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Peter Quinn Resigns
An anonymous reader writes "Andy Updegrove is reporting on his blog that Peter Quinn, CIO of Massachusetts and focus of the recent media feeding frenzy, has decided to step down. Quinn stressed that his departure does not signal any major changes in policy nor was he forced to resign. He did say that a large part of the decision was made by the Boston Globe's unfounded (and quickly disproven) charges."
I guess one needs a thicker skin...
"If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
The government seems really committed to its legacy information systems. Someone in a position of power finally decides to do something and is penalized for it. This is a perfect example of what's wrong with the government at all levels.
I don't think there's really anything to this story in regards to anything technical. Policy, as he says, will remain relatively unchanged. The main thing is his reaction to being in the public's eye, and his actions under the pressure of unfounded allegations.
The same thing happens to all politicians and anyone in the public's eye. George W Bush sloughs off criticism about his military past. Bill Clinton was able to sidestep allegations of sexual harassment in the Paula Jones case and tackled the issue head on in the Lewinsky witchhunt. Vince Foster blew his brains own brains out.
Public scrutiny really shows the true character and intestinal fortitude of the scrutinized.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
I'm suspecting that MicroSoft got some photos of this guy cavorting in a bathtub filled with mayonaise and a few attractive penguin prostitutes.
A few phone calls the guy resigned. Who wouldn't?
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
The Boston Globe's having a bad run lately. First that false story about Homeland Security checking up on library borrowing habits, and now this BS. If anyone should be gone, it's their editor.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Sounds like someone is getting ready for a nice, big lawsuit.
"They posted all this crap about me, it wasn't true, I had to quit, I couldn't find a job, and by the time I could, I was out of touch and not hireable... gimme $8 million".
$0.02 (CDN)
1st thought I had after reading that he wasn't forced out was him next being forced denounce OpenFormats on camera by an unseen gunman. ;)
Romney administration reviewing trips made by technology chief
By Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff | November 26, 2005
The Romney administration has launched a review of several out-of-state trips that its top technology officer took to conferences sponsored in part by companies who stand to benefit from a change in computer software used by the state.
Peter J. Quinn, director of the state's Informational Technology Division and its chief information officer, has traveled to 12 out-of-state conferences in the last two years, visiting Brazil, Ottawa, San Francisco, Japan, Puerto Rico, and other locations, records show. Most of the conferences were sponsored by technology and information companies.
Romney administration officials are investigating whether Quinn violated travel procedures by not obtaining written authorization for six of the trips -- to Brazil, Ottawa, San Francisco, and other cities -- since September 2004. For six other trips, he received written approval from his supervisor.
The state launched its inquiry after the Globe began asking questions about the trips earlier this week; it is being conducted by Thomas H. Trimarco, the head of Administration and Finance. Two Romney administration officials, who asked not to be identified because the inquiry was ongoing, said Trimarco will seek to determine why Quinn did not obtain written authorization for the travel and whether having trips paid for by conference sponsors would have violated the state's conflict-of-interest law.
On most of the trips, Quinn said, his travel and other expenses were paid for by the sponsors of the conferences. On two of the trips -- to Tucson and Washington, D.C. -- Quinn paid his own way, according to state records and an interview with Quinn.
Eric Fehrnstrom, director of communications for Romney, said Wednesday that ''we have discovered there is not a complete record for all of Mr. Quinn's travels, and we are reviewing the matter," referring to a state requirement that employees obtain authorization for travel. State rules also require employees to provide a detailed estimate of the cost of travel sponsored by private firms and other outside groups.
Quinn was appointed in September 2002, before Romney won election. In an e-mail responding to questions from the Globe, Quinn said that former administration and finance secretary Eric Kriss had told him that he did not have to receive written authorization for his 2005 travel. He said Kriss had given him verbal approvals for the trips. Most of the trips for which he did not get authorization occurred this year.
Kriss, who left state government in September, did not return phone messages left at his home yesterday and Wednesday.
Quinn is at the center of a controversial decision to require all documents produced by the state's executive branch to be stored in a new, universal format, called Open Document, that would work with many brands of software and is less likely to become obsolete. The change, closely watched in the information technology business, would require modifications to software running on thousands of state computers and is widely seen as a challenge to Microsoft Corp., which makes the Microsoft Office software used to generate documents.
In the interview, Quinn said that he was in demand at the conferences because of the state's initiative to move toward ''open standards" for its computer systems, which would be able to read or use documents that are written with programs other than Office.
Quinn said he sought the legal advice of Linda M. Hamel, the lawyer for the Informational Technology Division, on the propriety of his appearing at a conference in which his travel and room were being paid for by the sponsors of the conference. He declined to provide the specifics of which trips he discussed with her or the advice she gave him.
But in general, Quinn said, he sought Hamel's opinion ''if I thought there might be an issue."
Hamel confirmed that she and Quinn had dis
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Now the accusations don't even need to stick. Simply whine enough and you will get your way and the other guy will cave. As this pattern is repeated over and over again the spine will become obsolete.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Get out of the Kitchen.
As the old saying goes. Looks like he took it to heart. Smart too, it's never good to let the cult of personality interfere with policy. While I'm sad to see him go, I realize why he did it, and understand the need to step aside so the argument isn't about him. I'm sure he will be working from the sidelines as best he can. I wish him all the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
He should just take some leave, then come back recharged and ready to weather the bulls!th from the media. He's not really doing himself a favour in resigning.
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Actually, MS is VERY conencted with all this. As soon as the choice was made to go with ODF, MS was hitting all the politicians about this. And who do the pols hit? The media. They will feed them a line of crap. After all, the globe took something and blew it way out. Of course, nobody is asking the question of how did they get ahold of it in the first place? That was not public knowledge. It was obviously an inside trip job against quinn.
Oh, this has MS ALL over it.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I don't see how this is news, because according to http://www.consortiuminfo.org/newsblog/blog.php?ID =1863, he retired last January.
has resigned, effective January 9, 2005.
I've stuck my foot's own foot in my mouth's own mouth.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
There are hundreds of other technology sites out there. Sometimes Slashdot will link to a story first, sometimes last. Often it will be duped enough that it's first AND last.
Sharing their disgrace should be Fox News reporter James Prendergast for reprinting alarmist, baseless, claims by Microsoft front organization "Americans for Technology Leadership" about OpenDocument, further speading disinformation on the whole topic.
What Peter Quinn and others in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of Information Technology was trying to do was set a sane long-term document strategy for a state government whose records include the oldest constitution in the world (predates the US Constitution.)
If we can't read documents that were generated by proprietary formats only a few years old how can we manage laws, deeds, and other material looking forward decades and centuries? At least with OpenDocument there will be a published freely re-implementable file format that can be widely used as time goes on.
As to MS claiming their formats are "open" they've sung that song over and over yet each time it has proven to be untrue as critical portions of their formats are consistently undocumented or legally encumbered. Heck they can't even reliably read back their own material from products a generation or two prior.
MS's real fear is that by breaking the cycle of locked-in file formats they'll have to compete on a level playing field with alternative products. The truth is it would take them a few days to come up with an OpenDocument converter, the same as they've done for dozens of competing formats.
Whoever hires Peter Quinn will be getting a fellow with considerable professional integrity. Whether his replacement shows the same level of honesty and dedication is a serious concern, particularly considering Governor (& future Presidential candidate) Mitt Romney's willingness to whore out critical appointments in return for special-interest campaign contributions.
I wonder how MS will be funneling the money this time? Will they be washing it through Republican stronghold Staples Corporation or through some other ersatz 'grass roots' astro-turfing front like Americans for Technology Leadership?
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Sure, it's a non-profit entity whose function is to assist corporations in centralizing wealth by direct tax-funded grants and legislation altering market conditions to exclude competition. This particular form of corporation is called a "government".
I don't think htat is a typi so much as a mistakee.
XML causes global warming.
In a move that didn't sit well with many Boston residents, The Globe was bought by the NY Times. Editorial standards, even just on a basic proof-reading level, seem to have gone nowhere but down ever since.
Really a shame, because the Globe's Spotlight Team was (and still is, to some degree) an excellent group; they do in-depth investigative journalism, perhaps comparable in some ways to PBS's Frontline.
Also, if you're in the Boston area and interested in commentary on news stories of the day, tune in @7for Greater Boston, with Emily Rooney on WGBH (Channel 2), with repeats on 44, I think. The "Beat The Press" Friday episode is especially good- a panel of journalists talk about the news media's behavior over the last week. John Carroll(sp?) is a master at amusing introductions. For their end of the year episode (Dec 23, 2005) he did a complete synopsys of the White House/CIA agent leak in the style of "Hollywood Squares", which was hysterical...and very effective. It's currently watchable in quicktime format....look on the left side of the homepage for the link.
Please help metamoderate.
As PJ of Groklaw reported (and as the Boston Globe *retracted*)--Peter Quinn DID have verbal authorization for those trips and was cleared of all wrongdoing.
:)
:-/
I realize you didn't say otherwise, but I just thought it best to point that out, prominently, wherever this information is mentioned
After all, the first Boston Globe article was front page news. The retraction was burried deep in the middle of a section not many would see
In the end, only semolina has a thick skin.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I think that taco could do better than those globe guys, and that says a lot.
Good. An appointed official should not be deciding the only file format that citizens of the state are allowed to use when dealing with the state. The state should use whatever software the majority of their citizens use, and not try and force them to use something else. Public officials do that all the time when they choose Microsoft format. I can't acces the local county government website because it only supports IE.
fscking ignorant fool...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Are we not to attribute the same behavior to those promoting the exclusive use of Microsoft's file formats? Your attempt at discouraging participation by calling it "activism" and "unilateral" suggests that you simply disagree with the recommended change in behavior to adopt open standards (OpenDocument being one of them) for Massachusetts state-issued work.
Digital Citizen
This just can't be?! The BS about him in the news is just the reason for him to stay.
-=[ place
SCALE 4x has invited all .gov IT staff in California at both the state and local levels to attend their ODF Workshop. The workshop is being produced in conjunction with the OpenDocument Fellowship.
The more that sick and ugly shenanigans are brought to light, the greater the likelihood of a peaceful revolution at the ballot box.
The US political system needs an enema at pretty much all levels.
Guys like this CIO, who are trying to do the Right Thing, and meeting evil at every turn, deserve to be write-ins on ballots.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Romney and his administration didn't have a choice but investigate. The Nov. article says the Globe went to the administration and basically said, we've got evidence that this guy broke the rules. They could do two things - say we won't investigate it, which the Globe spins into a story about the future Presidential candidate protecting his own and playing political games, or put their high ranking finance person on the review, at which point the Globe says that Romney is investigating Quinn.
The Globe went after the story and played both angles - they were going to get a story either way. My guess is they could pick anyone in government and do the same thing. They just "happened" to chose Quinn.
Anyone know how much of the NY Times Microsoft owns?
>>ODF is a tool used by MS competitors to try to win marketshare>in the guise of OSS
The guise? Why is ODF only the guise of OSS, and not the real thing?
Well, it wouldn't be the first time that a buyout has proved detrimental to a company's practices and reputation. However, I don't think there can be any serious doubt that this article was instigated by Microsoft, considering the background to the story.
I never thought I'd do this, but... mod parent up!
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
No, the story was not proven wrong. The original article stated that Quinn went to those conferences without filling out the official Travel Authorization Form and by not doing so he is in violation of the state's Travel Guidelines and state regulations. These regulations are in place so that state employees prove that the conferences they are about to go to are real conferences and not wine and dine junkets. The story was very slanted. It could be described as sensationalistic or yellow journalism. The story itself explains how poorly researched it was (why publish to say that he couldn't get in touch with Quinn's boss Eric Kriss rather than waiting for Thanksgiving weekend to be over and actually talking to Kriss.) but I don't think you could point out any particular incorrect fact.
The later article explained how Quinn's new boss requested that he supply the missing paperwork, that it was turned in and that it was determined that all of the conference were legitimate conferences. It didn't retract anything expressed in the original article, but filled in the information after the first story. (saying that Quinn filed the missing paperwork; Kriss said that he knew about all the conferences and had no problem with them; and all the conferences looked legit to the governor's budget chief.
I wouldn't exactly call it "buried". It was on page B1, the front of the City and Regional News section. (stories that are buried start on page B6 or so. )
Now some people will use the fact that Quinn's boss Eric Kriss says that he knew about and verbally approved all of the conferences as if the Travel Authorization paperwork wasn't necessary in the first place, or that since Quinn paid for some of the expenses out of his own pocket that the state has no reason for having any interest in the matter at all. What I don't understand of these points why people feel that Kriss had any authority to override state regulations. (Would Kriss have the authority to tell Quinn he could double park on Beacon Street if he wanted to). The out-of-pocket costs that Quinn absorbed ignore the fact that the travel and conference regulations are anti-influence-peddling regulations, not cost restrictions. The travel form (a one page form, for goodness sakes, not very burdensome for paperwork) simply asks "how much are you paying", "how much does the state need to pay", and "how much is the conference shelling out for you to be here, and are they involved in any current state contracts".
Some of the biggest influence peddling scandals in the state of Massachusetts have come from companies using phony conferences to whisk state officials to exotic locations. They have a duty to find out which conferences are legit in order to protect itself.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I'm sorry, but I don't think you comments are quite accurate. You probably just skimmed my post above, and didn't notice where I already addressed your points.
You said Apparently his boss could give verbal authorizationI wrote The later article explained how Quinn's new boss requested that he supply the missing paperwork, that it was turned in and that it was determined that all of the conference were legitimate conferences. For further supporting evidence, let me point to a quote from the governor's director of communication, as quoted in the second Globe article. "Fehrnstrom, however, said that Administration and Finance Secretary Thomas H. Trimarco had directed Quinn to fill out the needed paperwork for the dozen trips he had taken since last December to comply with a 1995 regulation " From this, I take that Quinn was not in compliance with the regulation until he filled in the paperwork, not that Quinn was never in non-complience.You said Even the Boston Globe printed a retraction I wrote It didn't retract anything expressed in the original article, but filled in the information after the first story The original article did not say that the trips were improper, but just that there was no paperwork and the state was investigating whether they were proper. Since it there was just an implication of wrongdoing and not an explicit statement, the second article stating that no wrongdoing was found was not a retraction. Retractions state where the original article was incorrect, and the second article had no such language. You can take the facts in the second article to mean that the implications in the first article were unfounded, but that still isn't a retraction.
You said some government functionary didn't fill out all their TPS reports I wrote the travel and conference regulations are anti-influence-peddling regulations. Your characterization of the travel authorization form as being similar to the TPS reports joke in Office Space ignores the fact that the travel regulations have a real purpose in government transparency. It also ignores the fact that beyond the Office Space joke a Test Procedure Specification report has an actual purpose and can produce and actual improvement in the product being worked on. (Essentially, if Microsoft QA filled in more TPS reports and the managers actually read and analyzed them, their products wouldn't be the putrid mess that they are.)
You said Nor should the retraction be less prominent than the story itself. I wrote It was on page B1, the front of the City and Regional News section The number of people who would see an article on the front page and below the fold is roughly similar to the number of people who would see the same article on the City and Region news front page.
Yes, the original article was damaging. Today's news confirms it. Yes, it was poor journalism. No one has come to Stephen Kurkjian's defense and explained why he had to rush off a poorly researched article before even talking to Eric Kriss. But when your mischaracterize Kurkjian's article as badly as he mischaracterized Quinn's conference schedule, you are minimizing how damaging the events actually were. (actually your work mischaracterizes them worse, since Kurkjian had the facts right but the innuendo wrong, you don't even have the facts right.) Someone reading the matter and not having a predisposition to one side or the other would see both sides smearing and lying. If you accurately describe Stephen Kurkjian's mistakes, and throw no additional ones into the mix, Kurkjian's errors are all that more apparent.
I would comment, but the NSA is monitoring my posts and Cuba is too damn hot in the summers.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
1) It's just a moniker.
2) Most of the time I "go with the flow" or make lame jokes... but I get fed up when I see crap like this.
The disclosures of an Anonymous Coward mean nothing.
Duh, but the webpage that only opens correctly with IE is a file.
I should have been more liberal with the
's. Plus I left out the last line, which should have been "Forest ... trees."
I don't even know if you are the same person from all four postings or if I'm being ganged up on by four different people. I, on the other hand have hundreds of postings written over a half-dozen years for people to look up and judge me on.
I have a user name that is only a slight variation on my given name, so you can google all sorts of stuff I've written. In postings to slashdot, I've talked about my work. You can tell who I know personally based on references to out-of-band conversations.
The "Post Anonymously" button is sitting there a couple of inches below the comment's text box, I made a conscious choice not to check it so that people could take my comments based on who they know me to be. (or can learn.)
You must be joking.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.