For Bucks County Commissioners Jim Cawley and Charley (“I Have A Semi-Open Mind”) Martin, trying to shore up their fortress to keep any ray of light from shining through, thus allowing their constituents to see what they’re up to, is a full-time job (my response to this story in the Courier Times today)…Bucks County's Republican commissioners want to release on their own terms the reasons why employees with county cars say they need them — and they don't trust the Democratic commissioner to keep that information to herself.And of course, we could NEVER allow that to happen, could we, Charley? God forbid that you should actually have to stand accountable for your actions (putting aside the fact that this is a horrible smear against Diane’s professionalism).
A heated exchange punctuated the commissioners' annual trek to the Middletown Grange Fair for their August public meeting Wednesday.
Commissioners Jim Cawley and Charley Martin told Commissioner Diane Marseglia she could see the written justifications, but could not have copies.
“I'd probably read about them in the paper tomorrow and I'd prefer not to do that,” Martin said.
Continuing…
Marseglia said she wanted to make sure no changes are made to the employees' justifications. Cawley offered to direct Chief Operating Officer David Sanko to show her the pages after the meeting. As of 5 p.m. she still had not seen Sanko or the pages.See, Diane is supposed to just blend into the background as far as Cawley and Martin are concerned (“wear beige and shut up,” I suppose) while “business as usual” proceeds in Bucks County. How dare some Democrat actually look out for us and upset the tidy little furtive doings of Cawley and Martin’s kingdom!
“Just by asking for it (emphasis mine), you have once again questioned the integrity of a member of our staff,” Cawley said.
“You better believe it,” she said.
“You owe Mr. Sanko an apology,” he said.
“You owe me (emphasis mine) an apology that I can't have a copy of something our taxpayers paid for,” Marseglia replied.
And…
Cawley said after the meeting that the justifications will be released to the public as soon as they are compiled into one document and corrected for grammatical errors. The essence of the statements will not be altered, he said.But Diane can’t even look at them anyway??
Give me a break!
This, sadly, is just the latest example of Bucks County Repugs throwing Diane “under the bus”; this prior post tells us that Cawley and Martin stooge David Sanko, in addition to not providing Diane the information she requested on vehicle usage by county employees, also changed the locks on the commissioners’ office suite and didn’t tell Diane because she had given a reporter the combination to the lock and thus committed a “security breach.”
And this editorial from the Doylestown Intelligencer tells us that Diane also earned the wrath of Bucks County President Judge David Heckler when she intervened on behalf of a troubled teen who was ordered by a judge to attend a youth wilderness camp; Diane sought hospital and home-based care instead, more in line with the wishes of the family.
And as the editorial tells us, Diane is a licensed social worker, hardly some meddling politician with no expertise in this matter (also, Diane’s daughter tragically took her life at a wilderness camp in similar circumstances).
However, the matter of Diane advocating for the teen got Cawley and Martin’s attention because, as noted here, Heckler…
…asked commissioners to shift oversight of (the) department charged with advocating for juveniles removed from their homes.And a financial hit like that would surely represent a big cut from Cawley and Martin’s “pie,” if you will, to say nothing of the loss of coveted political territory.
(Bucks County) Commissioners postponed action on the matter during a public meeting Wednesday morning (July 23rd) and until county officials can determine whether a shift from the commissioners' jurisdiction to the courts would jeopardize a quarter million dollars in funding. The office has a budget of $500,000, half of which is reimbursed by the state.
So Diane continues to do the right thing, but ends up earning the enmity of Bucks County’s Repug poobahs at every turn.
And the legacy of Jay Russell lives on.
Update 8/15/08: Kudos to the Courier Times for this.
6 comments:
Since when are correction of grammatical errors required? Who makes the correction, the commissioner or will the employee be told to rewrite it? Is Cawley telling us the County employees are so illiterate that they cant be trusted to write a simple explanation?
We know this is about getting the explanations to conform with the law...and we the taxpayers are entitled to see those explanations without corrections or adjustments. Will the names be kept confidential as well? You bet.
The obnoxious offensive attitude of the repugs hopefully will encourage the voters in the next election.
As for changing the jurisdiction of juveniles to the courts it will indeed be a money based decision. The well being of the children will not be a consideration. Just look at the child custody laws that affect child support and the millions that are gifted to the state from the federal treasury.
Millions of taxpayer dollars will be forwarded to the state and down to the counties to enforce collection of child support which is paid to the state by supporting parents, not to the custodial parent directly. The state gets an incentive bonus based on the amount of support collected. I call it a bounty.
This money would diminish if the supporting parent, usually the father got more custody time which is why legislators are loathe to change the custody laws despite child experts saying children need two parents in their lives and need their fathers. In a confrontation at Harrisburg a father petitioning to have the laws amended for fathers to have equal custody was told by an elected representative: "We don't care about you, it's all about the money".
Truth was never clearer.
A long time ago, I wrote about child custody laws in this state, and some of this is depressingly familiar. Usually the fathers got rooked, though not always. At the time, judges were loathe to award joint custody - I don't know if that's changed much, but hopefully it has.
Thanks for the information.
Judges are starting to award shared custody. Some states are actually changing the laws to make 50/50 custody the minimum.
What is needed is the PA legislature to change the minimum given a parent, usually the daddy, which still is every other weekend and a couple of hours one night a week for dinner.
Child experts tell dads to be in the lives of their children more but it is not possible if the mother is not willing, the judge is not willing, and the legislature does not make the custody laws fairer. Court fights are expensive and not all daddies can bear the burden.
Bottom line: Shared custody lowers the financial support because it is assumed the supporting parent needs money to pay for maintaining a home and for the child's expenses.
Less support paid reduces the amount collected by the state and therefore reduces the bonus money paid to the state/counties by the feds. The pigs in Harrisburg don't want to give up the $$$. Neither do some mothers.
http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0458.htm
They accuse fathers who want more time with their children of not wanting to pay support. There are thousands of dads who are victimized by this but it is the children who suffer the most. I would like to send Joe Biden, anti fathers rights, a video of my grandson hanging on tight to his daddy while his mother wrenches him away and straps him in the car. The child was screaming:"Daddy come get me". This will be battled in court and should not have to be. I would like Joe Biden and the whores in Harrisburg to be here when the child wakes in the middle of the night screaming and watch how his daddy comforts him and sleeps on the floor next to his bed so the child knows daddy is right by him.
God save the children from evil parents, politicians and judges.
Sorry for the rant.
Interesting food for thought; I'll read more about this (sounds like Biden was trying to help battered women, a highly worthy goal, but ended up needlessly penalizing divorced dads in the process...but as I say, I'll read more about this).
And feel free to rant away - that's why I'm here.
Nice editorial, but get your facts straight. Diane Marseglia's daughter committed suicide after she was foudn with rolling papers used to smoke marijuana. She was NOT at a WILDNERNESS CAMP like this other girl was sent to, but instead she was voluntarily at a cadet camp because the girl wanted to go to the air force academy. How do you suppose a smart girl going to a cadet camp because she wants to go into the airforce and a not so smart girl being sent to a therapeutic camp because she puts herself in danger with her actions are a "similar situation"? WHy would Children and Youth even be involved with the kdis unless she was being abused or neglected? Maybe it was not safe for her to go home because her parents aren't tending to her needs. Think about it.
I attempted to check the original Intelligencer editorial stating that Diane's daughter also attended a wilderness camp, but for some reason, when I clicked on the link, it took me to a couple of comments to the editorial but not the actual editorial itself (that technical marvel that is phillyburbs.com scores another triumph). Otherwise, I can assure you that I would not have said that without corroboration - so if that's wrong, bitch at them instead (love it when freepers tell me to "get my facts straight").
And your supposition that the teen Diane tried to help was actually a victim of abuse is pretty bizarre given that Diane and the family were seeking hospital and home care instead. Do you honestly think Diane would have advocated for that if there was any evidence at all that anything inappropriate was going on at home? You jump to a conclusion like that and then tell ME to get MY facts straight?
Oh, and by the way, remember to run the spell check next time, OK?
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