Buried among the bribery, conspiracy and fraud detailed in the California State Auditor’s “whistleblower” report released last month is the tale of a state employee who had an overwhelming desire to comment on stories published by the Sacramento Bee.

Twenty years ago, he might have driven his coworkers nuts with nonstop chatter. Now, he has the internet.

State Auditor Elaine M. Howle reported that an unidentified employee in the state Department of Education posted 4,900 online comments on Bee stories during a 15-month period. The IT systems analyst was accused of misusing state time and equipment, and also got in hot water for doing work for a third party using state resources on state time.

The employee was consistent. He posted comments on the Bee site 195 of the 208 days he was present at work. He averaged 25 comments a day, peaking at about 70.

The auditor wrote that the Bee had identified the worker as one of its most active contributors. But Bee Managing Editor Tom Negrete told reporter Jon Ortiz that the perp didn’t make the Top 20 list, where each of them averaged 1,000 comments per month.   

That’s not to say the accomplishment wasn’t appreciated. “We’ve spoken to most of those on the Top 20 list, and they are mostly retired folks,” Negrete said, “. . .  so,   impressive to have a day job and still post about 600 comments a month.”

The worker claimed he only commented during lunch and on his break, but technology tripped him up. The auditor knew precisely when he was commenting—had sketched it on a timeline—and noted that the employee spent an entire 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. shift posting. After unsuccessfully claiming that his commenting was job-related, he asserted that, in fact, he had lots of time on his hands because, truth finally be told, he had no job to speak of.

That might not have been a lie.

The man’s supervisor said changes implemented by the federal government had caused the Department of Education to “drastically reduce the employee’s responsibilities,” but implied there also may have been some personal factors. Allegedly, no one wanted to work with the employee on assignments and he tended to blow off assignments he didn’t like.    

Nevertheless, the supervisor disputed the employee’s allegation that he received no new assignments and claimed the worker was kept busy about 80% of the time. 

The auditor’s unhappiness with the techie and the supervisor was compounded when the Education Department only gave him an “informal” talking to rather than take “formal” disciplinary action. She recommended they both be disciplined, and that the worker’s internet access to the Sacramento Bee be curtailed, at least temporarily, until its necessity is ascertained.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

California State Employee Posts Nearly 5,000 Online Comments from Work (by Jon Ortiz, Sacramento Bee)

Investigations of Improper Activities by State Agencies and Employees (California State Auditor) (pdf)

State Auditor’s Whistleblower Report Finds “Bribery, Conspiracy and Fraud” (by Ken Broder, AllGov California)