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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."
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)
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.
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".
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
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.
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.
>>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?