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DC Fires Tech Contractors, Puts Employees On Leave
theodp writes "After Gov. Tim Kaine intervened on his behalf, Vivek Kundra was quietly reinstated to his Federal CIO post on Tuesday after a brief leave following an FBI raid on Kundra's former DC office (Kundra was not implicated). Now, the Washington Post reports that the City of DC plans to fire 23 Technology Office contractors and place 4 employees on leave in the aftermath of the arrests of a Security manager and contractor on bribery charges last week. Another government employee has since been arrested for his role in the scam, and the mayor has promised that the tech office will undergo a 'full and formal review.'"
With a massive scandal like this, if he wasn't involved and didn't know he couldn't have been all that involved with his office.
The irony is that even with all those long-winded procedures, the results almost always fall very short of the goal. If all those double-checks and safeguards fail to actually improve service quality, then logic dictates the safeguards should be eliminated and redesigned from scratch.
If it's not helping, then it's just a waste of resources.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
I do agree with your assessment.
Something was seriously wrong in that office and for Kundra to not be a participant or not even know leaves me wondering why he is still going to hold a position in President Obama's administration. Obama's vetting process sucks to say the least, worse is the pass too many get in the press till the vast right wing conspiracy stirs up enough dust on radio to force the printed press to jump
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
He stole some dress shirts from JC Penney for a total of $134. He was 21 at the time. Youthful and dumb not an extortionist like Blago.
And I don't see how what Kundra did at 21 really makes Obama like Blago either. Or are you suggesting that Obama chose him for his sterling petty thievery skills? Awesome, we should send him to every JC Penney around the world to steal shirts. That will fix the economy.
Not saying we shouldn't hit Obama, but this seems pretty small next to everything else going on. Why smokescreen good questions with stuff like this? The RIAA has some control within the DoJ and you're worried about what Kundra did at 21? Obama needs dissent thrown his way, but can we at least make sure that what we're screaming is really important?
21 is an adult.
So, do you really think an adult who thinks it's OK to steal belongs in government? Because he sure as shit thought laws didn't apply to him when he was 21. What lesson did he learn from that? "Don't steal", or "Don't get caught"? Given the pattern of Kundra's life, my bet is on "Don't get caught".
Age 21: Kundra busted for shoplifting
Age ?: Entire office Kundra led busted for corruption, Kundra "not implicated"
Sure looks like the lesson he learned from that shoplifting conviction was "Don't get caught".
As for why this is important, it looks to be an Obama pattern: incompetence. From putting a tax cheat in charge of the IRS to going through two failed Commerce Secretaries to all but creating international incidents by flubbing receptions with visiting heads of state to making fun of the Special Olympics to having aides say he's "too busy" to deal with international relations, Obama's demonstrating a run of utter incompetence.
And Kundra's another example.
Good God, can you imagine the 500+ "Bush is teh evil!!!!" me-too posts this topic would have generated if Bush had done just ONE of those blunders? Much less ALL of them in a just a few weeks?
I am contracting at a major Canadian bank. The Sr. VP and CIO of the company have no clue that than an AVP has a brother who owns a placement/contracting firm. I am the only guy on that development project who hasn't come from that agency. I am kept around as exihbit A , to be paraded whenever someone begins to get curious about this department's hiring policy. I dont piss off the AVP and my contract gets renewed every six months.
My point is that hiring process is inherently corruptible and dumb. I am glad at least somebody is getting his just desserts.
I wonder is other Slashdotters from Toronto have faced similar situation elsewhere.
Sorry, but DC is a real city and its residents are no more "defective" than in any other place. Since you think local government is so pointless, why don't we just take your city, throw out the mayor, councilmen, etc., and take away your right to vote?