My response to the Rep..approximately

I wrote a comment on Representative Campfield’s post and I didn’t copy the comment before I hit the enter key.   Since the Rep’s comments are ‘moderated’, I wasn’t able to retrieve the exact wording for this post.

Background and clarification: When a bill is proposed by the state legislature, state employees in effected departments have to do bill assessments including fiscal notes that detail the financial and ‘work’ impact of the proposed legislation.  Bill assessment is a necessary and important business practice.  I do NOT generally do bill assessments. I did NOT do any assessment of the ‘abortion death certificate’ bill proposed by Representative Campfield. I did not discuss the bill assessment with anyone who WORKED on the assessment.  I would not work on (or discuss with co-workers) any assessment where I could not assess the bill objectively.  Any other stance would be unethical.

Representative Campfield took issue with an earlier post I made about wasting state employee time with what I would term ‘stunt’ or ‘publicity’ bills.  No where in my post did I say or intimate that I or any other health department was overworked.  No where in my post did I complain about my job.

In fact, as I stated in the post, I love my job.  I have a lot to do and that is a good thing.  It makes my time on the job meaningful.  I believe deeply in the mission and purpose of the state Health Department.

Representative Campfield intimated that I (it should be noted that my name was not used in the post, but considering that I was the only state employee who posted on the topic that I know about, I’m pretty sure that shot was directed at me) blogged on the job, was unethical and that I spent long hours surfing the internet instead of doing my job, including making comments on posts during working hours.

Lastly, he insulted all state employees by asking if I thought I could get away with such practices if I had ‘a real job’.

My response, approximately:

1. I love my job.  It is a REAL job.

2. I have NEVER complained about being overworked. To have a job with the Health Department is a privilege. I work with wonderful people and I believe strongly in the work that we do.

3. I do my blogging early in the morning and late in the evening from home.  I have, in the past, blogged during my lunch hour, but I decided that the time spent and the appearance of a post in the middle of the day might be misconstrued, so I no longer post during my lunch hour.

4. I do not spend long hours at work surfing the internet.  I do my job.

5. I would never do a bill assessment on any bill where I could not be dispassionate and objective.  I was not assigned any work on Representative Campfield’s ‘abortion death certificate’ bill.  I did not DO any work on the assessment of that bill.

6. I am rarely assigned to do bill assessments.  My post was about the time spent by others doing bill assessments (I should have made that clearer on my original post).  No one complained to me about their time spent doing specific bill assessments.

7. I have commented on posts during my lunch hour or during a break. My lunch time is my own time, but as stated above, I no longer post during lunch, and will now no longer comment during lunch.

8.  I think I am due an apology, but I’m not holding my breath.

Finally, I need to say one more time: My posts on this subject were from the point of view of ME.  I certainly was not speaking for the Health Department or any governmental perspective.  I would not deign to speak for the Health Department on such an issue.  I probably should not have made the post to begin with, but I stand by my thoughts on the subject.