The Cheryl McDonough Recording

Filed in National by on February 13, 2016

In an effort to be as fully transparent as possible, I must inform our readers as to a decision I have taken behind the scenes here. There was a comment posted in one of the Open Threads by Miky59, who is not a frequent commenter as best as I can tell and who is not known to me personally, that featured an audio recording of New Castle County Risk Manager Cheryl McDonough that, needless to say, was not complimentary. The comment was first moderated because we were not sure of the legality of having secret recordings posted when it was obvious that one of the people on the recording was not aware of the recording. Delaware law, as best as I can tell given my brief research on this, is unclear on the legality of recordings where one party is not aware of the recording.

State privacy laws state that all parties must consent to the recording of oral or electronic conversations. Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 1335(a)(4). Section 1335 says it is a class G felony to intercept without the consent of all parties thereto a message by telephone or other means of communication, except as authorized by law. However, under U.S. v. Vespe, 389 F. Supp. 1359 (1975), even under the privacy laws an individual has the right to record their own conversations. Further, under Section 2402 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code, it is “authorized by law” for a person to record a communication where the person is a party to the communication or where one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent, unless the communication is intercepted for the purpose of a criminal act. Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 2402(c)(4).

So, with not knowing how that recording was recorded, and who consented to it, or who was involved in it, we are on questionable ground keeping it posted. Secondly, Cheryl McDonough contacted us herself and alleged that the recording was fabricated from several different “illegal” recordings with the intent to slander her. Now, I don’t know if that is true. But the mere fact that she was raised this defense, coupled with the lack of knowledge of how the recording was made and where it came from, makes it questionable that the recording is authentic or legal. Thus, I am taking it down and anyone reposting it will be moderated.

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Comments (16)

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  1. gigi says:

    Someone named detruther@gmail- emailed the link to a bunch of people yesterday.

  2. I saw the email and listened to the content of the recording. It is definitely a fabricated patchwork considering the hiccups and jumps.

    Someone has too much time on their hands?

    From: “Richie Wilcox” <detruther@gmail.com
    Date: Feb 12, 2016 6:05 PM
    Subject: County Risk Manager Audio
    To:
    Cc:

    guys/gals,

    Can anyone confirm the voice on the tape? Is it authentic (Ncc risk manager’s voice) or a hoax? please reply back as soon as you can

  3. Jason33 says:

    That it is edited doesn’t mean that it isn’t NCC’s risk manager.

  4. No one is denying that is who was recorded. And there is also no doubt who recorded it.

  5. Anonynony says:

    I saw it on twitter. that woman sounds like real trash.

  6. meltzrock says:

    Gordon gave her even more control this week. Now the benefits dept will also report to her. People have ba’s and masters degrees in NCC and now have to report to people who barely finished high school and have no clue what they’re doing. I guess the moral of the story is -kids, stay out of school and go work for gordon’s campaign.

    From: Mullaney Sr., Timothy
    Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2016 10:37 AM
    To: All NCC Employees
    Subject: Management Realignment

    To all:

    In the last several weeks the County Executive and I have been reviewing our various departments and how they interact within government and with the public. This is an ongoing process and will take some time. At the present time there are two areas that we want to address. First, I have tasked Risk Management Director Cheryl McDonough with overseeing Health Benefits, which includes:

    1. Health/Pharmacy monthly management of cost,
    2. Heath/Pharmacy claims issues,
    3. Open Enrollment,
    4. Benefit Contracts, and
    5. Working with the broker and the carriers on plan designs, cost of care meetings and ACA compliance.

    These endeavors will entail the HR and Risk Management components of County Government to work closely to see that the core functions are handled in a timely and professional manner. This is only a temporary measure. An outside vendor will be contracted to look at the HR function and its interaction with Risk Management to develop best practices and work flow evaluation.

    Secondly, we are moving the IT function from Administrative Services to the Chief of Staff, effective immediately. This is to ensure that all departments are utilized in a manner that is beneficial to the County. IT just seems to fit better under the Chief of Staff than under Administrative Services, which allows Administrative Services to deal with those financial functions particular to that department.

    Timothy P. Mullaney Sr.
    Chief Administrative Officer
    New Castle County
    87 Reads Way
    New Castle, De 19720
    302-395-5104

  7. Jake says:

    Ha ha ha
    I wonder who is writing all of this???
    Hmmm maybe somebody who got fired???

  8. Jake says:

    Of the people being called out.. Does the person calling them out have a criminal record .. Just asking

  9. Jake says:

    Anybody who records friends is trash. Two party consent means both sides of the conversation. Don’t think you can edit the conversation to make yourself look good

  10. Geezer says:

    Got a lot to say there, eh, Jake?

    Off-the-books chains of command and constant backbiting are Gordon administration hallmarks.

  11. not2special says:

    The employees haven’t gotten raises in 10 YEARS. She got at least 4 raises in the last 3 years and got her son a job at the county too. These people just want to take every last drop for themselves.

  12. Jason330 says:

    The “risk” that the Gordon administration appears to be “managing” is the risk that someone will confuse them with grown ups.

  13. mouse says:

    No raise for 10 years. I bet there’s great morale in that group

  14. Geezer says:

    How broke does one have to be to accept a job in that madhouse?

  15. mediawatch says:

    Geez,
    You know the answer … If you’re the unemployed/underemployed kin of a Gordon aide, you can be broke enough to take a job at a considerable hike in pay and know you’ll be significantly ahead even if you don’t get a raise for a couple of years … or you can be a low-paid or recently bought-out member of the news media to whom a government salary looks like c-level pay in the private sector.

  16. flowergirl1 says:

    County employees call her “Sherry without the brain.” Having listened to that tape, I can see why.