Agent who tracked Iowa governor's speeding SUV fired

[Julian Englis]

Source: USA Today

Former Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Larry Hedlund, the man whose actions sparked a public furor over the speeding habits of the troopers who drive Gov. Terry Branstad, was fired today as the conclusion of a 2 1/2-month internal investigation that Hedlund believes publicly tainted his ability to work in the future as a law enforcement officer.

Hedlund now is planning to sue the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

“I’ve been treated like a criminal,” Hedlund, 55, said during an interview with The Des Moines Register a few hours after he learned he had been fired. “The best analogy I can give you is that they investigated me like I was a murderer, and in the process they murdered my career.”

According to paperwork state officials gave Hedlund today, the 25-year veteran investigator was fired for communicating “negative and disrespectful messages” about DCI leaders in emails to his subordinates, for misusing a state-owned car on April 26, and being “deceptive” about his work status in subsequent conversations with his boss.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/17/iowa-governor-branstad-speeding-agent/2529743/

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I bet you can identify correctly the governor's party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Branstad

[mbperrin]

1. We're a nation of laws, all right.

Until we aren't.

Iowa is the same state where you can be fired for being too pretty.

Looks like you can also get fired for doing your job.

Hmmm.

[FarCenter]

2. 90ish appears to be a standard speed for governors

Corzine's SUV went 91 mph before crash

TRENTON — The sport utility vehicle carrying Gov. Jon Corzine was traveling 91 mph just before it crashed on the Garden State Parkway last week, leaving the governor, who was not wearing a seat belt, critically injured, state police said Tuesday.

State Police Superintendent Col. Joseph "Rick" Fuentes said troopers driving governors have discretion whether to speed or use their lights in emergency situations or to avoid standing traffic for security reasons.

He refused to say whether Corzine's trip from Atlantic City to Princeton for a meeting at the governor's mansion between fired radio personality Don Imus and the Rutgers University women's basketball team constituted an emergency.

Information retrieved from a black box on Corzine's trooper-driven Chevrolet Suburban showed it was going 91 mph five seconds before the crash and 30 mph when it crashed through a guard rail in Galloway, Atlantic County. The speed limit there is 65 mph

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-17-corzine-recovers_N.htm?hiddenMacValue=0&hiddenMacPrintValue=0

Oh, and one reason Corzine's injuries were so severe -- he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

[DWinNJ]

4. And the trooper was texting

After the crash laws about texting and cell use were made more stringent.

[Conium]

5. Going 90 keeps snakes and gawkers at a distance.

But that is Iowa and New Jersey, two of three states* where venomous copperhead snakes are protected. If it was Oklahoma where copperheads are abundant, the speed would be much higher, and you can exterminate any snake you encounter, even pretty little non-poisonous green ones.

*Copperheads are also protected in Massachusetts. I suppose the governor there is a slow-poke too.

[demosincebirth]

3. I guess he doesn't have a union.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. The Whistleblower Protection Program

The Whistleblower Protection Program
http://www.whistleblowers.gov/

I don't know if he's covered. Being (or, having been) in law enforcement might mean he's not an included class. He can find an attorney to advise him on his rights.

OSHA's not kidding around with this, however. There was an officer of a bank in Nashville who found evidence of financial skullduggery. He was fired. He turned to OSHA, and OSHA went to bat for him. Yes, OSHA is there for white collar people too.

Home

OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program enforces the whistleblower provisions of more than twenty whistleblower statutes protecting employees who report violations of various workplace safety, airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health insurance reform, motor vehicle safety, nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime, and securities laws. Rights afforded by these whistleblower acts include, but are not limited to, worker participation in safety and health activities, reporting a work related injury, illness or fatality, or reporting a violation of the statutes.