Records show Democrats rejected for jobs

[CATagious]

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R.) is in hot water for illegal hiring practices. They have been hiring people based on party loyalty rather than merit. They even rejected someone for having Democratic bumper stickers!


http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/11988261.htm

FRANKFORT - Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration investigated some applicants for merit jobs to determine their political loyalty, then acted against Democrats, according to internal rec-ords filed in court Friday.

In one case, an applicant had Democratic bumper stickers, which was noted next to his name on a list of job seekers. In another, Fletcher aides dropped the recommended candidate for a job when they uncovered his donations to the campaigns of Democratic Gov. Paul Patton and Ben Chandler, the Democrat who lost to Fletcher in 2003.

"From the very beginning of this administration, they have used party loyalty and campaign donations as criteria for state employment, and unfortunately, this is simply more evidence," said Charles Wells, executive director of the Kentucky Association of State Employees.

Attorney General Greg Stumbo is investigating reports that the Fletcher administration makes decisions about whom to hire for merit jobs based on politics rather than qualifications, which would be illegal.

[niceypoo]

1. Welcome to the future........

of America

[indepat]

2. A microcosm of what's mostly likely to happen across the far reaches of

the borders.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. My 80 year old neighbor told me people who were not in the Nazi

party could not get work in Germany...but whatver you do never EVER make that comparison :eyes:

[Beetwasher]

5. And That Happened BEFORE they Murdered Millions

Go figure. Nope, can't make comparisons or draw parallels until they've murdered millions. :eyes:

[rooboy]

6. I think using the Ba'ath Party in Iraq as a comparison will suffice. n/t

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. Oh, really? Based on the evidence provided by____ ??

[bahrbearian]

14. My government told me

[mom cat]

39. Of course I would never make THAT comparison! It's not nice to

tell the truth!:sarcasm:

[GarySeven]

4. State family services will soon start taking children away ...

from Democrats due to their "liberal" - that is deviant - beliefs.

Democrats will be denied jobs once their beliefs are criminalized, or forced to have therapy to "cure" them.

[Iris]

25. uh-oh. I wonder if they'll start sterilizing and institutionalizing

"promiscuous women" - for their own good, of course.

[GarySeven]

29. women who have had abortions ...

will certainly be prosecuted for murder.

[Iris]

35. yep. And then sterilized. Or worse.

There was a sort of Handmaid's Tale short story on Salon a while back and the premise was any woman in the future who dared have an abortion was sentenced to bearing child after child for the rest of her childbearing years.

[alfredo]

33. They were firing people for tattoos, even if they had them

when they were hired. They fired common laborers for having their shirt tails out, even in 90 + degree weather.

[JohnnyBoots]

7. I think this has been going on for years, both

my parents had to register as GOP just to get a job to teach in the school district they do and that was 20+ years ago. Both are hardcore Democrats too, my pop's head of the Teacher's union and takes a Dean like approach to Repub the has to deal with, yet they are still registered as GOP just to get the job they wanted way back when. The wierd thing is they teach in a porr black suburb of Philly, yet again showing how people vote against thier own interests due to spin.

[genieroze]

32. Don't ya know the schools are filled with liberal democrats. /sarcasm

[DBoon]

8. These are only the ones stupid enough to get caught

I bet this will start happening to contractors as well.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

9. Help me out, here...

Hasn't Ernie Fletcher been in office for only a year? And didn't he run against the corruption of his predecessor? Pretty ironic...

[faithnotgreed]

10. exactly whats been happening with lobbysists since bush took office

the k street project
only republicans and all democrats have been fired long ago

elizabeth drew wrote about this recently in the nyt magazine

its a stranglehold all through washington let alone the rest of the country

[dArKeR]

12. Covenant Transport of Chattanooga -"It's a child It's not a choice"

Soon all corporations will require your Baptist ID Card before you can apply for a job.

Covenant Transport of Chattanooga, Tennessee
423-821-1212 has on the back of their trucks
“It’s not a choice
It’s a child”

This is a trucking company with owner operators and their

Soon all corporations in America will be managed/owned by religious fascists! Soon you will have to be a born again Christian to get a job!

http://www.covenanttransport.com /

"We encourage drivers to speak their minds, and we listen to what they say. Covenant has created several programs from the ideas of driver’s just like you."
http://www.covenanttransport.com/difference.html

Seems drivers have no choice because this religious statement is branded next to their corporate logo.

It's a big task but moral, honest, us people should have a quick access easy to use "Boycott the Corporate Fascist Website" lists.

[gratuitous]

13. Yeah, I've seen the Covenant trucks

But as odious as I might find their religious litmus tests for employment, a trucker can always go to Digby or Yellow or one of dozens of other transport companies.

What does a Kentuckian do if the state declines to provide services or excludes his voice from the public process because he doesn't have the proper beliefs?

[xchrom]

15. and to think -- some people

don't think the civil war has started{a while ago actually}.

quick call out the moderates so they can nod sagely over double speak and do nothing together.

[Judi Lynn]

16. I hope the spotlight on their illegal maneuvering will cost these creeps.

It will be a crime if the media will choose to give them a pass, as accorded _{George W. Bush} at every turn.

Obviously Republicans aren't too afraid to go for broke now that the public has lost its watchdog! What's to stop them?



The Gov. is the mutant on the left.

[Sparkly]

17. Something similar happened in Maryland

Governor Ehrlich's office purged Democrats from state offices. It was carried out by a jerk who also spread rumors that Baltimor mayor O'Malley was having affairs (I forgot the jerk's name). In response, the governor's office decreed that nobody working there was allowed to talk to the Baltimore Sun anymore, who'd been reporting the truth about it all!!

[kevinmc]

18. GOP Ba'athist, Saddam did the same thing. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Maryland's Gov Ehrlich has done the same thing

[Triana]

20. EVERY corporation/company does this too...

...if they so choose. What they DON'T do is 'note' this anywhere in writing, phone calls, or email (dumb mistake 'cause they get caught). They use unrelated 'keywords' or phrases to relay the person's undesirability for hire. I've HEARD them talking about this. I WISH I'd had a recorder with me but I didn't. You'll NEVER see it written, spoken on a phone, or in an email but they have their wiley ways of 'screening' women, minority, or Democratic applicants out no matter how qualified. They do this to contractors and 'permenant' job applicants.

It's even more widespread now that we have a regime at the fed level that does this too (how many scientists has bu$h shitcanned because their scientific findings didn't match his 'ideology'?), and which condones such discrimination at the corprat level in the private sector. bu$hco is more than happy to just turn their heads the other way while corprat AmeriKKKa discriminates. Who's gonna stop them?

DID YOU KNOW that in some states (maybe all of them) your voter registration data is PUBLIC information? You can often go to your local BOE website and look up someone's name and county / city they live in and find out their political affiliation if they've voted in the past several years?

EMPLOYERS USE this information. Of course they don't do it blatantly but they DO use it. THIS is why I register as Independent rather than Democrat, while steadily voting Democratic (that doesn't show up on the record, only my party affiliation shows).

This way, if anyone is looking up my information, they will have a tough time determining my exact political affiliation or whether I'm more conservative, liberal, or someplace in-between, because I'm registered as an 'Independent'.

As a woman, I still get told that a job whose salary range is up to $75K only pays $35K (for ME, anyway), or that a desk job or desktop support job "requires a lot of travel". These are meant to discourage me from wanting the job. A male will get the mid-range salary (for this one, it was $50 - $65K), and he won't get the "a lot of travel" spiel. I know because the male who also applied for this job is a friend. What they told HIM and what they told ME about the position were TWO VERY DIFFERENT things.

You have NO IDEA the tricks these rats use when it comes to hiring Democrats and minorities. It's worse than you might think.

[bvar22]

21. Building the "One Party State"!

This attitude combines with "HomeLand Security" will make it MUCH easier for the Conservatives to build their One Party Fascist State.

National ID requirements combined with the Total Information Awareness Computer database will provide the One Party people everything they need.

If YOU think YOU have nothing to hide, consider this:

*Wonder why YOU didn't get that government job?

*Wonder why YOUR company didn't get that government contract even though YOU were the low bidder?

*Wonder why YOUR child was denied admission to the University even though his/her grades were ABOVE the cut line?

*Wonder why your child was denied financial assistance?

*Wonder why YOU were denied that bank loan?

*Wonder why YOU were denied that zoning permit?

*Wonder why YOU are frequently audited.

*Wonder why you were refused the mortgage on that new house in the exclusive new subdivision?

*Wonder why you LOST that sure thing lawsuit?

*Wonder why YOUR child received a disproportionately LONG prison sentence when others get probation for the SAME offense?

*Wonder why YOU are taken to the Police Station and held overnight when your neighbors are merely ticketed for the same Minor traffic offense?


The above and more will be coming to YOUR neighborhood courtesy of the Republicans!

[lovuian]

22. We are back in the days of Andrew Jackson

He inundated the governmnent with his followers!!!
Corruption at its worst!!!

But heres the deal

the joke is there are probably people in the company who are listed republican but vote democrat every time!!!



Even in a Depression
Republicans didn't have jobs and had to get welfare and when your starving things change...

[Iowa]

23. Sounds like it's time for states with Dem governors

to start cleaning house. Better yet, just split into two countries and be done with it - shed all the dumb-asses and build a decent country without their continual interference. Once the borders slam shut we'll see how the fundies like their brave new world without the rest of us to protect them from the full brunt of unbridled fascism. After a short time we could join the rest of the world and attack them, occupy their country, and throw their leaders into prison without charges. They'd welcome us as liberators. Then we could all get on with our lives.

[Straight Shooter]

24. Nothing new. I was denied a plum job years ago for not being a Repub

When one of the people who had recommended me highly for the job learned I would not be considered, he took me aside and said, quote: "I'm sorry, the judge is a Republican and he wants a Republican court reporter."

I said, "You're kidding!"

And he said, "No, I wish I were."

That incident gave me my first real whiff of Republican stink.

edit: I was never asked my political affiliation; they had to have looked at my voter registration records. :(

[Triana]

27. YEP...

..that's what they did, undoubtedly. This is one reason I think this should NOT be public info. It's happened to me, too.

[Bonescrat]

26. A nameless close relative of mine...

was forced to register repug to get a particular job. This was earlier in 2005. He is and always will (at least ideologically) be a very liberal democrat. For now he is also RINO.

[stevans_41902]

30. Wow, I had no clue your voter registration info was on the web.

I found the website governmentrecords.com and it said that it is legal to give personal voter info in every state but Arizona. The only thing is this website cost $11 and I want to know if there are other websites where people could access my info for free. I live in Douglas County Kansas and I looked up my voter registration info on the county website and it listed my Senators, Reps, my voting site, etc, but it did not list my party affiliation. This is total bs that a company can look to see if you are a Dem and choose not to hire you (i'm sure lots would do it, even for the fee.)

[DS9Voy]

41. There is a VERY good reason voter info is public

it prevents voting fraud by allowing the PUBLIC to check the rolls and see who voted and compare it to who actually can vote.

Otherwise you have dead people voting repub.

[Triana]

46. It's wide open in my state..

...anyone can get the info on the web - for free from the State BOE website. And companies DO use it - either during the hiring process - or after they've hired you, when you're the first laid off for 'some other' reason.

[cap]

49. Note: there is no address for government records.com and

no human being attached to this web site.

[zinndependence]

28. unfortunately, I learned the hard way

Silly me, I thought "students (and teachers) do not shed their Constitutional rights at the school-house gate." I am a high school teacher who was recently laid off...most likely because of my political beliefs. I wouldn't consider myself a "radical" however my Principal labeled me as such....I was one of two teachers selected for lay-off due to "declining enrollment in the school district." Interestingly, the two teachers, of which I am included, are considered the district "liberals." We founded a Diversity Group and a GSA in the high school. And...we infuse multiculturalism into our courses. (I taught US History, Social Psychology and Poli Sci..the other teacher was an Art teacher.)

The district I taught in has been the subject of much controversy the past five-six years. Most of the controversy stemming from homophobia, racism and sexism. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when they threw my ass out the door!

[napi21]

31. Hasn't this always been the case? WAY back in 1965, a

fellow I was dating got a job as asst. DA in Pgh. However, he was always very worried when election time came around. He said if the leadership came from a different partyk he'd be out of a job.

[depakid]

34. I have mixed feelings on this

It's probably a violation of civil service laws to do this in government (though with a state like Kentucky- you never know)- but in the private sector, I know that I would never knowingly hire a Republican.

The logic as to why should be obvious- either they're too stupid to know what Republican policies are (and one doesn't want stupid employees) or they agree with them- in which case it also presents a serious character issue with respect to honesty and integrity.

[Roland99]

36. You can follow the story as it began in the Kentucky forum

Feckless Fletcher.


What a great state I live in.


:sarcasm:

[symbolman]

37. I'm sorry, but if you don't get your church card punched..

then you can't buy groceries or use your food stamps.. it's coming..

Here's a solution: Just like the pharmacy guys that refuse to hand over the PILL due to his convictions..

Liberal doctors might want to say to a Fundie that comes in with cancer, "Well, according to your beliefs Science doesn't come into play - so in order to accomodate your needs I will only be able to "bleed" you and apply leeches..

you might want to go home and Pray.. REAL HARD.."

[Fuzz]

38. Could you imagine the uproar from the right wing media if the party labels

were reversed?

[Doctor_J]

40. Warning labels on gays, hiring on party affiliation - are they Nazis yet?

man, it's getting scary around here.

[davsand]

42. Hold the phone, buckaroo--Illinois has had this going forever!

You gotta be joking--right? Of course they hire based on your political party and your record of service to the party. THAT has been the way of life here in Illinois since dirt was young. I am simply AMAZED that you guys are acting like this is some big shock.

Come ON--we had Big Dick Daley, and now Little Dick. In Chicago if you ain't registered Dem you AIN'T working for the government. On paper, the Secretaries in the state don't change when a new Governor comes in, but most of the Administrative staff does. THAT is just the reality of life in Illinois.

Part of the problem with Blagojevich (the Dem Gov who is most likely facing a primary challenge for 06) is the fact that he has not made enough Dem hires to keep the party faithful in line. They're all pissed that he didn't fire the GOP hires and replace them with Dems.


Laura

[alfredo]

43. A good pre election quote by Ernie Fletcher.

" When I talk about cleaning up the mess in Frankfort, I’m talking about changing the culture that’s developed over the years – “paybacks for political insiders.” The Fletcher administration will eliminate the worn-out politics of a bygone era. Other states have moved into the 21st century, but Kentucky is still in an old patronage system – paybacks that benefit a few instead of the entire state. That’s why Kentucky still remains the eighth poorest state in the nation." Ernie Fletcher, soon to be an ex governor of Ky.


I couldn't find a good picture of Ernie, so I found one that is similar. I guess this must have been taken at a blessing of the animals or some event like that.

[BiggJawn]

44. This is news?

Guess you folks don't know how Governemnt employees get hired in Government, do you?

NYC, Chicago, and shoot, even Indianapolis. You work for the party, you get special consideration and preference for jobs.

My job was considered "non-political" only because there was only ONE of my departments, we had primarily "internal" custonmers and we served both parties equally.

[Triana]

47. Happens in the private sector too...

...not just in gov't hiring. Not that corprats and the gov't aren't all cozy in bed with each other in our little plutocracy but you know what I mean.

[UrbScotty]

45. I'm SHOCKED!

:sarcasm:

:mad:

[Erika]

48. Republican governors care nothing about qualifications,

as long as they donate Republican. Republicans don't want free thinkers or contrary decisions. Just like W.

[LightningFlash]

50. Amazing....

Total discrimination in the environment today. Fascism is repulsive.

[loudsue]

51. This has been happening since 1995 in many industries....

ever since the Newt Gingrich "Contract On America" took over. It's enoug to make you :puke:

As an independent contractor trying to get work, I've seen it time and time again.

:kick::kick::kick: