It's your tax dollars they are playing with!
Please click onto the comments for the story.
posted by Bob at Saturday, July 14, 2007
Custom Search
Saturday, July 14, 2007
A DEMOCRACY TOWN HALL HOME
Do you have a topic you want to discuss at the Town Hall? Email your request to A_Democracy@yahoo.com
“A DEMOCRACY” Disclaimer- While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to this forum express the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable.
You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned
THE ROOF GUYS
Mickey's Diner 1950 7th Street West, St Paul, MN
(651) 698-8387
AX-MAN SURPLUS
1639 University Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104
Tel:(651)646-8653
LANDLORD.COM LINK HERE
SHHHH! While we listen to words of wisdom from a wise man.
Conscience is the light of the Soul that burns within the chambers of our psychological heart. It is as real as life is. It raises the voice in protest whenever anything is thought of or done contrary to the righteousness. Conscience is a form of truth that has been transferred through our genetic stock in the form of the knowledge of our own acts and feelings as right or wrong. A virtuous and courageous person can alone use the instrument of conscience. He or she can alone hear the inner voice of the soul clearly. In a wicked person this faculty is absent. The sensitive nature of his / her conscience has been destroyed by sin or corruption. Hence he or she is unable to discriminate right from wrong. Those who are leading organizations, business enterprises, institutions and governments should develop this virtue of the ability to use their own conscience. This wisdom of using the clean conscience will enable them to enjoy the freedom.
Dr APJ Kalam, President of India given during the inauguration of the seminar on “THE EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION ON GOOD GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Previous Posts
- Anonymous landlord said.
- More from the LOONEY BIN.
- Ramsey County Deputy Sheriffs Go Before Grand Jury
- Thune and Carter file for council race
- Attorney Andy Dawkins Slamming City of Saint Paul ...
- Hmong in America
- Real estate landslide.
- Mother and son victim of gang rape.
- Rochesters controversial code enforcement plan.
- Elderly woman beat and arrested over dry grass.
4 Comments:
Ex-secretary of state overpaid employees by thousands, audit says
BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 07/13/2007 03:23:52 PM CDT
Former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer overpaid staff members and overcharged the state for mileage reimbursements during her last two years in office, according to an audit released today.
Related documents showed that shortly before she left office, Kiffmeyer tried but was prevented from providing civil service protection to six employees to make it harder for her successor, current Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, to fire them.
Kiffmeyer attributed the errors to misunderstandings by her staff and said all the mistakes have been or will be corrected.
A Republican, she was secretary of state from 1998 through 2006, when Democrat Ritchie defeated her.
The Office of the Legislative Auditor's audit found that in 2005 and 2006 Kiffmeyer hired 16 employees at pay rates higher than allowed and promoted another employee to a job at an excessive wage. Those employees were overpaid about $201,000, the audit said.
It said the new hires were paid $11 more per hour than permitted, and the promoted employee was overpaid about $11,000.
Kiffmeyer could have paid the higher wages with the Department of Employee Relations' approval, the audit noted.
She said her office's human resources director erroneously assumed she could authorize the higher wages without the department's blessing. "She had a misunderstanding... and I relied on her advice," Kiffmeyer said.
The audit recommended that Ritchie and the department determine whether to recover back payments from the overpaid employees. Employee Relations Commissioner Pat Anderson said they have not yet determined whether to do so. Only six of those 17 employees still work for the secretary of state.
The audit also found that Kiffmeyer was reimbursed for mileage for several trips from her home near Big Lake, instead of from her office at the State Office Building, resulting in overpayments. For instance, she was paid for six 52-mile trips from her home to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport when she should have been reimbursed for the eight-mile drive from her office. Under state rules, employees are reimbursed for the lesser of their mileage from home or their workplace.
In addition, Kiffmeyer was reimbursed for trips to 17 events, including receptions, celebrations and charity events, where "the public purpose for the travel was unclear," the audit said. It recommended seeking reimbursement.
Kiffmeyer said a new staff member misunderstood the mileage rules and miscalculated her expenses. "We are recalculating that, and I will reimburse it," she said.
She also tried but failed to provide job protection to six employees before she left office. In December, after she lost the election, she tried to convert the information technology specialists from "unclassified" to "classified" status, according to Employee Relations Department memos.
Classified employees have civil service protection and can only be fired for "just cause," such as failure to perform assigned duties, substandard performance or insubordination. Unclassified employees, often political appointees, can be dismissed at will.
Kiffmeyer's staff also backdated the reclassifications so it would appear they occurred before the election.
Matt Kramer, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's chief of staff who was employee relations commissioner at the time, said his staff caught and reversed the attempted personnel changes. "We thought it was appropriate that the next administration (Ritchie's) make these changes... because they would be living with those decisions," he said.
Kiffmeyer blamed her human resources director for that mistake as well. She said she personally wanted to retain that group of long-time employees with valuable institutional knowledge. "It would be a tremendous waste of government resources to lose those people," she said. But she accepted Kramer's staff decision.
Ritchie said in a letter to the legislative auditor that all his future personnel decisions would be processed through the Employee Relations Department.
Bill Salisbury can be reached at bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5538.
Guess thats one of the perks of being a important figure in society, when you make a mistake that costs others $$$ all you have to do is say oops I made a mistake and everything is ok, if you are the average citizen of the community and make a mistake all you have to do is accept the consequences officials decide to give you and that depends upon what kind of day they are having or what type of input they have recieved from their associates.
Must be nice to be in their position playing with other peoples money as if it were a game of monopoly.
It is sad Ms. Kiffmeyer asked the HR director for guidance and the HR director did not know the correct answer. The HR director needs to be held accountable.
To Bill Salisbury
If you followed the money of Ramsey Action Program, you just might fine out thing about the abuse of federal money.
Mr. Sailsbury, whom in city council is in Kahoots with these big money developers and investors with the Bridges Development?
Do your job as a reporter, to bring out the tuth in all things.
Post a Comment
<< Home