Joe Miller's "secret" file with Fairbanks North Star Borough has been released, and the main documents can be downloaded HERE. In addition, a directory of the documents released and withheld and a manifest of the e-mails has been published.
There is quite a lot in these 60 pages of emails, and some points have to be carefully "deciphered", especially the details regarding Joe Miller's medical issues.
However, the "computer incident" which lead to Joe Miller's resignation is included in great detail, and the behavior of Joe Miller is utterly bizarre and foolish. What a dolt! Come on, Alaska, this shouldn't be your next Senator!
Here is the description of this incident, from the documents:
We will update the post when we have further details about the content of the documents.
UPDATE:
A highly "suspicious" letter points to serious health problems, maybe even substance abuse:
What field does Magellan specialise in?
Headquartered in Avon, Conn., Magellan Health Services, Inc., is a leading specialty health care management organization with expertise in managing behavioral health, radiology and specialty pharmaceuticals, as well as public sector pharmacy benefits programs. Magellan delivers innovative solutions to improve quality outcomes and optimize the cost of care for those we serve. Magellan’s customers include health plans, employers and government agencies, serving nearly 60 million people nationwide in our behavioral and radiology benefits lines, more than 40 payors in our specialty pharmaceutical benefits segment, and 25 states and the District of Columbia in our Medicaid Administration segment. For more information, visit www.MagellanHealth.com.
This press report also provides more details about some aspects of the work of Magellan:
Magellan Health Services, Inc., (Nasdaq: MGLN) an industry leader in behavioral health care management, announced that Daniel P. McCarthy, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief clinical officer of the company’s Commercial Behavioral Health unit, will be presenting at the World Research Group’s upcoming conference. The "Integrating Behavioral Healthcare & Chronic Care” conference, taking place Oct. 26-28 in Chicago, will bring together industry thought leaders to discuss the challenges faced by health plans, providers and employers in improving coordination and integration of behavioral and medical care for the chronically ill.
During his presentation, Dr. McCarthy, a licensed clinical psychologist, will explain the merits of using medication-assisted treatment approaches among individuals with substance use disorders to achieve and maintain recovery goals and avoid relapse, citing data collected through several pilot programs conducted by Magellan.
Based on the initial success of these pilot programs and supported by organizational data, Magellan recently launched a new national medication-assisted treatment intervention that incorporates the appropriate use of proven medications as part of the discharge treatment plan for individuals completing inpatient treatment for a primary Alcohol or Other Drugs (AOD) diagnosis.
Joe Miller clearly has a lot to answer for. After all, he is running for the third most important office in the USA.
+++
Please also read the report in Alaska Dispatch:
Borough officials initially considered whether what Miller had done was a crime -- a felony as well as a misdemeanor -- but settled on disciplining him for violating ethics rules. Miller offered to resign. He was placed on administrative leave March 13 and then suspended for three days without pay at the end of the month. He was ordered to complete mandatory employee counseling and was placed on six months probation. Miller was told that any further infractions would result in his immediate termination.
+++
UPDATE 3:
Yes, there are more documents which cast SERIOUS doubt on the ability of Joe Miller to handle any kind of job with a greater responsibility!
First, here is the text of the Disciplinary punishment that Joe Miller received.
However, what is even more revealing are the notes that a colleague or superior made about the conversation with Joe Miller about the bizarre computer incident:
"Lapse of judgement"..."total screw up"...."I was an ass"...."I was beyond stupid"..."out of character"..."failure"..."flaw"..."extreme."
So Joe Miller apparently gets "out of character" when he is under stress. That is NOT the type of person you want to have as US Senator!
+++
This is Joe Miller's written statement about the incident, in which he admitted that he lied:
+++
UPDATE 4:
One of our readers thankfully made a summary of the sequence of events surrounding Joe Miller's resignation, which incredibly helpful.
I would also like to point out that within 35 of the released emails, redactions had to be made due to confidential medical information, according to the directory of documents released. This again is a clear indication that Joe Miller suffers from serious medical issues, which he ought to disclose to the public. The voters have a right to know.
+++
Sequence of events for the leave issue that resulted in Joe Miller’s resignation:
People:
Joe = Joe Miller - Assistant Borough Attorney
Rene = Rene Broker – Borough Attorney – Joe’s immediate supervisor
Jill = Jill Dolan – Assistant Borough Attorney (Jill was the HR liaison for the legal department at the borough)
Diane Thomas – Personnel / Payroll Manager
Tuesday, August 25, 2009:
- (p. 5) Joe advises Rene that he is seeing the VA doc in Anchorage on Thursday (Aug 27) for an unknown (redacted) medical procedure scheduled for Monday (Aug 31). He advises that he won’t know how long a recovery period is required until after he sees the doc on Thursday.
- (p. 5) Rene says okay, sounds like this is something there is no choice about. When you get into the office, fill out the leave form and put your return date as unknown. Sounds like it would be classified as FMLA leave, get HR to send you the form.
- (p. 5) Joe says he got the form and it needs a doctor’s certificate. He will see the doc on Thursday. There are other attorneys in the office to cover and he will complete the work he’s doing now tomorrow, so how about he puts in a leave form for Thursday (Aug 27) through Friday next week (Sep 4). He will fax the doctor’s statement on Thursday. If okay by Rene, he will put in leave request form to Jill on Aug 26.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009:
- (p. 4) Rene agrees so long as it complies with whatever the FMLA personnel rules are.
- (p. 4) Joe emails Diane to ask if he can complete regular leave request and then fax in the doctor’s note with FMLA leave form on Thursday. He carefully notes that the regular leave request is in compliance with the legal department rules that there be no more than 2 attorneys absent at a time.
- (p. 4) Diane responds that this will be no problem – 15 days to get the form in. She provides a confidential fax number for him to use.
- (p. 4) Joe says okay then he will get the form to her after he gets back from Anchorage.
- (p. 47) Jill asks Joe if the leave request (Aug 27 to Sep 4) he just gave her is pending FMLA approval by personnel.
- (p. 47) Joe says it is a regular leave slip that will convert to FMLA leave depending on the doctor’s responses. It is consistent with what Diane has emailed.
- (p. 47) Jill says, okay, she just wanted to confirm that the whole time Joe requested was for the redacted medical procedure and not personal leave. She will sign it as FMLA pending personnel approval.
Friday, August 28, 2009:
- (p. 53) Joe emails Rene to advise the VA doc schedules him back to work on Sep. 22. As he is taking personal leave for 2.5 weeks starting on Sep. 23, what does Rene want to do? (Presumably he means should he come in on Sep. 22 as it is only one day). He also advises that he has faxed the FMLA form to Diane.
- (p. 53) Rene responds saying with so much leave in September, October and November, Joe won’t be able to help with the annexation and it really needs attention. So, Rene is cancelling Joe’s 2.5 weeks personal leave starting on Sep. 23.
- (p. 53) Joe responds saying when the annexation hearing was rescheduled to during his November leave (Afognak bear hunt with son) Rene told him she would handle it if Joe didn’t voluntarily return early for it. Joe wants to know how the FMLA leave changes that. He also advises that he doesn’t want to cancel out on his other two sons’ elk hunts (which were scheduled during the 2.5 weeks Rene says she is cancelling).
- (p. 35 - 36) Joe wrote a long resignation letter to Rene. His resignation will be effective Sep. 23.
- (p. 3) Rene responds via email accepting the resignation effective Sep. 23.
Monday, August 31, 2009:
- (p. 17) Jill emails computer services to notify them that Joe has resigned on August 28th. His resignation date isn’t until Sep 23 but he is on leave until then and she and Rene have discussed that they want to suspend his computer access as he isn’t doing any borough business while on leave. Jill notes that they disabled Joe’s key card access on Friday and are getting the code changed for the door to the department.
- (p. 16 and 15) a series of emails to/from computer services about disabling Joe’s email account and the disposition of files in his personal directories on the server. (note that there is a continuation on Sep. 9 regarding what appears to be missing computer files)
- (p. 41-42) Diane emails Rene to say she just heard from Joe's doc that the redacted medical procedure has been cancelled.
- (p. 41) Rene says she assumes Joe will show up for work on Tuesday.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009:
- (p. 41) Jill emails that she only signed Joe’s leave slip saying it was FMLA leave pending personnel approval. So, his absence on Monday was without approved leave. She hopes Joe plans to be there today and through to Sep. 23.
- (p. 41) Rene and Jill question if it was all a ruse to not have to come in to work because the doctor said Joe was the one who cancelled the procedure. Jill asks Diane to call Joe and find out what is going on.
- (p. 2) Joe emails Jill to say his resignation is now effective today. He says Jill has changed his leave from personal to FMLA leave. Diane has told him that if he is on FMLA leave, he has to report for work today. He is trying to reschedule redacted medical procedure with a different doc (Wade) and has appointment on Thursday. He refuses to come in before then.
- (p. 40) Rene and Jill say they read it as he quit without notice.
- (p. 2) Rene responds to Joe, accepting his resignation and advising that the lack of notice affects his rehire status at the borough.
- (p. 2) Joe disagrees that it should affect his rehire status. He says he originally asked for personal leave and that it was changed (to FMLA) without his request or approval.
- (p. 1) Rene recaps her understanding: Joe represented that he needed immediate leave for redacted medical procedure. Thus there was no choice but to grant it. Joe cannot expect to keep the leave that was granted on that basis when the circumstances that gave rise to it have changed significantly. Joe did not show for work today and when he was requested to do so, he resigned effective immediately. Rene asks Joe to let her know what is missing from her facts and advises that if he does explain why he disagrees, she will reconsider rehire decision.
- (p. 1) Joe responds to Rene. His argument is that he original asked for personal leave (not FMLA). He thinks he would have been granted it as there was nothing going on in the office at that time and it complied with the not more than 2 attorneys away at a time policy. If they had treated his leave slip as regular leave, there would have been no issue with him not coming in today. The borough should not have initiated and insisted upon the FMLA process. Besides, from a practical standpoint, Rene already accepted his Aug 28 resignation that would not have seen him coming back to work (because he had leave until the Sep 23 resignation date) so he sees the rehire decision as a retaliatory act.
- (p. 46) Jill and Rene discuss that it is unwise to continue conversation with Joe and they should just document events for his file.
+++
UPDATE 5:
Please also read the new updates on Alaska Dispatch with a very good summary of the case:
In the short span of time the employees were trying to get to the bottom of what had happened, Miller lied no less than four times:
--He told them he'd had to use another computer because he couldn't access the website he needed to get to on his.
--He claimed he had to clear the cache or the website might block his access.
--He initially denied being on more than one computer
--And he claimed he was visiting a professor's website at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
In a written account of events offered by one of Miller's co-workers -- identifed in an earlier redcords release as "employee 3" but now known to be Jill Dolan, Miller's acting supervisor at the time -- Dolan states that the office staff felt none of what Miller was saying made any sense and that he was acting bizarre.
(...) About a year and a half after Miller was in trouble for politicking, employees would again report behavior they felt was bizarre and deceitful. It would be the end of the line for Miller, who ended up resigning without notice after disagreements with his boss and others in the office.
"My blood is boiling at his continued misrepresentations," wrote Dolan to Broker in an e-mail Sept. 1, 2009, the same day the borough accepted Miller's resignation.
+++
+++
JUDGING BY THIS NEW CAMPAIGN ADVERT, JOE MILLER'S MENTAL HEALTH IS ALSO BREAKING:
+++
PLEASE RE-TWEET:
.
No comments:
Post a Comment