Rubin and the boys put out a release Friday morning, threatening to turn Linehan into the Senate Ethics Committee, because they claimed it was unethical for a staffer to take a “Leave of Absence”. By cherry-picking words from the Ethics manual Barry wrote, “Ms. Linehan is in clear violation of Senate Ethics Rules.” He goes on to quote the manual, saying, “the Senate does not recognize a ‘leave of absence.’”
Well, we here at Leavenworth Street are here to provide a service. And that includes providing to Maryland’s own Barry Rubin, as a matter of courtesy, the rest of the paragraph:
With respect to the question of leave time to perform outside employment (including campaign work, and regardless of compensation), it is the Committee’s understanding that the Senate does not recognize a “leave of absence”. The Committee has ruled that it is proper for a Senator to either reduce the salary or remove the employee from the Senate payroll when the employee intends to spend additional time on outside activities, over and above accrued leave time or vacation time (see I.R. 194). However, in order to receive any level of Senate salary, pay should be commensurate with actual duties performed for the Senate. An employee may be terminated from the Senate (without) pay and return at a later date. (Emphasis added.)So! It IS legal to leave your job in Congress and go work on a campaign, or at the convention, or where ever, as long as the Senate’s not paying you. How about that? So Barry and the boys were just wasting our time all along. Who’d a thunk?
And just for the record: Dr. Seuss ads; Parade Hecklers; Bogus press releases. That’s what you get when a Kennedy-bred pol, like Barry Rubin, comes into Nebraska.
We’ll wait patiently for the Omaha World Herald’s editorial on this…
Posts
4 comments:
Wow. I was w/ Barry Rubin up until seeing this, and I saw it w/ the link he provided on www.nebraskademocrats.org. To think that those provided the trust to unite and elect the party that they serve would be so incoherent to ignore something like this is beyond me. I find it rather arrogant that Easterners like Barry Rubin think they are above the intelligence of Midwestern folk like me and you.
Fact: Linehan announced leave of absence.
Fact: Leave of Absences are prohibited by Senate rules
Fact: NDP is asking for clarification of her status to ensure Hagel isn't again using his taxpayer funded office for political purposes (see Kate Witek exposing Louann's political activities last summer).
Nice spin though.
Is "Leave of Absence" a term of art, or a legal term here? And who called it that, Linehan or the newspaper?
Leave of absence is a nice way of emplyment being terminated. The dumbass that leads the NE Democratic Party keeps digginig his liberal nose into everyones business where it doesn't belong.
Post a Comment