Pennsylvania
Related: About this forumTomalis's not a ghost employee - just look at his name that we put on a door yesterday.
August 1, 2014
Criticisms have arisen that Corbett's special advisor on education has been earning almost $140K a year plus full benefits, but no one can clearly say what work he has been doing. He didn't have an office or office hours, and the Ed Dept. had trouble finding many reports or emails he had written or meetings he had attended.
"Gov. Tom Corbett today told reporters that Ron Tomalis, his special adviser for higher education, is not a ghost employee at the state Department of Education.
However, it turns out the department did not order a nameplate for his office door until Tuesday, two days after a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story raised questions about how much time the governor's office was requiring Mr. Tomalis to put in on the adviser job he started in July 2013 after stepping down as state education secretary.
On Thursday, Acting Sec. of Education Dumaresq granted an interview to a reporter in Harrisburg in which she pointed to Mr. Tomalis office and the nameplate on his door, just three doors down from hers, and said he put in full days there. It turns out that nameplate was ordered on Tuesday ... and was delivered on Wednesday."
http://wwww.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/08/01/Gov-Corbett-says-Ron-Tomalis-is-not-a-ghost-employee/stories/201408010177#ixzz39YCrIvVv
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Meanwhile, a State legislator is on trial right now in Philadelphia on felony charges that he had a ghost employee on the state payroll - who received a fraction of the pay of Tomalis.
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It would be tempting to laugh at their incompetence - if we didn't have 20,000 teaching positions eliminated in PA. during these Corbett-Turzai-Scarnati years.
Divernan
(15,480 posts)Acting Sec. of Education Dumaresq granted an interview to a reporter in Harrisburg in which she pointed to Mr. Tomalis office and the nameplate on his door, just three doors down from hers, and said he put in full days there. It turns out that nameplate was ordered on Tuesday ... and was delivered on Wednesday."
This is at the level of the excuse notes to Mr. Kotter, signed "Epstein's Mom". Speaking of which, the Epstein's Mom notes are proving popular within the fracking industry as well.
The report, which media accounts dubbed "confusing," was directly funded by the drillers to Penn State. With information provided solely by the drillers, the report carried this amazing disclaimer: Neither the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State nor the Marcellus Shale Coalition, nor any person acting on behalf thereof, makes any warranty or representation, express or implied, with respect to the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of the information contained in the report nor that its use may not infringe privately owned rights, or assumes any liability with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from the use of, any information, apparatus, method or process disclosed in this report.
The coalition did not provide copies of the report at the press conference, but once reporters and others actually got a copy, it didn't take them long to see the holes in the so-called study. Some of the information is just plain wrong. The report says that development costs in the Marcellus are higher than elsewhere, while the drilling companies are telling their shareholders that drilling costs are so low, they can make a good profit even when gas prices are low.
The gas in the Marcellus Shale is more profitable because it is located close to market and half the cost of gas to consumers is the transportation cost. Yet the coalition claims that drillers will leave if Pennsylvania enacts a severance tax or strengthens clean water regulations. But the gas is here and isn't going anywhere, so it is ludicrous to think they would leave Pennsylvania for a minor tax that is charged in nearly every other state with significant deposits.
A true study would have looked at the experience in those other states. Severance taxes have had practically no impact on production in Wyoming or Montana. One study of different severance tax rates in the Intermountain West found there is no evidence that different tax rates led to more or less investment from state to state.
So while the report claims glowing numbers of jobs created and indirect benefits to the drillers' host state, counties, and municipalities, it fails to account for any of the costs - many of which are borne by the citizens.
It does not mention damages to roads and bridges. PennDOT Secretary Allen Biehler said that drillers caused so much damage in Bradford and Tioga counties that roads needed to be closed because the drillers, who are responsible for repair, were unable to keep up with the damage. It does not mention damage to our social compact. Pennsylvania Police Commissioner Colonel Frank E. Pawlowski has reported more state policing costs as drugs, violence, and weapons arrests have increased due to the influx of out-of-state drilling crews, and local police are also having trouble enforcing truck weight limits. And it does not mention the massive impact drilling will have on our streams and drinking water supply, unless the current proposed DEP regulations become law.
There is no doubt that the natural gas lying deep in the Marcellus Shale presents a tremendous opportunity. We can use that cleaner burning natural gas to replace global warming creating petroleum and coal, as we make the transition to fully clean and renewable energy. And there is no doubt that there's a lot of money to be made from drilling. But it shouldn't all go to the multinational companies that are leading the Marcellus Shale coalition (or to campaign coffers).
http://www.pennfuture.org/media_pff_detail.aspx?MediaID=1159
JPZenger
(6,819 posts)"Asked for his work-related correspondence as adviser, the department produced five emails written by Mr. Tomalis -- the first of which was dated Feb. 24, 2014, nine months after he landed the job.
Two of the five emails involved registering for a conference. Two others dealt with an invitation for a department representative to serve on the governing board of an education and business initiative in India; and a fifth email involved a clarification the former secretary sought about the number of higher education institutions in Pennsylvania.
The Education Department withheld two other emails, calling them pre-decisional and exempt from Right-to-Know disclosure. It did not say if Mr. Tomalis wrote them or was the recipient. The department also provided 10 emails that either were addressed to Mr. Tomalis or copied to him from department officials and others, the earliest of which was dated five months into his tenure."
... the Education Department initially offered to make Tomalis and Acting Education Secretary Carol Dumaresq available to answer questions. But later, Mr. Eller added a stipulation that the two would participate only if the agency chose the reporter, a condition the Post-Gazette deemed unacceptable."
http://www.post-gazette.com/frontpage/2014/07/27/Role-remains-ambiguous-for-Tom-Corbett-s-higher-education-adviser-Ron-Tomalis/stories/201407270215#ixzz3AC6ri3dn
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)This Tomalis was at one of the school districts locally and pushing the privatization message. He didn't have a clue when he was challenged. You could tell he didn't like it.
Wonder what the balanced of the dumped were about
Un-effing real
and illegal.