RFP Staff
♦ “Sooner or later if consciences go unanswered, present and former city employees are likely to obtain whistleblower protections. The obvious can’t be hidden for long. The story is already arriving on our doorsteps in large chunks. The outcry that city council stayed too long will grow in intensity.” RFP
Ironically on the Thursday after Salisbury City Manager Doug Paris was “mutually Terminated” and Public Information Officer Elaney Hasselmann “resigned” with no immediate job prospects, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the First Amendment protections of public employee whistleblowers. Public employee whistleblowers are now protected from job retaliation when they are called upon to testify in court about official corruption. All across the United States whistleblower advocates loudly cheered the unanimous Supreme Court decision.
The RFP acknowledges the Supreme Court Decision’s power to encourage more government employees to come out of hiding and cooperate with prosecutors in public corruption and fraud cases. No longer do city employees need to fear retribution and losing their livelihoods.
According to the Supreme Court ruling, testimony is constitutionally protected for citizens speaking on matters of public concern even if the facts were learned on the job. In the dark ages of government employment public employees lacked free-speech rights when they discussed matters learned in their work places. No more.
It is time the money changers were hurled down the “temple” steps and white collar criminals are cleansed from our municipalities.
Know that the Rowan Free Press has always jealously guarded the confidentiality and identities of its local government informants and looks forward to learning from more municipal employees in coming days.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-ruling-protects-whistleblowers-1403190448
