Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Despite what the Gov says, Cindy Hill continues her war against public employees

Why does Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill hate her permanent employees?

Probably because she can't fire them every time her little heart desires.

Hill had some juicy quotes in yesterday's Casper Star-Tribune story, "Wyo. Gov. Mead: At-will employment should be consistent."
“I have SOME permanent employees who are very personally committed and find ALL at-will employees are personally committed to their work,” Hill said.
I have capitalized "some" and "all." I am a permanent state employee. If I saw my agency director saying that only SOME of her employees were "personally committed," I would ponder several things:

1. Thank God that there are laws that protect me from Tea Party extremists such as Cindy Hill.

2. Why do Republicans hate the people who actually do the work?

3. This person is in charge of our public schools?

4. What is my union’s (Wyoming Public Employees Association) position in this tug-of-war between its members and Hill?

Cindy Hill is part of the Republican bid to privatize everything. As we've seen in Wisconsin and Ohio and Florida, Republicans governors and their lackeys are trying to undo every gain made by employees since The Great Depression.

One has to wonder how Wyoming will find and keep “personally committed” employees when right-wing extremists such as Hill are calling the shots.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Michael,

Isn’t Wyoming Public Employees Association (WPEA) an arm of Service Employees International Union (SEIU)?

Some within the SEIU have been identified as being involved in voter intimidation, fraud and a host of other illegal activities on local and federal levels. One fairly recent example is that of Stephen Lerner, now a former SEIU official, who revealed a secret plan to destroy the American economy and redistribute wealth. This sounds extreme to me. Would you agree?

You refer to Superintendent Hill specifically as a “right-wing extremists” simply because she may have spoken at and been supported by some who identify themselves with the TEA Party. Are you also willing to be labeled a “left-wing extremist” because of your union association as an SEIU member?

Thanks for bringing this to my attention,
Marc
Salt & Light Perspective

Scrape said...

Just remember .... Cindy Hill is an "at-will" worker.

Three more years, and then we have the "at-will" authority to can her!

Michael Shay said...

Smith: What's this secret plan to destroy the American economy and redistribute wealth? Are you sure you're not talking about the Koch Brothers?

Michael Shay said...

Notice how wingnuts say "some say this" and "some say that" when they have no proof for anything they say?

WyWatch Watchers said...

Cindy Hill's efforts here are entirely consistent with those of the WyWatch: make all state workers beholden to the whims of a zealot, and conceal the workings of public officials from public scrutiny.

It's important to see Hill's efforts to turn the WDE into a fiefdom in the context of WyWatch's broader political eforts. We have Bob Brechtel (R, Casper) proposing to make emails and other communication between officials and "constituents" (including lobbyists) private, beyond the reach of the public. We have Amy Edmonds' failed attempt to force voters to adhere to a party line, and we have the attempts of Becky Vandeberghe to hijack the next session of the legislature to further her hate group's agenda. To do this, she's coercing her hate group into harassing political party leaders.

This is shameful. No one can look at this and say with any honesty that it's anything other than an attempt to hijack the state and remake it in the image of a single rogue official, one who happens to be a right wing homophobic zealot.

Shame on Cindy Hill, shame on WyWatch and long live the efforts of those who wish to make public administration transparent and beholden to the public, not to the government.

It's a supreme irony that Cindy Hill herself was unemployed by the Cheyenne school system for poor performance. Pity the voters of Wyoming won't have a chance to chuck her out of office the same way.

WyWatch Watchers said...

Note to Cindy: if your intent is to s to make all Department of Education employees beholden to the whims of an official who was herself fired for incompetence, here's a tip: don't piss off the press. You now have the undivided attention not just of the Casper Star Tribune, you've also attracted Forbes magazine to publicize your failures.

Your mandate may be local, but your failures are now national news Cindy.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/09/07/business-us-education-jobs-wyoming_8662735.html

Michael Shay said...

Maybe a national forum is what she seeks.