November 2, 2010
Tuntland
moved the testimony back to the State Auditors Report, which became important
because it resulted in charges being filed against Blunt. The Perfomance Audit Report was completed in
October 2006. It included issues of
morale at WSI.
Long said
the report found there were problems with morale, and that there was a finding
of fear of retaliation within the agency.
He testified that employees feared retaliation at the time of the audit,
and that he personally had such fear.
Long said
Blunt had a saying, "You're either on the bus or you're under the
bus." If you step out of line, you
get run over by the bus.
He said
that people would come to him in capacity in HR, and that he personally
witnessed retaliatory activities in the case of Angela Shabinsky. He said Blunt wanted to purchase iffy things
like alcohol and tobacco, and Shabinsky had to put her own name on the
vouchers. She would go through the chain
of command to complain, but she decided to resign, as she felt she was being
retaliated against for complaining.
Tuntland
asked whether Long observed any retaliation at WSI; he said yes.
He then
asked, "At the time you submitted your request for whistleblower
protection August 20, 2006, did you have independent fear of
retaliation?" Long replied, "I
knew it would happen. It wasn't a fear,
it was going to happen."
Tuntland
established there was an employee morale study following the auditor report
that was done about the time Blunt was charged with a crime. There were concerns about favoritism in that
report; Long testified that Blunt
engaged in favoritism. Long said Blunt
had hired two friends, Sonja Nellie and Tim Hutchings for six figure positions,
with incentives for more income.
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