When Bad Things Happen To Relentless Trolls

Enjoyed coming home to spot the ongoing attempt to discredit my story.  24 hours and counting.

So, I’m gonna do something I rarely do. I’m gonna admit that something I wrote might have been wrong.  In fact, please allow me to share this ‘tip’ from a Troll Tipster:

El Som, Your research and sources are wrong. Ms. Allen was a DOL employee. First in the office of the Secretary, then in the Division of Industrial Affairs-Labor Law Enforcement. And since DOL is mostly federally funded, the JFC cannot do much to help or hurt the department financially.

Very interesting. Since the trolls are seeking to discredit the story’s sources, I’m gonna do something else I rarely do.  I’m going to out the source of the claim that Ms. Allen was not a DOL employee and was merely ‘volunteering’.  In so doing, I will break no confidences and I might even succeed in causing the trolls to take a step back.

Back in 2011, News-Journal reporter Chad Livengood was bird-dogging the alleged skulduggery surrounding DeLuca, his two jobs, his work schedule, and Ms. Allen’s presence at DOL.  In response to questions, someone said that Allen was not working at DOL, but merely ‘volunteering’, That person, that first-hand source, was, wait for it, TONY DELUCA. In the paper.  I found that quote so ridiculous on its face that, in story after story for years, I put the word in quotes. After all, how many volunteers does it take to dump 200 civil rights complaints into the trash? But I never suspected her of actually working and getting a pay check from DOL.  Meaning, for the record, Tony DeLuca and not some secondhand ‘source’ was, in fact, the source, and I admit he fooled me.

I am going to accept the tipster’s claim that my source (DeLuca himself) was wrong at face value, which means he was lying.  He lied about Allen’s employment at DOL.  Why? Hey, if she was working two jobs that were above board, more power to her. Although…her Senate office was in Dover and the DOL Pencader campus was near Newark, hardly a 10-minute jaunt.

Debra Allen was simultaneously working for two different state agencies.  Tony DeLuca publicly said that she wasn’t.  Despite requests, including FOIA requests from the News Journal, neither the Department of Labor nor the State Senate have released any personnel records on either DeLuca or Allen. Tony DeLuca signed off on all Senate timesheets as President Pro Tem, including Allen’s, and either DOL Secretary John McMahon or Tony DeLuca would have signed off on her DOL timesheets. McMahon was in on this as, assuming the tipster is correct, she first worked for the Secretary before being reunited with Tony.  Was she being paid as a full-time employee at either or both jobs?  And was she legitimately working the hours for which she was getting paid?  Or was she being paid twice when she was either only working one place or another?  If either DeLuca or McMahon falsified her timesheets or pay stubs, it means that they, and Ms. Allen, have committed fraud upon the State. John, is it OK for the Acting Secretary to get to the bottom of this, or are you aiding the cover-up?  AG Denn? This smells like fraud to me. Gonna investigate?

And as to DOL being mostly federally-funded, you know one job that isn’t Federally funded? It’s DeLuca’s job. Tom Sharp, Mark Brainard and Ruth Ann Minner shifted the funding around so DeLuca could get the job w/o any Hatch Act issues.

I would like to thank the Tipster for calling my attention to this.  Otherwise, I would have gone along with the theory that she was out there just sharing Tony’s company.  Didn’t know she was screwing the taxpayers as well.

Which reminds me. Save me the sanctimonious bull about outing a staffer.  It appears that this staffer took part in a scheme to defraud the state. She deserves outing.