Joe Biden, the senior Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has proposed that Iraq be divided into three governing regions: Kurd, Shi'ite, and Sunni, with a central government in Baghdad.
I think he's been reading NE State Senator Ernie Chambers's additions to the recently passed Nebraska LB 1024, redrawing the Omaha Public School district into 3 smaller districts (one each primarily black, Hispanic, and white). For additional details, please read the last section of my earlier post, "No Wonder Our Society Is In Decline."
At least Biden doesn't have to worry about his proposal being unconstitutional. After all, Iraq is a foreign country. Separate is not inherently unequal over there. It's a survival mechanism. It is inherently unequal over here, however, and I hope we can do better by our various ethnic groups within America than implement LB 1024.
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I am not normally too het up about Douglas County, NE, politics, as I live across the line in Sarpy County. What happens in Douglas County normally affects me indirectly if at all. But the recent goings on in the Douglas County Treasurer's Office beg for comment.
The Treasurer is Julie Haney. A nineteen-year-plus employee in her department, Fred Cappellano, recently pleaded guilty to embezzling--over the course of several years--more than $120,000 from the office to fund his gambling habit. [He spent most of the money across the state line, in Iowa, by the way . . . which brings up a whole other set of issues around here, on which I may comment in a later post.--Ed] An outside audit first revealed the embezzlement. Haney did change office policies to prevent it happening again, but there is a big question as to how Cappellano was able to get away with it for as long as he did in the first place.
Cappellano promised to repay the embezzled funds as part of his guilty plea. Another employee in the Treasurer's office, Trish Lanphier, signed and passed on a sympathy card already circulating for Cappellano. Haney fired her for it. [Haney says there's more to it than that, but so far she has offered exactly zero to support her assertion.--Ed]
A Douglas County resident, David Karas, sent a letter criticizing Haney to the Omaha World-Herald, which dutifully published it in its Letters to the Editor column. "As a faithful Republican," Karas wrote, "it pains me to say this[, b]ut I won't be able to vote for Douglas County Treasurer Julie Haney this time around unless she reinstates Trish Lanphier. I was willing to forgive Ms. Haney for the lax management and policies that enabled Fred Cappellano to embezzle more than $120,000 from her office. But when she fired a staff member, apparently for circulating a harmless greeting card for a guy headed to prison, that was too much . . ." [Somehow, allowing Cappellano's embezzling to go on for as long as it did strikes this observer as the worse offense, but one must also recognize 'the straw that broke the camel's back' syndrome.--Ed.]
Haney has replied directly to Karas. She used the Treasurer's office official letterhead and paid the postage using the county's presorted postage rate. In her letter, Haney chided fellow Republican Karas, asserting that "[g]enerally speaking . . . Republicans are the last to jump to conclusions, don't believe everything they read and are usually patient enough and broad-minded enough to know there is 'the rest of the story' to be heard."
When asked about her letter, Haney first denied sending it. "I don't ever respond to any letters to the editorial sections," she claimed. The reporter then read her a portion of her letter to Karas. She thereupon switched her story, saying her letter was in response to an email he sent her. Once confronted with the fact that Karas never contacted her directly--by email, by phone, or in person--Haney brushed it off. "I answer so many things . . . That's been some time ago." She then defended not only answering the letter but doing it on county time and at county expense. She said she has a right to defend her office and her staff. [I see nothing defending her office or her staff in her letter--I see her defending herself and herself alone.--Ed.]
In response to this information, Karas noted to the World-Herald reporter covering the story that his letter did not criticize the office or the staff. It criticized Haney and her management style. [See? I was right!--Ed]
The big question, of course, is how in the world Haney's behavior here differs from Lanphier's in circulating the sympathy card for Cappellano. Especially after Haney said it was OK for her staff to express concern for a former colleague who was going to prison, but not on county time. Haney also claims that Lanphier was fired not for circulating the card but for what she did when Haney confronted her about it. I have yet to see anything in the news detailing just what bad deeds Haney alleges that Lanphier did, however.
Lanphier has [rightly, in this observer's opinion.--Ed.] appealed her termination. She's also running for Clerk of the Douglas County District Court. There's thus an additional implication that Haney doesn't like Lanphier's political ambitions, but that has yet to be addressed, let alone proven.
Karas had the best summation. "[Haney's] letter [and her reaction to being confronted about it.--Ed] basically proved everything I said. There is a pettiness and a vindictiveness there that makes me question her management style."
I see at least one deeply unpleasant fallout coming. If a man were to behave as Haney did,we'd shake our collective heads and wonder how he got to be such a crazy jerk . . . but when a woman does it, it somehow reflects poorly on the ability of every woman to hold a position of responsibility and authority. That's a shame. It's also just plain wrong. But we won't know whether my fears about this are well-founded until the fall campaign rhetoric inundates us, will we?
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