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Aug

15

[updated] WLST found, pointed out to ODP the column that they should have found in hiring process

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UPDATE

Please read this before reading anything else.
I would also recommend this, this and this.

ORIGINAL POST

I really don’t know how else to title this post. There are a lot of things I could call it but we’ll just leave it at that.

I’m also posting it against the advice of my lawyer.

Here’s a chronology of events that led to others becoming aware that the Ohio Democratic Party’s choice to fill the job of Coordinator for Women’s Outreach had a curiosity in her background that needed vetting:

1. I received and read the ODP’s announcement of the creation of the job and the appointment to that job of Megan Pappada on Thursday, August 9.

2. Within the hour, I emailed my contact at OSU with whom I’m working on setting up a training for women who want to enter politics because I thought she should 1) know about the new ODP position and 2) she should include the new coordinator in communications as we set up the training.

3. Within that same timeframe, I googled Megan’s name. I googled regular, I “news” googled her and I “blog search” googled her.

The first returns in the main search engine included her letter in The Lantern, OSU’s student paper, and another person’s response to what Megan had written. You can see the Google “search” results here and from there, the written items by Megan and the other person. I read those items and my stomach fluttered and sank and question marks started popping up all over my peripheral vision.

4. There were no returns in the news search and the returns in the blog search included one written by Scott Piepho and this one on the Cleveland Hts. Democrats website.

5. I emailed Scott Piepho, Jeff Coryell (on behalf of the Cleveland Hts post), Todd Hoffman (ODP online communications director) and Randy Borntrager (ODP Communications Director) with the link. I did the citizen journalism thing I try to do: I said, great news re: the new position, but I found this link. I don’t know Megan, what do you think?

6. That was all within an hour or so on Thursday afternoon. I did not receive responses from Jeff or Scott but did receive one from the ODP thanking me for bringing it to their attention and that they would look into it. Late Friday morning, I spoke with Todd Hoffman and he informed me that Megan had resigned.

At that time, for several reasons, I chose not to write about how I’d found information that the ODP should have found first:

I had no time and anyone who reads this blog can see how scarce my postings have been over the last several days. My parents were visiting from CT, my oldest son had a fever and was vomiting (he has a double ear infection and pink eye) and I had Shabbat dinner to make and services that my husband was leading to attend. At that time, compared to the things I needed to tend to in my life, I saw no value in taking the time to write up the ODP, especially about a situation in which I didn’t know the person involved or what was said, firsthand or through reliable sources.

7. Then, this morning, I saw that Scott wrote about how the ODP should have caught this and handled it differently and this paragraph was pivotal in making me re-think what I had/hadn’t done:

I’m not just a volunteer citizen journalist, I’m a member of the Ohio Democratic Party and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them act like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight then sweep it under the rug. If this is out, hopefully the people involved will exercise more due care next time.

Scott is absolutely right: It is because I’m not just a volunteer citizen journalist and I am a member of the Ohio Democratic Party that I cannot “let them act like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight and then sweep it under the rug.” With this oversight by the ODP’s hiring process coming out, as Scott wrote, “hopefully the people involved will exercise more due care next time.”

All I’ve ever known, from the moment I saw her column, when I was self-educating about the new Coordinator for Women’s Outreach, is that if I could find it, anyone could find. And should have found it.

That’s why I emailed others who either knew Megan and/or had hired her – to investigate. That investigation led to what Scott and several others describe on their blogs today: Megan’s termination from the coordinator job.

To sum up, just as with the Strickland-intern-data theft fiasco, this situation should have and could have been prevented. From now on, there simply is no excuse. Prospective employees need to realize this just as much as employers need to develop guidelines for what to do when they do find material like Megan’s column.

If I weren’t the one who found the column, I doubt I’d be writing a “pile-on the ODP” post. And I wasn’t sure up until I hit Save Now that I’d write this one. But, to me, little old independent me, it feels like what I should do.

I don’t know what more I can say.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:32 pm August 15th, 2007 in Politics | 22 Comments 

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Aug

15

Josh Mandel brings in the money

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From the Columbus Dispatch:
On the Republican side, Mandel, a 29-year-old heading back to Iraq for a second tour, has raised $926,000 over two years. His bulging accounts have turned what might have been a competitive district into a safe hold for Republicans in 2006.

Seven months into his first term, the former star highschool quarterback and undergraduate president at Ohio State University is considered a rising star in GOP ranks.

“He personally is an inspirational individual at a young age,” said James P. Trakas, a former Cuyahoga County GOP chairman who previously held Mandel’s seat. “People see in Josh what the state should have as a leader, so they want him to be successful.”

Mandel expanded on Trakas’ donor list. And he is getting campaign help, Trakas said, from powerful Cleveland developers J. David Heller of NRP Group and Albert Ratner of Forest City Enterprises.

“He also has a statewide following in the Jewish community,” Trakas said.

We know I don’t feel the same way about the Republican hold in these neighborhoods, and this MSM push of that idea that there is such a hold is exactly what I was criticizing when I wrote about it.

But I will contribute this oddity: I have received a very nice amount of attention from Josh and his office, even since he left for training. And I didn’t give a dime to him. I appreciate it, it’s smart, and I try to stick to only constituent issues.

That said, I still hope we can field a good Democratic candidate for the ’08 race because Josh’s votes in the legislature have not represented what I want. It’s an interesting conundrum: good attention, but not voting in alignment. I want a rep in the legislature who’ll do both.

Who is that going to be?

If you want to see who has contributed to that near million number, visit Ohio Money Tree.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:52 pm August 15th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off 

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Aug

15

Carnival of Ohio Politics #78 is posted

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Read and enjoy, with thanks to Lisa Renee for this week’s edition of the Carnival of Ohio Politics.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:44 am August 15th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off 

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Aug

15

Remains of a Day Ago, 8-14-07 & Today, 8-15-07

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Well, I might not like AT&T much because of its push of SB117, but my line went down on Friday, I reported it on the Internet, the guy came today and gave us new wires, a new box and a faster DSL (because of new wires). I still don’t support SB117 or the fact that U-Verse is skipping over my city (which might be a blessing in disguise), but at least he knew what to do. Thank you, AT&T Guy (can anyone tell me, though, why the box he put up said SBC on it? leftovers?).

1. Some people pay me to write.

2. Oh, the pros and cons of being independent.

3. Not just for law geeks: so the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Gov. Strickland’s veto of SB117. But from when does the time start to run for gathering signatures to challenge, by referendum, the law – from the date it was filed on Jan. 5 or from the date of the court’s decision on Aug. 1? I’m actually going to say that it was estopped and then started again, just like the law’s implementation itself. But that’s a 9am on a busy morning following a busy day guess.

4. Roland has a great post about the illogical nature of the English language here.

5. Inflammatory breast cancer – who knew? Not enough people, it would seem. You can read more here.

6. Fascinating use by who else but Bill Callahan of what’s available on the Internet to display the foreclosure situation in Cleveland.

7. This is very effective without being over the top negative or authoritarian – it tells you to do what you think you should: call the people who represent you and tell them what you think, so they’ll actually know firsthand.

8. This podcast from the Columbus Dispatch focuses on David Brennan, White Hat Management and more hot water they’re in for allegedly trying to skirt state campaign contribution limits. I tried listening to it last night but it kept stopping about 2/3rds in. Looks like it’s good to go this morning so I’ll try to finish listening later.

9. This is probably one of the reasons as to why those who signed on to the Faulkner amicus (most if not all of whom were publishers) with National Geographic did so: they are losing readers, their profit margins are diminishing and they figure, we’ll just get as many uses out of the freelanced work possible without having to pay another dime. Again, another blotch on how SPJ or its leaders could ever have thought it would be okay to side with NGS against the freelancer.

Finishing up this evening what I didn’t get to earlier today which is being added to what I didn’t get to last night:

10. This is offensive to me, as someone who took and passed the bar, because of allegations against Rahshann Blackwell regarding cheating on the bar and other problems he’s had with the law. It has zero to do with his father and anyone who has sat for the bar, in addition to filling out every scrap of paperwork and sitting through all the interviews required, will tell you that.

11. Another one for the Ya Don’t Say? category: Pew says, “Internet News Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations.”

12. The banner silliness.

Oh what a day.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:54 am August 15th, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments 

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