Saturday, October 05, 2013

I Went to the First Interview Session for the Inspector General Job. By Geniusofdespair

I was alarmed I wasn't offered lunch but that is another story. The lunch looked crappy anyway.

I saw applicants Thomas Raftery, Mary Cagle, and Michael Murawski being interviewed for the job of Inspector General -- I wrote about this yesterday. They are the first 3 of 13. It was decided by the selection committee that no one would recuse themselves from the vote even though some of the people on the selection committee knew some of the applicants pretty well. This didn't particularly bother me until one person on the selection committee said to an applicant "You hit a home run" which to me was totally out of line. I didn't think so at all on that applicant. Now I think they should recuse themselves.

I will not divulge the questions to be asked even though I have a copy of them. The county attorney in attendance deemed it a public meeting and let me say, some of the members doing the interviewing were not happy campers when I asked for the questions and the attorney decided I had a right to them. You could see that "damn public" look in their eyes.

I will also not rat on any of the applicants answers as there are more people to be interviewed. I felt the interviewers made an effort to listen carefully to all 3...better than I was listening.

There were two answers by applicants that rattled me:

One applicant said they would forge relationships and meet with commissioners. ICK on that one. How about arms length? You might be investigating some of them, hopefully, we don't want you to be their friends. No relationships. If someone is going to spill their guts it is not because you are their friend.

The second was the refusal of one not to be negotiable on salary. It was very funny to hear people say that County salaries were pretty high compared to State salaries. The salary issue is particularly funny when you consider the brouhaha that Thomas Raftery's proposed salary increase, to a paultry $165,000, caused in Philly (He makes $130).

Anyway, it was not a totally boring experience. My only advice to the Selection Committee: I want you to hire a pitbull not a bureaucrat.

One thing that did bother me besides the lunch snub, they didn't have a question about the public or talk much about us -- the taxpayers. If they want to forge relationships they should forge them with us, the ones that are tired of being robbed, cheated and misgoverned. Chris Mazzella we will miss you. I have a feeling we will get a bureaucrat afraid to take risks.

Everyone on the committee was reminded that their notes were public records. No, I didn't ask for them but you can.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't want a local candidate. Get someone from out of town. A real cop not a lawyer.

George said...

Mazella was FBI. No lawyers. Get a real investigator.

Anonymous said...

Just too much oversight from the Board of County Commissioners. I say hire George Gretsas city manager of Homestead and friendly with state attorney office and Lynda Bell.

Anonymous said...

I want a pitbull.

Anonymous said...

Someone who is independent and doesn't need the salary... So they can b aggressive.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for going to this and for trying to keep the process honest.

Al Crespo said...

I have written repeatedly about Michael Murawski and how bad he has been at the Ethics Commission. I could easily see him getting the job just to get him out of the ethics commission.

But, he would be an absolute disaster as the Inspector General. I don;t have much time right now to write about him but you can go on my site and look at the archives, and just about every story that I did about the ethics commission involved him.

Anonymous said...

Did Murawski talk about how he brought in a court reporter and interrogated every Ethics Commission staff member under threat of perjury to find out who blew the whistle on the director's illicit relationship with his secretary?

Murawski is not fit to be dogcatcher.

a said...

could you please tell us who are the members of the selection committee?

Anonymous said...

I am glad that G.o.D is starting to see the light when it comes to Miami-Dade salaries which are the highest in the nation. Officials from NJ and PA think $165k is too much to pay an Inspector General but that would be a salary considered too low for a Miami-Dade County department director. Time for an outside salary survey to show just how outrageously high the pay and benefits in the county really are.

Geniusofdespair said...

Members:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/30/3595961/committee-to-review-applications.html

Geniusofdespair said...

I have always thought the brass salaries are too high. I think this job is worth $150 tops.

I don't think the average worker is overpaid.

Geniusofdespair said...

Michael Murawski -- to be fair -- was ordered to conduct the Ethics Commission Staff interrogations he did not initiate it. Let's get our facts straight. We could say the person who required him to do it was out of line.

Anonymous said...

If someone ordered me to conduct an extensive investigation of my coworkers to find the whistle blower who leaked info on the boss' affair, I would hold a press conference and resign in protest. Why didn't we hear Murawski denounce the inappropriate order instead of carrying it out? Where was his backbone? Where was his integrity?

What if Murawski became IG and a commissioner told him not to investigate someone or something? Or what if he was ordered to harass fellow employees without justification like he harassed his coworkers with his under oath interrogations?

Based on Murawski's track record, we know he will do whatever he is told even if it is inappropriate. He lacks integrity and he is not fit to be our Inspector General.

Anonymous said...

any word on results of interviews?