Gov. Rick Scott attends the Military Appreciation: Honoring Those Who Serve concert event at the Leon County Civic Center Jan. 3, 2011, in the run-up to his inauguration. (Photo by Shealah Craighead.)
By Ralph De La Cruz
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
I’m always amazed by “small-government” politicians who get elected and then the first thing they do is create more government bureaucracy. And more government intrusion.
This off Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s website:
“Executive Order No. 11-01 … establishes the Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform, which will …”
Wait. Didn’t Scott run as a small-government tea partier?
Maybe this is part of his big job-creation agenda. The Scott Stimulus.
Then there’s Executive Order No. 11-02, which requires the state to do immigration screening for all state employees using the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system.
Which right away begs the question: Is this a big problem, illegal immigrants holding state jobs?
Any state manager who has to hire undocumented workers for a state job these days should be fired — for incompetence. Because, the job market being the way it is, I know plenty of people out there with full-blown resumes and references who would love to get any job with state benefits. And state pay.
Unless the state suddenly moved into the hotel, farming, construction, restaurant or landscaping industries (more of the Scott Stimulus?). In which case, never mind about that job.
I actually favor moving toward an electronic verification system, but why require it of people already working for the state? At a time when resources are really tight.
And it’s going to be done by the Department of Homeland Security because … they’ve done such a great job tracking information on people?
Remember the dead folks and the misidentified on the no-fly list?
Homeland Security has done such a heckuva job that the department had to set up a whole new level of bureaucracy to address people who’ve been misidentified.
The stories about people who were wrongly detained at airport checkpoints will be replaced by stories about people in Florida who lost their jobs because of misidentification.
I suppose I’m aware of the possibility for these kinds of problems because a few years ago I misplaced my U.S citizenship certificate. It took almost two years to get a copy and straighten everything out, and in that time, my employer was mandated to get verification and … well, it wasn’t a comfortable experience.
I’m surprised someone with such a common name wouldn’t be more sensitive to how such a broad screening program using a massive database could mess up a life.
I mean … come on. Rick Scott.
Although I guess it’d have a better chance of showing up on a no-fly list than an immigration watch list.
He might “get it” if his name were Juan Garcia.
Or even Charlie Crist.
So, how do you feel about electronic verification? Should we be doing it?
For all jobs, both public and private? For all employees, including already hired or just new hires?
Is the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify the right program?