Tuesday, January 09, 2007

To "pubic" employees: Raises, promotions all around for a job well done.

Coincidence? I think not. Yet another fine member of our education establishment has allegedly exposed himself to more trouble. Now, I'm not one to make an early jump on anything before the verdicts are in, but given that I'm on a roll, I couldn't help but point this one out:
A Ballard elementary-school principal who has been placed on leave is accused of exposing himself to a woman in a car while driving in the Northgate area, according to a Seattle police report.

Alexander Coberly, principal at Whittier Elementary, was charged last week with a misdemeanor by the Seattle city attorney's office. Coberly has been on administrative leave since Dec. 7, after Seattle School District officials were informed by police of their investigation.
The sad thing is that if he actually did it, he's about to get near to six figures for his transgression. Let's hope that he didn't do it. I find it much cheaper when public employees aren't guilty. What's interesting however, is this staunch denial of wrongdoing by Coberly's attorney:
"I do want to note, though, that the charges are not in any way related to his work as a teacher, as a principal. There are no minors involved in the allegations, and from all accounts I've heard he's a very good principal," [Coberly's attorney] said.
I dunno, color me skeptical, but when your own attorney opens his salvo by diminishing the damage to the victims, it suggests to me that we might actually have a solid charge of wrongdoing.

The bitch led me on!!! It's not completely my fault.

At least that was the tone of the defense used by a Spokane Detective who exposed himself to a barista during a Spokane County Civil Service Commission hearing.
The firing of a detective who exposed himself at a barista at a coffee stand has been reversed by the Spokane County Civil Service Commission as excessively harsh.
Instead, under the panel's 14-page ruling Monday, sheriff's Detective Joseph W. Mastel, 52, will be on unpaid leave and then forced to retire in July, allowing him to be paid for as much as 1,440 hours of unused sick time and to apply for other law enforcement jobs in the state.
Perhaps this man is a prime candidate to enter the much vaunted education system in this state. Given our history of "public service" employees, he sounds like quite a catch. Oh, and lest you think I'm kidding about the 'led me on' comment, think again:

At his Civil Service Commission hearing, Mastel argued that the woman to whom he exposed himself had dressed provocatively and led him on.

"I take responsibility, but I don't take full responsibility," Mastel said at the time.

Hmph, "full responsibility" and the criminal actions of our public service sector- why would I expect someone in the public sector to take "full responsibility" for anything?

Monday, January 01, 2007