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| WSRP Chair Luke Esser |
There’s a press release on domestic violence up on Attorney General Rob McKenna’s web site that isn’t all that interesting in itself until you scroll down to the bottom and read the contact information: “Luke Esser, AG Outreach Director.”
Um… exactly how long is Washington State Republican Party Chair Luke Esser going to continue to collect a state paycheck while also being on the payroll of the state GOP? How long does it take to finish up his existing business in the AG’s office, and how hard would it be for the office to temporarily function without an Outreach Director? I mean, either way he reports directly to McKenna, so I’m pretty sure McKenna could still get his job done while only paying Esser once.
And doesn’t Esser’s double-dipping — a state party chair also receiving a state paycheck — raise the eenciest bit of concern?
I dunno. Just askin’.
My aren’t you clever Goldstien. You found an unflattering picure of Luke Esser.
Speaking of Publican crooks. Here’s number 1,223,124.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16738866/from/RS.3/
Drudge routinely does the same to Hillary. Isn’t HE clever? zzzzzzz.
Back to topic: What the hell is a paid state party chair – democratic or republican – doing drawing a salary from the AG’s office?
For chrissakes.
Why do so many repug trolls think this is the “We love the GOP” website?
The issue goes far past double dipping. This ongoing use of the attorney generals office and a state salary to pay the GOP chair as he pumps out the GOP message is against the law. Yet the press will not ask even one question or so much as speak of the subject. Just how bankrupt is local media that it can dodge such an issue for so long and haw far will they let Esser push them?
Now, Right, we used to complain when the Republicans would trot out an investigation and show that as proof that all Democrats were corrupt. We would say that we should wait until someone at least filed charges.
Of course, in those cases, most of them were just baseless allegations made by some administration flunky, never to be heard again, except on some list put out on a neo-con blog.
We should extend the same standards to them and not convict the man even before charges are filed.
You can issue him his ORC (Official Republican Crook) number once he’s convicted.
Corrupt Nevada Republicans? I’m shocked. Shocked, I say!
Take a moment and give luke a call (Luke Esser 206 389-2541) and let him know what you think of this scam.
More to the topic, our State AG has used his position to promote a rather right-wing agenda, but I had hope that he would manage to put partisanship aside at least long enough to follow the law. He is the State’s leading law enforcement official, after all.
My understanding from an earlier thread is that it is against state law for Mr. McKenna to keep Mr. Esser on the payroll while Mr. Esser is working for a political party. There is certainly an appearance of impropriety here.
One last tidbit. This certainly seems inappropriate (at best) but before we go calling for the heads of either Mr. McKenna or Mr. Esser, let’s make sure we haven’t done the same thing ourselves. It wouldn’t make the current situation right, but if we’ve been guilty too, we should acknowledge it and find a way to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
(Oh, and as for the picture. I thought this was the picture Mr. Drudge uses for Hillary.)
Thanks, John.
I’ve just sprayed Diet Coke all over my keyboard and screen.
“let’s make sure we haven’t done the same thing ourselves”
OK I’ll bite. What the heck are your talking about?
The greedy old party is the first political party to scam the state in this way.
Just holding a 2nd full time job, ANY OTHER full time job while drawing a full time state salary is grounds for the agency failing employment practices in a state audit. Can someone moonlight? Yes. if the 2nd job does not interfere or conflict with the state job. But this situation involves two demanding full time day jobs one as a communicator for a state agency and the other as a mouthpiece for the GOP. Even before we get to the ethics laws, this situation fails both tests.
From a standpoint of ethics laws even if Luke takes a cell phone call on his GOP line while sitting in his state office he vialates the intent of the law. A rare exception might be too fine a point to pick, but by now we are talking about hundreds of calls and days of state paid time. When Luke jots down a note on an AG pad with an AG pen, this breaks the law. If he walks down the hall between GOP phone calls to take a shit on the state paid pot, thats an illegal shit. Bag it as evidence.
Seriously though, WHEN WILL ROB MCKENNA AND HIS BOY TOOL LUKE PUT AN END TO THIS SCAM?
You’re welcome, Laurence. I prefer the Diet Coke myself, as it doesn’t get my keyboard as sticky.
The Attorney General’s Office tends to be very anal when it comes to ensuring that taxpayer funds are not used for unappropriated purposes. For instance, though law offices tend to routinely provide coffee for all parties involved in a deposition, that is not so with depositions in an office staffed by AG employees. Coffee costs money, and giving it out free to people constitutes an unauthorized gifting of state property. How Esser’s continued employment does not run afoul of similar considerations is hard to grasp.
Particle Man:
“let’s make sure we haven’t done the same thing ourselves” refers to the fact that we (by that, I mean “people” not just “Democrats” or Republicans” often find fault in others when we have done similar things ourselves.
That old “speck in my neighbor’s eye” thing.
I really haven’t kept track of whether we Democrats have ever had party officials that also had jobs on the government payroll.
Maybe we haven’t. But, before we start doing anything beyond calmly advising that we see a conflict here, let’s make sure that there isn’t a log sticking out of our eye.
That’s all I’m saying.
you know me – the republican cheat that I am. I also lie and steal when I’m not being a family man (fat whore bitch shut up) or a crying hypocrite. Hail Hitler
Why pick on the poor Lukester? Aren’t we used to the blatant corruption yet?
John no reason to wait. If a person is a Publican – they’re a crook. Period. The sooner you realize that, the sooner we’ll complete our utter domination of the political landscape.
And I see no reason whatsoever not to hold the Publicans to the same standard they held us.
SO FUCK THIS ASSHOLE AND ALL OTHER PUBLICAN ASSHOLE CROOKS!
PBJ@1
I don’t know this Esser guy, but that’s not how you spell “Goldstine”.
I can’t believe you are all so dim as to not do a simple search: Esser resigned his job with the AG as soon as he was elected to the Republican Chair job. But don’t let facts get in your way.
http://www.columbian.com/news/.....100327.cfm
Wow, the discussion here sure ended abruptly. I guess it would be asking too much to have you all apologize for the rude accusations you made. Yes, including Goldy. Kind of wreaks havoc on the credibility.
re 19: So, you take this as proof that he quit? You are nuts.
http://www.columbian.com/news/.....100327.cfm
“He leaves an $85,000 a year salary as McKenna’s public outreach director. The party job pays as much as $95,000, but he has to raise the money.”
The same statement is in multiple newspapers. I can’t believe that every one of them is as careless in fact finding as Goldy.
Harry – what proof do you have that Esser is still on the payroll? Seems to me the burden of proof is on you guys, since you seem to believe that there is giant conspiracy to conceal double dipping.
Hey, Goldy,
David Postman took you to task yesterday for stretching things in a piece about the Times. I think your guilty here of the same thing. Have you bothered to call the AG’s office to find out when Esser’s last day on the old job is?
I suspect he gave notice and as a courtesy gave a few weeks notice.
End of story.
I posted two hours ago, and so far no comment from the intrepid reporter that is Goldy. Either back up your accusation with some kind of evidence, or post a retraction. That’s what an honorable person would do.
Of course, what is found on the internet is your spurious accusation, not the truth. Way to go – years from now Esser will run for office, and someone will do a search and find your ridiculous charges, and print them as truth. Same thing is happening with the Lacrosse team at Duke. Maybe if you weren’t so predisposed to believe a certain line of thinking, you wouldn’t fall into the trap. And you wouldn’t smear a good person.
Hi, Janet.
As this is getting to be a rather old thread, It’s probable that Goldy has simply not seen your post. “The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on”
Still, let me see what I can do.
There is an official AG release, dated February 08, 2007, that lists Mr. Esser as “Outreach Director”, a position I cannot find on the organization chart for the AG’s office. As Mr. Esser was elected to his GOP position back in January, you can see how people might want some sort of answer.
Is it possible that the AG’s office is just very sloppy about its paperwork, issuing press releases without checking the information on them? Sure. Although that worries me somewhat, I will also be the first to admit that he won’t be the first Washington AG that was sloppy with paperwork. (While I think she has grown considerably in the job, I was not a big fan of Governor Gregoire.)
Is Mr. Esser owed some sort of apology? Well, if the AG’s office is issuing press releases that indicate he is drawing a state paycheck in possible violation of the law when he has, in fact, resigned, then I agree he is owed an apology.
I wonder when Mr. McKenna will issue it?
As I understand Goldy’s post, he went to the website and saw a press release. He didn’t state the date of it. So it is possible that it was released before Esser resigned, and Goldy is just a HA.
Thanks for the hint – I’ll be glad to go post on a more current thread.
janet you ignorant slut. Esser has remained on the state payroll. Since I called you a slut, it’s OK if you don’t apologize.
Well, Janet, there is a link to it in the piece that Goldy wrote. Mouse over the words “press release” in the first sentence of the main story.
Janet…I agree!
You ARE an ignorant slut.
Maybe in right-wing-wacko land February 8th IS before January 17th…but in the rest of the world it’s not.
Double-dip Luke needs an orange KC jumpsuit!
Based upon a post over on NWPI, Luke worked his last full day on tuesday of this week. The post does not say he is off the state payroll, only that he worked his last full day. If true, thats two weeks that he was doing the state GOP job while being paid by taxpayers. What a slimeball.
@1 That’s nothing, I found an unflattering picture of you. http://heatherbbw.com/
@4 Because they’re stupid?
@25 You Republicans are famous for truth telling?
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
Have you checked the paychecks? What evidence do you have that Esser collected two checks, one from the AG’s office and one for the Republican party? Have you ever heard of making a transition from one job to another? You guys really need to find something else to occupy your time than sliming reasonable people.
Janet, please. Remember where you are posting. As far as sliming Republicans goes, this has been a pretty tame thread.
He was elected, and has been acting as the head of the Washington GOP since January.
He was listed as the point of contact, complete with a job title that appears nowhere on the AG’s office organizational chart (on his website) in February.
If the parties had been reversed, this would be a featured, headlined, daily story over at unSP in Mr. Sharkansky’s “Sewer of Corruption” series. (Just because I don’t post there anymore doesn’t mean I don’t look in from time to time.)
Good grief, Janet. Look at the fuss you Republicans made over a raffled dinner at the Executive Mansion. We’re talking about the head of the state GOP drawing a paycheck from a state office for a position that I can find no mention of prior to Mr. Esser’s taking the job. He apparently answered only to a rather partisan elected official. His position seems to have vanished upon his departure, assuming that he has actually departed, as we can find neither an announcement hiring him, nor announcing his effective date of resignation.
I’m hardly the most partisan person here, but even I think this stinks. If this is all just a simple clerical error, someone should get it cleared up right away.
This is a partisan blog. I’m sure you knew that when you posted. If a Republican leaves himself open for attack, this crowd will oblige him or her. Mr. Esser is a prominent politician. If he doesn’t like the spotlight, I might suggest finding another line of work. I’m sure we could find him a desk over at my office, and I’d really enjoy having an intelligent conservative to argue with.
As to checking Mr. Esser’s pay stubs, you know that isn’t either appropriate or practical. He’s listed on an official AG press release, dated well after his taking the job of GOP Party Chair as “AG Outreach Director”. If he’s actually off the payroll, then Mr. McKenna should apologize for the mistake and clear it up. (If he’s still on the payroll, or if he stayed on after starting to function as GOP Chair, then he does have a problem.)
And Mr. Esser should thank this blog for highlighting it before he got blindsided with this information in an election.
There is a quote that I cannot immediately find, where a famous politician notes that it is his adversaries, not his friends that give him the most help. Friends tell you how great you are. Adversaries point out your weaknesses and areas where you need to grow.
I just (2/16) called the number given on the AG’s web page for Luke Esser: 206-389-2541. A deep voice says: This is Luke Esser… etc.
I left a message for a call back with my name & number indicating I’d like to know — in order to write a blog story — if he’s still working both jobs.
I also called the AG’s Seattle office, identified myself as a blogger wanting a response on the double-dipping story … and asked for their press office. I was put on hold for a few minutes (execrable musak) and then given, instead of the press office, the number of their consumer affairs division — the only person available there being on annual leave until the 20th. So I found their actual media office, which appears to be open for business now and left a message that I’d like that office’s response for a blog story. That’s Communications Director Janelle Guthrie, janelleg@atg.wa.gov, (360) 586-0725
Anyone bother to find out when he actually started collecting a paycheck at the state party? Maybe he didn’t actually start there full time until he was finished at the AG’s office. What a concept. But I guess that’s not as fun as dragging him through the mud.
What I don’t understand is how Esser could ever have worked in the AG’s office.
I mean, until January of this year, he was a member of the state House of Representatives. That is, of course, in the legislative branch of state government, whereas the Attorney General is part of the executive branch. How can there not be constant conflict of interest in that?
Is there no doctrine of separation of powers in Washington state?
No N there is not. The desire to preserve our tradition of a citizen legislature means that a legislator can hold a state job in any agency. He just cannot use that office and its equipment to campaign for office. So I expect Luke got fairly good at keeping his skirts clean.
Point of info:
The phone number on the press release about domestic violence got changed today as a result of my call. I spoke with Janelle Guthrie, who is now listed on that form, who told me she made the change and changed who you reach when you call the #.
I would just like to say that I think that picture of Luke is awesome.
That is all.