As pointed out in the open thread last night, the Deputy State Treasurer has been denied her request to return to a Merit job following her medical leave and resignation from the Department of the Treasury. So we have an employee of the Treasury who resigned her office, but took a medical leave to deal with an unnamed situation, who is back in the office now (doing what?) and is now told by OMB that she will not be allowed to return to the merit system. And of course, Chip Flowers is still pointing fingers (at the OMB) and is now threatening them:
“I am very concerned that the OMB continues to publicly talk about personnel matters, which clearly violates the state’s privacy and confidentiality policies,” Flowers said. “While I recognize that Director Visalli and the staff of OMB, if the state gets sued, would not have to write a personal check, I think it’s egregious they’re willing to put taxpayers on the hook for a large lawsuit just to cover their you-know-whats in public.”
Odd, since the OMB only closed the loop on the very public question on whether or not Benner would return to the merit system. They haven’t release the details of why their investigation led them this way or why Benner was on leave. How can this be such a mess? Did she resign or did she not? And if she didn’t resign, why is she still in the office? There may, in fact, be perfectly reasonable reasons for this — but he needs to say that instead of blaming the OMB (AGAIN) for clear mismanagement on his part.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled that Utah’s ban on gay marriage (theirs was approved by voters in a referendum) is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Gay couples are rushing to get married, which I hope means that they and their families are having a very joyous Christmas, indeed. Interesting note — Judge Shelby is an Obama appointee, also approved by Senator Orrin Hatch.
Alex Parreene over at Salon has finished the 2013 edition of the Hack List — this year’s version is especially hysterical since Alex tried to summarize why each belongs on the Hack List by channelling each entry’s writing style. Seriously, go take a look at the 2013 Hack List winners. I laughed through most of them — my favorites being the Buzzfeed guy, David Brooks, Halperin and Heilemann (is there a Hack List Hall of Fame?), Peggy Noonan.
Keep Saturn in Saturnalia
Completely harmless, yet has been subject to two defacement attempts — one by a SANTA, of all things and the other by two people tossing gasoline on the sign and trying to light it up. Any bets that these might be the same people haranguing people about saying Merry Christmas or insisting on religious displays in public spaces?
Hope most of your Christmas prep is done. All that is left for me is packing and getting my annual Wine Cure started.