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Although
the Office of the State Inspector General found images of nude women on
the computers of five employees of the Adirondack Park Agency, only
executive director Daniel Fitts was named.
Fitts
was suspended indefinitely without pay and later resigned, replaced by
Richard Lefebvre who is also now the subject of similar allegations
that he possessed images of nude women on a state computer.
Fitts
and the other four APA employees admitted possessing the images but to
date, the names of the other four agency employees have not yet been
publicly identified.
However,
APA chairman Ross Whaley has now reportedly determined that the names
of the four will have to be released although he says he doesn’t
see any “state purpose” for doing so. At first Whaley said
that he didn’t believe that the names of the other four employees
would be released due to privacy concerns but after discussing the
situation with attorneys at other state agencies and exploring the
Freedom of Information Law, Whaley reportedly says that he has come to
the conclusion that at some point the names of the four employees will
have to be released but gave no time frame.
While
he terms violations of the agency’s computer policy as
“very serious”, he says the issue is largely an internal
matter and that he doesn’t see “a state purposes served by
disposing the names”.
Henry Hess, former chief fiscal officer for the Town of Queensbury and
the Hudson River/Black River Regulating District, a state authority
which Lefebvre formerly headed, says that Lefebvre allegedly
transmitted a photo of partially nude women over a state computer while
at the state office.
However,
one APA official says that Hess’s complaint is just
unsubstantiated allegations from a disgruntled employee. Hess made the
allegations because he didn’t get a $10,000 raise and a shortened
work week that he wanted, Lefebvre says. But Hess counters that
he’s retired and has nothing to gain. 9-23-05
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