Wisconsin: Blogger suspended 10 days for political work

[Scuba]

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/124102444.html

<snip>

Lefty blogger Chris Liebenthal was suspended for 10 days without pay earlier this year for using his county computer for personal purposes, recently obtained records show. The suspension cost Liebenthal - a social worker and official with the county employees union - $2,051 in county pay, said Mark Stein, an interim DHHS administrator.

Liebenthal became the target of allies of then-County Executive Scott Walker, now the governor, after a Walker aide resigned for doing political activity during work hours. Citizens for Responsible Government, a pro-Walker outfit, urged investigators to decide whether Liebenthal, a county worker, had been using his taxpayer-funded computer to post on any of his various blogs.

Earlier this year, Lyday concluded that Liebenthal — who goes by the name Capper in his anti-Walker blogs — had broken two rules, one for wasting time at work and the other for doing personal activities during the work day. The original recommendation was for a 15-day suspension.

Liebenthal’s lawyer, Michael Maistelman, had no comment. Incidentally, Maistelman also represents the Walker aide, Tim Russell, at the center of an ongoing John Doe investigation into possible political activity by county staffers. The Walker aide who resigned for doing political work on county time, Darlene Wink, is also caught up in that criminal probe.

<end snip>


Interesting how a left-wing blogger misconduct gets top billing while a right-wing criminal probe is an afterthought.

[PeaceNikki]

1. Well there was this...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/11/965822/-Walker-supporter-charged:2-felonies-for-violating-campaign-finance-laws

[Scuba]

2. I remember that! Thanks for prompting these old brain cells.

[monmouth]

3. Would this be considered payback? Seems pretty harsh punishment..n/t

[SoCalDem]

4. "...wasting time at work and the other for doing personal activities during the work day..."

He's lucky he was not fired..and I hope he's scouting around for a new job.. The handwriting is on the wall and he will be watched mercilessly from here on in.. They will be looking for a way to fire him..

The suspension was a warning shot across the bow..

[tammywammy]

5. Yeah, I could get fired for that type of stuff under our corporate

"personal use of corporate assets" policy.

All internet activity is recorded and if there's a complaint or suspicion about my usage they can audit what I've done during the work day.

[SoCalDem]

6. I cannot understand why people keep doing this stuff

laptops are cheap and small these days, and if you simply cannot make it through the day without your tweety or faceyface. just bring your own damned wifi laptop and tweet away on breaks or at lunchtime,,:rofl:

[PeaceNikki]

8. Smartphones also have all of that tweetyface stuff now, too.

And using your company's WiFi even on your own laptop requires you adhere to their network policies. Most web surf control software will monitor all traffic on their network. Use your smartphone and your 3 or 4G connection.

[tammywammy]

9. For security purposes, I cannot bring in a laptop to work

But I can use my iPhone. Also the only time I do non-work internet, maybe look at the news or whatnot, it's during my lunch break. I have actually heard of people getting fired or "retiring" due to excessive internet usage that wasn't work related, and I know of at least 1 person that was sent to HR over it (1.3 hrs of personal internet usage a day - i.e. 10 minutes an hour during a 10 hour work day. That person is still waiting to hear if he's going to be fired or penalized (time off without pay).

I've also heard of audits by the government where they'll just walk around and see what people are doing, so you don't want to be caught standing around chit-chatting with someone when it's not work related.

[MrScorpio]

7. That's why it's important to cover ones own ass in these matters

He should've never left himself exposed by blogging on government time.

The fuckers will get you anyway that they can.

[tammywammy]

10. From the comments after the article

It appears that he may not have been blogging, but visiting blogs/news sites. Visiting non-work sites would be a valid complaint if he was doing personal stuff for an excessive amount of time.

[MrScorpio]

11. Even that is an open invitation for scrutiny by the people who were out to get him

He was being paid to work while he's on the job.

Simply looking at non-work news and blog sites from time to time wouldn't matter if he wasn't susceptible to being targeted by Walker and his asshole cronies…

But he should have known to cover all of his bases when he decided to take Walker on.