State worker data said to be at risk in Florida (AG Crist accused of inaction)

[seafan]

State worker data said to be at risk

By JONI JAMES
Published October 27, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Fresh details emerged Thursday about one of the more embarrassing episodes of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's administration - the problem-riddled privatization of state employee personnel services - providing campaign fodder for the Democrat running for attorney general.

At issue is the state's contract with Convergys, a publicly traded Cincinnati firm hired to take over the administration of state personnel files and services.

More than two years ago, Democratic state Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell, who is now running for attorney general, launched a public campaign questioning whether the governor's push to use private companies for public jobs meant state work was being shipped overseas.
His questions, rebuffed by Republican leaders, went nowhere until December, when evidence emerged from two whistle-blowers that one of Convergys' subcontractors, Colorado's GDXdata, had shipped personnel files overseas for data processing in violation of the state's contract with Convergys.

snip

Campbell accused the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Attorney General Charlie Crist, of ignoring "a clear and present danger" that state employees' identities are at risk of theft, or worse, could be used by terrorists to gain access into the country. He said the attorney general should have joined the lawsuit.

Crist's office responded by distributing a time line showing several meetings with former GDX employees since April 2005. "Just because we didn't join the suit doesn't mean we're not investigating," said JoAnn Carrin, a spokeswoman.

snip

[pooja]

1. oh this is good.

[GainesT1958]

2. Sounds like the only "Action" Charlie Crist has been getting...

Is some of, well, a different sort!:eyes:

B-)

[rzemanfl]

3. Charlie is too busy in the closet to spend any time taking care of

state worker's.

[seafan]

4. And Crist thinks he is qualified to be Florida's next governor. A sick joke.

Another link:

Campbell brought Kristina Gilmore and Tara Pagano, two former employees of GDXData, to a news conference to discuss the continuing investigation of how state employee personnel data wound up leaving the country. The two Denver-area women filed a sealed suit in Leon County Circuit Court last year, claiming on behalf of the state that employee personnel files were being indexed by a subcontractor in India.

''There is a clear and present danger, I am convinced of it, that some of the documentation which was sent over to India has provided the names and pertinent information of state employees - over 100,000 - can be used for identity theft and, most critically, can be used for terrorist purposes,'' Campbell said.

The women's suit was unsealed late last year, but Attorney General Charlie Crist's office declined to join in it. Crist's office is still investigating, however, and spokeswoman JoAnn Carrin released a lengthy timeline indicating that interviews with current or former GDXData employees are continuing this week.

''We're talking about images of actual Social Security cards, and actual driver's licenses and home information,'' Pagano said. ''And that's really, in this day, all you need to get pretty much any kind of documents.''

Gilmore said, ''The total count was 32 million images, approximately.''

snip

Let's recap the record of Attorney General Charlie Crist, who wants to be Florida's next governor:


AG Crist is AWOL on our insurance crisis.

AG Crist was AWOL on Terri Schiavo's plight.

AG Crist is AWOL on fighting oil drilling off our coasts.

AG Crist is AWOL on the boot camp murder of Martin Lee Anderson last January.

AG Crist is AWOL on protecting thousands of Florida state employees' personal data, as his boss Jeb outsourced it to India and it is now gravely compromised.


What else will we learn in the next week??