Technically Deja Vu

Another example of bad management by the Fletcher Administration from the Herald-Leader:

FRANKFORT --
Eight state Transportation Cabinet workers suspended last year for allegedly misusing the Internet are the apparent victims of retaliation by a former deputy cabinet secretary, according to an investigative report.

The allegations of Internet misuse were based on faulty information, a fact known by cabinet officials months before the suspensions were handed out last summer, according to a Jan. 30 report from the cabinet's Office of Inspector General.

The bottom line here is this:

Given the technical capabilities that exist in any Cabinet in state government or with the Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT), any employee that uses the Internet or email can be proven to be abusing the system.

This has been true since the Internet and email became available to state employees. An early incident makes this point (the names are omitted to protect the guilty). A cabinet secretary complained that her email was slow. Upon investigation the reason the email was slow was the huge cookie recipe files (including pictures) she insisted on sending to everyone she ever new.

So when you hear things like:

…..the cabinet requested Internet usage reports on 176 employees…… and

……experts in the Commonwealth Office of Technology said the usage reports likely listed Web sites visited by multiple employees….

You need to remember a couple of things. If the cabinet requested the reports they must have requested them from the Commonwealth Office of Technology and now COT is saying the reports aren’t good.

Did the guys at COT suddenly take an honest pill?

The change of heart may have something to do with the new leadership. I use the term “new” in the broadest sense. The “new” leader of this group is Steve Dooley.

The Commonwealth Office of Technology provides leadership in the use of information technology in order to enhance government services, improve decision making, promote efficiency and eliminate waste. COT is headed by an Executive Director, Steve Dooley, appointed by the Secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet. The Executive Director of COT also serves as the state's Commissioner of Technology and Chief Information Officer.

From COT’s history:

1984

Stephen "Steve" Dooley replaced Jim Futrell as the commissioner of DIS in March, 1984. Deputy commissioners of DIS under Dooley were Tracey Ballman (1984 to March 1985), Joe Elam (April 1985 to April 1997), and Ron Jones (October 1999 to August 2001).

1999

The Governor's Office for Technology was formed in October 1999, by merging DIS, KIRM, and OGIS, under Aldona Valicenti, the state's first chief information officer. The Deputy CIO was Steve Dooley.


By the way, I’m glad to see Steve Dooley back in charge. Dooley, along with his high school chums from Frankfort, ran the Department of Information Systems (DIS), the predecessor agency to COT, from 1984 to 2001. Dooley has always been a master of staying out of the political cross fire. Every time a political bomb went off he was like the cockroach after the nuclear war. He was the only survivor to walk out of the rubble.

Steve is a known quality; you won’t see anything exciting or corrupt from his agency. And who can really blame the guy for taking a full state retirement and a 6 figure salary.

Again the Beshear administration goes back to being new and innovative in 1984.