The recent IG report on OSFC Director Murray and Governor Strickland stated that Strickland fired former Director Mike Shoemaker because he hadn’t done enough to cozy up to Unions.
Shoemaker told us that nobody explained to him why he was being fired, but he suspected it was related to complaints from union officials. A month later, Governor Strickland appointed Richard C. Murray, a union official who years earlier had challenged the OSFCs exclusion of PLAs.
Murray, in an interview with this office, said that the governors office had asked him to smooth over rocky relations with unions and make sure union representatives were regarded as constituents at the OSFC.
In a gaggle after the IG report, the Governor tried to make the implication that it was because of poor performance by Shoemaker. Considering Shoemaker was never told of any poor performance at his firing, that accusation is surprising. In addition, the directive given by the Guv’s office also implies that the problem was rough relationships with unions, not poor performance.
So based on the lengths the Governor has gone to embarrass Shoemaker, I did find it surprising that they had no problem naming an award after his Dad at their recent Party fundraiser.
If the honorable former Lt. Governor was still around today, I wonder what he would think about the way the Strickland Administration has tried to pull his son’s name through the mud.
It’s my understanding that Tyrone Yates won the Shoemaker award. I wonder if he has anything to say.
