Apr 7, 2000 - 05:15 PM
Tampa Tribune EDITORIAL
Gov. Diogenes? Oh, never mind
DANIEL RUTH
On assuming office, Gov. Jeb Bush, as if he were posing for a spot on Mount Rushmore, pledged his would be the most ethical gathering of public servants since Eliot Ness and the Untouchables last dined together.
Hardy-har-har. That Jeb, he's such a scamp. Most ethical? Beyond reproach? Simon Pure?
Tell that to Omar Shafey, a former (accent on former) state epidemiologist with an admired record of scientific integrity, who was fired by the Florida Department of Health - because he did his job.
In Tallahassee's own version of the Dreyfus Affair, a reputable, honest, candid state employee has had his reputation soiled and his career terminated because he had the audacity to tell the truth about the health dangers of malathion spray carpet-bombing to combat Medfly outbreaks.
What was that again, Gov. Bush, about ethics, accountability, yada- yada-yada?
Tribune reporter Jan Hollingsworth has detailed Shafey's fall from grace at the hands of state health officials after the epidemiologist refused to alter a report revealing widespread medical ill effects associated with malathion spraying during a Medfly infestation in 1998.
Shafey's findings that the pesticide caused rashes, respiratory problems and other illnesses were subsequently excised from the final draft of his report, in which another hand instead concluded no direct link between health effects and the spraying could be established.
After all, state agriculture officials had been running around claiming malathion was so safe, why, if they had served the stuff at Jonestown, everybody would have been just fine.
You couldn't have some egghead scientist raising concerns over the safety of malathion when Deputy Agriculture Commissioner Martha Roberts was practically inviting reporters over to the house to watch her take a bath in the pesticide.
What was that again, Gov. Bush, about morality, and high principles and blah-blah-blah or whatever?
Obviously, Shafey had clearly overstepped his authority.
Imagine, a scientist committing science and then refusing to change his findings to accommodate political concerns. The snooty gall of some people.
So it didn't take long for Shafey to find himself brought up on charges that he had ripped off the good taxpayers of the state of Florida to the obscene toll of $12.50 - the amount his minders accused him of inflating his expense account.
You'd think if you were going to take a man's livelihood away, besmirch his name and send him packing - all over $12.50 - the poor schmo would at least be given an opportunity to explain the discrepancy. Yet Shafey was never asked about the egregious $12.50 overage by Health Department investigators (who had to feel like a bunch of boobs) and a hearing scheduled to allow Shafey to respond to the charge against him was canceled.
Due process, whatta hoot!
As well, additional accusations that Shafey called the paper-pusher who fired him a ``worm'' and ``excrement'' were added to his disciplinary file. But, then again, Shafey is an epidemiologist, whose expert opinion ought to count for something.
Ah, what's that again, Gov. Bush, about character and honesty and boom-chuck-a-lucka?
What happened to Shafey may have a more toxic effect than any saturation malathion bombing.
State employees who do their jobs with the public welfare at heart have every right to feel threatened if their work conflicts with the political interests of the powers that be.
Omar Shafey gets the boot, while Bush's head of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Cynthia Henderson, can play footsie with the very businesses she is supposed to oversee; hire friends and cronies; fire investigators who get too close to her pals; intervene on behalf of a restaurant where she has been a patron and cancel a $184,000 liquor tax debt, and Gov. Diogenes does - nothing.
It all sorta reconfirms your faith in government, doesn't it, especially if the government is North Korea.
Uh, what was that again, Gov. Bush, about rectitude and fair play and ... oh, never mind.