talk to each other. Nor do they know what job fuctions they perform.
When a job is posted, the a HR department can receive more than 4,000 resumes. The screening process and the "short listing" of potential candidates is very time consuming and there are many demands made on the hiring committee to quickly find a candidate (especially if there is a void). When the final candidate is selected, a criminal record check is conducted and references are contacted. Transcripts and copies of diplomas are accepted at "face value".
There are also many who are appointed to certain positions of power. If you have political connections, for instance with a senior bureacrat, congressman or senator, you can be assured that he or she will get you in (lay people call it "ass kissing").
So in the end what to we have?
5/8ths of all government workers (state, provincial, federal) are legitimate employees. The were hired because of their skills, experience and education. The remaining 3/8th are those who are political appointments or have misrepresented their education and experience.
You may disagree with me...but just look around you. How many incompetent government employees have you encountered each time you've filed your tax returns, renewed your driver's license, requested information, obtained a permit, etc., etc.

I have mentioned this on many threads. Laura Callahan is only one public servant who happened to get caught because of her position with the DHS. If you go down the ranks you will see that there are many more just like her.
regards,

 

Roy,

I am truly amazed. It sure does make one wonder who is minding the store. I have never known the inner working of government. I guess I always thought public employees were held to a higher standard. Eye opening to say the least.

Many thanks,

Mike

 

I work as a consultant on a contract basis. I`m not a government employee. I do not receive any benefits or health care plan. I will not be renewing my contract in 2004. I've seen enough. I want to move on to teaching.
If there is any lesson to learn from all of this, make sure to tell your grand children NOT to work for the government. They're much better off in the private sector (or as self employed professionals - physicians, lawyers, CPAs, etc.).

 

I say she should step down - they ran a few sports coaches out of town for academic fabrications - and this is at a much higher and sensitive level then college sports. (well,maybe). Perhaps we should go to a color coded system indicating the level of integrity of our elected and appointed officals.

White: lies sometimes just to make a point
Blue: Lies to get elected/appointed
Red: Lies to wife and kids and everyone all the time (most of those in office).

Mr Bush will be coded Blue today in his address to senior citizens in Miami.

 

Make every politician who lies wear a blue suit, a sea of blue would appear. As for Laura Callahan, she not only did a Hamilton degree once, but came back for seconds, and thirds. Maybe one mistake could have been overlooked, but not three. It establishes a pattern of behavior that is unacceptable. She should be fired if possible, and if not possible, moved to the lowest job available, but with much work to it. My hope is that she will resign first, and end this sad situation.

 

Even with a demotion, she"ll be clearing $70K per year. Who are we kidding?
The corrupt ones are always shuffled to new positions without any reprimand. History repeats itself over and over again.

 

The corrupt ones always know too much about too many. She'll be quietly moved elsewhere untill this tempest blows over. She may never be at the top anymore, but bet on it, she'll be making good money somewhere.

 

My knee jerk reaction is to string her up. This is typical of the manglement arrogance that runs amok in Silly-con (the con part now holds more truth than ever) Valley.

However, I think firing her is sufficient. She'll get into an IT consulting company, helping them find ways to collect bills and coming up with the software equivalent of a $500 hammer.

 

My two cents: fire her. Credential fraud is grounds for dismissal.