Submitted by: Myke
Nevada Legislature’s Queen of Hearts Proclaims: “Off with Her Head!”
If you’re a conservative – or even if you’re a liberal with concern for wrongful persecution of innocent victims – you might want to take your blood pressure medicine before reading this.
As you may recall, a little over a week ago Citizen Outreach launched a voter education robo-call campaign letting voters know that Republican Assembly Minority Leader Pete “Tax My Meat” Goicoechea had once again gone wobbly on tax hikes.
We simply made it easy for citizens to “press one” and be connected directly to his office in Carson City if they wanted to express their opinion.
Hundreds did.
Then, on March 3rd, a taxpayer-paid pubic employee named Marge Griffin, Manager of Administrative Services for the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB), sent out an email to 38 legislative assistants (they’re officially called “attaches”) advising how to blow off such constituent calls by forwarding them to a main switchboard and/or voice-mail hell.
Well, a copy of Griffin’s outrageous email made its way to me…and I, in turn, exposed to the public how this taxpayer-paid public employee was advising other taxpayer-paid public employees how to ignore phone calls from taxpayers who don’t want their taxes raised.
At which point Griffin reportedly blew a gasket, had a conniption and threw a major league hissy fit all at the same time. She then launched an all-out witch hunt to find out who forwarded the email to me.
Two things….
Secondly, even if it did say “Confidential,” why should an email communication from a public employee to other public employees instructing them on how to blow off the public be secret?
In any event, Griffin’s investigation – coordinated and conducted with Susan Furlong, Chief Clerk to Assembly Speaker John Oceguera – led to the conclusion that the “culprit” had to be Assemblyman Ed Goedhart’s legislative assistant.
And you’re not going to believe what happened next…
Susan Furlong fired her!!
No warning…
No explanation…
No discussion…
No reprimand…
Furlong, LCB’s Queen of Hearts, simply decreed, “Off with her head!” – and down came the ax.
This system has created a type of serfdom in which the legislative assistants owe their jobs and loyalty to the government and the majority party, not the individual legislators. They are considered “at will” employees, which means they can be fired for any reason whatsoever or, as in Joan’s case, no reason whatsoever.
Making matters worse, Queen Furlong not only didn’t give Assemblyman Goedhart a heads up that an investigation of his legislative assistant was underway, she waited until she knew Goedhart was in a committee hearing last Wednesday before going up to his office to fire Joan.
And adding humiliating insult to injury, she had Joan “perp-walked” out of the building by LCB security personnel.
Out…rageous!
But, believe it or not, it’s even worse.
You see…
Joan didn’t even do it!
She was not the one who forwarded the email to me.
After I found out that Furlong had canned Joan, I immediately swore out an affidavit attesting to the FACT that Joan was NOT the person who forwarded the email to me…and gave it to Assemblyman Goedhart.
Goedhart then requested a meeting with Furlong to give her the notarized affidavit and request that Joan be given her job back.
“I presented your notarized statement exonerating ‘Joan’ from any involvement in your article,” Goedhart emailed me Friday afternoon after the meeting. “She glanced at it for a minute and said that your statement didn’t change anything and that her decision was final and not open for debate.”
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!!!
The woman knows that Joan didn’t do what she was fired for doing….and nevertheless she’s firing her anyway? You gotta be kidding me.
This whole matter could’ve and should’ve been handled with nothing more than a warning or a reprimand at most…especially since Joan didn’t do what she was suspected of doing.
But even if she did, all we’re talking about here is forwarding a non-confidential email. That’s a firing offense?
No, making such a mountain out of a molehill appears to me to be part of
an ongoing effort to punish Assemblyman Goedhart himself.
Consider: A recent Associated Press story described Goedhart as “a church-going Republican widely considered the most conservative in the state Assembly.”
And he’s the kind of conservative who runs toward the sound of the cannons, not away from them.
Ed Goedhart doesn’t just talk the conservative talk; he actually walks the conservative walk.
Which makes him extremely dangerous to the Democrat leadership.
As such, Goedhart has made a powerful enemy out of Speaker Oceguera – a man well-known for and quite capable of petty vindictiveness.
For example, consider the fact that only one incumbent assemblyman (other than leaders who moved into leadership offices) had his office moved before the start of the 2011 session: Assemblyman Goedhart.
And not only did Oceguera kick Goedhart out of his old office, he moved him into the smallest office in the building.
Oceguera was sending a message and trying to teach the conservative Republican a lesson about going along to get along. Goedhart’s response?
“I don’t care if Speaker Oceguera moves me to a broom closet or banishes me to a pup tent in the parking garage. I will continue to fight for the taxpayers of Nevada and the conservative philosophy of a strictly limited government. The Speaker can play these silly little games all he wants. I don’t care. No matter what he does, I’m not going away and I’m not backing down. I’m not here to make him happy; I’m here to represent my constituents.”
In addition, Goedhart has been warned privately that Democrats, with Oceguera’s blessing, are planning to kill every Goedhart bill this session for no reason other than the fact that Goedhart is the sponsor.
Which brings us back to the fact that Susan Furlong works for Speaker Oceguera…and just fired Goedhart’s legislative assistant without warning, without cause, without explanation, without discussion and without even advance notice to the assemblyman.
This is a coincidence? I don’t think so.
This is nothing more than a petty, political revenge-sacking of an innocent young woman – who was embarrassed, disgraced and punished for something she didn’t even do – just to screw with a conservative political opponent.
And it stinks.
We cannot let this stand. Justice demands that Joan get her job back….along with an apology!
If in the unlikely event that Speaker Oceguera didn’t know what his Chief Clerk was doing to his political rival’s innocent legislative assistant…he knows now. And he ought to do the decent thing and step in and make this right. But I’m not holding my breath.
So here’s what we’re gonna do…
Legislators are allowed to hire their own legislative assistants if they’re willing to pay for them out of their own pockets. And Assemblyman Goedhart wants Joan to continue working out of his office.
However, he doesn’t have the money in his campaign account to do so, and he’s prohibited by law from raising money during the session.
So I made a couple of phone calls on Friday and raised enough money for Citizen Outreach to pay Joan to work for us as a “Special Legislative Consultant” this week at the same rate of pay she was making as Assemblyman Goedhart’s legislative assistant.
Her job description is – get this – “Monitor and report to Citizen Outreach management any emails you come across which may be of interest to the organization.”
Put that in your call-forwarding pipe and smoke it, Marge Griffin!
As an independent contractor, Joan can choose to fulfill her duties in whatever manner she sees fit at the hours she so chooses. And guess what?
This morning Joan returned to Assemblyman Goedhart’s office doing everything she was doing before Susan Furlong fired her as a volunteer!
And unless Susan Furlong changes her mind, or Speaker Oceguera intervenes this week and does the right thing by giving Joan her job back, Citizen Outreach will attempt to raise the money to keep Joan on our payroll and in Assemblyman Goedhart’s office as a volunteer for the rest of the session.
Now here’s how you can help….
Contact Susan Furlong and demand that she give “Joan” her job back.
(I’ve already sent Furlong an email informing her that “Joan” is the alias name I’ve given to the legislative assistant she so wrongly fired, so she’ll know exactly who you’re talking about.)
Furlong’s email address is: sfurlong@lcb.state.nv.us
And make sure you copy Speaker Oceguera so he can’t say he doesn’t know what’s being done by one of his underlings. His email address is: joceguera@asm.state.nv.us
Furlong’s phone number is: (775) 684-8555.
And since I’m sure Marge Griffin has already taught Furlong how to blow off calls from Nevada citizens, just leave a simple message saying you’re calling to urge Furlong to rehire Joan.
And finally, send this email to everyone in your address book so everyone knows how Susan Furlong and John Oceguera treat innocent victims who have done nothing wrong other than be assigned to work for a conservative Republican state legislator.
Thank you for standing up for Joan and helping Citizen Outreach right this wrong.
Optimistically yours,
Chuck Muth
President
First, the email didn’t say “Confidential” or anything else, so why would any of the legislative assistants who received it think it was some kind of big state secret
As you may recall, a little over a week ago Citizen Outreach launched a voter education robo-call campaign letting voters know that Republican Assembly Minority Leader Pete “Tax My Meat” Goicoechea had once again gone wobbly on tax hikes.
We simply made it easy for citizens to “press one” and be connected directly to his office in Carson City if they wanted to express their opinion.
Hundreds did.
Then, on March 3rd, a taxpayer-paid pubic employee named Marge Griffin, Manager of Administrative Services for the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB), sent out an email to 38 legislative assistants (they’re officially called “attaches”) advising how to blow off such constituent calls by forwarding them to a main switchboard and/or voice-mail hell.
Well, a copy of Griffin’s outrageous email made its way to me…and I, in turn, exposed to the public how this taxpayer-paid public employee was advising other taxpayer-paid public employees how to ignore phone calls from taxpayers who don’t want their taxes raised.
At which point Griffin reportedly blew a gasket, had a conniption and threw a major league hissy fit all at the same time. She then launched an all-out witch hunt to find out who forwarded the email to me.
Two things….
Secondly, even if it did say “Confidential,” why should an email communication from a public employee to other public employees instructing them on how to blow off the public be secret?
In any event, Griffin’s investigation – coordinated and conducted with Susan Furlong, Chief Clerk to Assembly Speaker John Oceguera – led to the conclusion that the “culprit” had to be Assemblyman Ed Goedhart’s legislative assistant.
And you’re not going to believe what happened next…
Susan Furlong fired her!!
No warning…
No explanation…
No discussion…
No reprimand…
Furlong, LCB’s Queen of Hearts, simply decreed, “Off with her head!” – and down came the ax.
SIDEBAR: As the young woman in question has asked that her real name not be identified, I’m just going to call her “Joan” from this point on – after Joan of Arc, another victim of an unjust witch-hunt.Now, what most people don’t know is that these legislative assistants aren’t hired by the legislators themselves. Instead, they’re hired by LCB and assigned to legislators. Legislators are not allowed to hire their own legislative assistants unless they want to pay for them out of their own pocket.
This system has created a type of serfdom in which the legislative assistants owe their jobs and loyalty to the government and the majority party, not the individual legislators. They are considered “at will” employees, which means they can be fired for any reason whatsoever or, as in Joan’s case, no reason whatsoever.
Making matters worse, Queen Furlong not only didn’t give Assemblyman Goedhart a heads up that an investigation of his legislative assistant was underway, she waited until she knew Goedhart was in a committee hearing last Wednesday before going up to his office to fire Joan.
And adding humiliating insult to injury, she had Joan “perp-walked” out of the building by LCB security personnel.
Out…rageous!
But, believe it or not, it’s even worse.
You see…
Joan didn’t even do it!
She was not the one who forwarded the email to me.
After I found out that Furlong had canned Joan, I immediately swore out an affidavit attesting to the FACT that Joan was NOT the person who forwarded the email to me…and gave it to Assemblyman Goedhart.
Goedhart then requested a meeting with Furlong to give her the notarized affidavit and request that Joan be given her job back.
“I presented your notarized statement exonerating ‘Joan’ from any involvement in your article,” Goedhart emailed me Friday afternoon after the meeting. “She glanced at it for a minute and said that your statement didn’t change anything and that her decision was final and not open for debate.”
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!!!
The woman knows that Joan didn’t do what she was fired for doing….and nevertheless she’s firing her anyway? You gotta be kidding me.
This whole matter could’ve and should’ve been handled with nothing more than a warning or a reprimand at most…especially since Joan didn’t do what she was suspected of doing.
But even if she did, all we’re talking about here is forwarding a non-confidential email. That’s a firing offense?
No, making such a mountain out of a molehill appears to me to be part of
an ongoing effort to punish Assemblyman Goedhart himself.
Consider: A recent Associated Press story described Goedhart as “a church-going Republican widely considered the most conservative in the state Assembly.”
And he’s the kind of conservative who runs toward the sound of the cannons, not away from them.
Ed Goedhart doesn’t just talk the conservative talk; he actually walks the conservative walk.
Which makes him extremely dangerous to the Democrat leadership.
As such, Goedhart has made a powerful enemy out of Speaker Oceguera – a man well-known for and quite capable of petty vindictiveness.
For example, consider the fact that only one incumbent assemblyman (other than leaders who moved into leadership offices) had his office moved before the start of the 2011 session: Assemblyman Goedhart.
And not only did Oceguera kick Goedhart out of his old office, he moved him into the smallest office in the building.
Oceguera was sending a message and trying to teach the conservative Republican a lesson about going along to get along. Goedhart’s response?
“I don’t care if Speaker Oceguera moves me to a broom closet or banishes me to a pup tent in the parking garage. I will continue to fight for the taxpayers of Nevada and the conservative philosophy of a strictly limited government. The Speaker can play these silly little games all he wants. I don’t care. No matter what he does, I’m not going away and I’m not backing down. I’m not here to make him happy; I’m here to represent my constituents.”
In addition, Goedhart has been warned privately that Democrats, with Oceguera’s blessing, are planning to kill every Goedhart bill this session for no reason other than the fact that Goedhart is the sponsor.
Which brings us back to the fact that Susan Furlong works for Speaker Oceguera…and just fired Goedhart’s legislative assistant without warning, without cause, without explanation, without discussion and without even advance notice to the assemblyman.
This is a coincidence? I don’t think so.
This is nothing more than a petty, political revenge-sacking of an innocent young woman – who was embarrassed, disgraced and punished for something she didn’t even do – just to screw with a conservative political opponent.
And it stinks.
We cannot let this stand. Justice demands that Joan get her job back….along with an apology!
If in the unlikely event that Speaker Oceguera didn’t know what his Chief Clerk was doing to his political rival’s innocent legislative assistant…he knows now. And he ought to do the decent thing and step in and make this right. But I’m not holding my breath.
So here’s what we’re gonna do…
Legislators are allowed to hire their own legislative assistants if they’re willing to pay for them out of their own pockets. And Assemblyman Goedhart wants Joan to continue working out of his office.
However, he doesn’t have the money in his campaign account to do so, and he’s prohibited by law from raising money during the session.
So I made a couple of phone calls on Friday and raised enough money for Citizen Outreach to pay Joan to work for us as a “Special Legislative Consultant” this week at the same rate of pay she was making as Assemblyman Goedhart’s legislative assistant.
Her job description is – get this – “Monitor and report to Citizen Outreach management any emails you come across which may be of interest to the organization.”
Put that in your call-forwarding pipe and smoke it, Marge Griffin!
As an independent contractor, Joan can choose to fulfill her duties in whatever manner she sees fit at the hours she so chooses. And guess what?
This morning Joan returned to Assemblyman Goedhart’s office doing everything she was doing before Susan Furlong fired her as a volunteer!
And unless Susan Furlong changes her mind, or Speaker Oceguera intervenes this week and does the right thing by giving Joan her job back, Citizen Outreach will attempt to raise the money to keep Joan on our payroll and in Assemblyman Goedhart’s office as a volunteer for the rest of the session.
Now here’s how you can help….
Contact Susan Furlong and demand that she give “Joan” her job back.
(I’ve already sent Furlong an email informing her that “Joan” is the alias name I’ve given to the legislative assistant she so wrongly fired, so she’ll know exactly who you’re talking about.)
Furlong’s email address is: sfurlong@lcb.state.nv.us
And make sure you copy Speaker Oceguera so he can’t say he doesn’t know what’s being done by one of his underlings. His email address is: joceguera@asm.state.nv.us
Furlong’s phone number is: (775) 684-8555.
And since I’m sure Marge Griffin has already taught Furlong how to blow off calls from Nevada citizens, just leave a simple message saying you’re calling to urge Furlong to rehire Joan.
And finally, send this email to everyone in your address book so everyone knows how Susan Furlong and John Oceguera treat innocent victims who have done nothing wrong other than be assigned to work for a conservative Republican state legislator.
Thank you for standing up for Joan and helping Citizen Outreach right this wrong.
Optimistically yours,
Chuck Muth
President
First, the email didn’t say “Confidential” or anything else, so why would any of the legislative assistants who received it think it was some kind of big state secret
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