Why has the woman (Alecia Sirk) resigned, but the man (Pat Ford) taken a paid leave of absence? Post-Gazette
Clearly, Pat Ford has more influence and power than his wife, Ms. Sirk. Doesn't it seem he would also be culpable of a greater violation of the public trust? I mean Ms. Sirk did make some really stupid missteps in her role as Luke's spokeswoman, but still ...
Didn't Dennis Regan take an unpaid leave of absence?
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Sue,
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of posting the same sentiment this a.m., but was under a time crunch to get out the door.
The right thing to do would've been for both of them to at the very least taken unpaid leaves of absence.
Exactly. This makes it look likes she's admitting guilt while he's going on vacation. Nice.
ReplyDeleteI definitely see your point, but playing devil's advocate: Sirk works directly for the Mayor while Ford works for an authority and Sirk cannot do her job answering questions on this mess while her husband is the subject of the mess (she's also partially a subject as she benefited from at least one of the gifts)
ReplyDeleteI see your point, but I think she could have taken a leave of absence, too. It seems only fair that she get the same benefit of the doubt Pat Ford is getting.
ReplyDeleteSue,
ReplyDeleteYou are approaching this way too logically. This is a rat's nest melt-down and rats aren't too reasonable or agreeable even when they're happy.
Luke threw out one half of one sentence about Sirk which could be used as his rationale in a pinch. He said something about her resignation being about "other things" rather than the catastrophe du jour.
What other things? Oh Lord, there's tons of them. Pitt Girl rightfully goes into how Sirk has been the worst press secretary in the history of press secretaries.
What do I think is the real reason? I think Luke was really really pissed that Sirk was stupid enough to write that blog of hers. Had she not blabbed on and on about everything in the world, he and Ford wouldn't be in trouble.
And then, Ford fessed up to the Trib and Sirk didn't warn Luke ahead of time. Supposedly.
In any case, I can't feel too sorry for any of them. They are all fools and deserve way more than any of them are currently getting.
This is the only "out" I can think of: Sirk was not fired for corruption, but for job performance.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is the press secretary's job to inform the public, we all know it is also the press secretary's job to protect the Mayor, and in this case, legitimately so. A highly competent press official (and we all know LR requires hypercompetent press officials) would have answered my questions with, "Um, I'm not sure. Can you send me a copy?" And then gotten back to me with a "It's not our policy to comment on the personal lives of public officials."
I would rather have seen Ford get canned. It may be coming, but they wanted to avoid the embarrassment of the immediate cause & effect.
So, you both think that if the gender roles were reversed, we'd see the same outcome? I'm not so sure and I think BJ Leber and Susan Mailie and perhaps Catherine McNeilly might disagree as well ...
ReplyDeleteLuke's Administration has so many things wrong with it that adding sexism to the list seems silly.
But I just did it.
To be clear, my position is that they both should be fired. And, yes, Sirk has been completely incompetent at her job which has provided much fodder for the Burghosphere.
ReplyDelete