Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Connecticut DCF Commissioner Makes $274,134 a Year and Parks Sports Car In State Parking Lot For The Winter

Joette Katz, Connecticut DCF commissioner
Joette Katz, commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Children and Families, was using a state-owned parking lot, to store her BMW Z4 convertible for the winter.  Parked next to her convertible, was the Ford Escape SUV, state vehicle, that was assigned to her, which she drives an estimated 1,800 miles a month, though she admittedly hasn't been keeping proper mileage logs.  Katz makes $153,831 a year as a DCF commissioner, and $120,303 a year as a retired Supreme Court justice.  Apparently tax-payers funding this woman for $274,134 a year, and providing her a vehicle with a parking spot, isn't good enough for her, Katz also needs a spot to park her luxury vehicle.

The whistle-blower who exposed this abuse of power was the human resources director of the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), Antoinette Alphonse, who has to deal with parking issues as part of her job.  Alphonse noticed the BMW being stored at a state parking garage this past winter, and she eventually figured out that the German sports car belonged to Katz.  Alphonse then wrote a memo concerning the issue, and included Joette Katz in the list of recipients.  Alphonse says that her memo evoked a reaction, and believes her boss, DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith, may have suggested that Alphonse look for a new job, shortly after the memo was sent.

Katz removed the BMW in mid-March, about a week after the March 11 written complaint by Antionette Alphonse, and has since revealed some resentment towards Alphonse.  In an interview, last week, the DCF Commissioner had this to say:
"I can tell you that if this were my HR director – you know, it's not that she shouldn't be able to do what she does, etc. – but, personally I would be thinking, like, 'Don't you have better things to do?'"
Katz went on to say, "I would not be not a happy camper if my HR director went outside" normal channels with actions and statements, adding that her secretary told her Alphonse had called a TV station and the NAACP about the situation. Katz said that DCF's "HR people" have shown they can handle serious issues with appropriate action, while keeping her informed – and "they don't just go run amok."

Katz response, in my opinion, shows her hubris, and sense of entitlement, that many high-level public "officials" seem to convey.  She seems upset that someone would expose her abuses to the public, and not do it through the proper channels, which would allow it to be silenced, and never reach the public.  I believe everyone should be involved with exposing abuses of public power.  I make a regular habit of documenting the abuse of power by public "officials", and believe everyone should do the same.  It's our money, after all.

As an example, here is a recent video that I recorded of the low level tyranny that takes place everyday in a city like Waterbury, Connecticut, and continues to grow, and will get worse, until it is checked.  City "officials" using parking spaces, that us regular folk aren't allowed to use.


In my opinion, this is just another example of the royalty class that has been created in the American system of government.  Public SERVANTS, who now call themselves "officials", feeding off of the working class, exempting themselves from laws, and abusing their power.  Big, out-of-control, government will continue to grow, and suck the life out of it's host (the working class), until there is nothing to take from the people anymore, and the system destroys itself.  We must stop this growth as soon as possible.

As far as the state having the power, through child service programs like CPS and DCF, to take your children out of your home, I am not supportive.  I understand there are unique cases that may, in some peoples minds, justify a Department of Children and Families, however, cases of abuse are already criminal offenses, and could be handled through the regular justice system, with a jury, and trial.  To give some bureaucrats the power to take children out of a home, with no trial, or jury, is too much of a impediment on liberty, to be tolerated.  Not to mention the ridiculous cases involving the CPS/DCF taking children out of their parents' home, for things as small as marijuana possession.

Some important things to note about the Foster care system:

  • Much higher chance of sexual abuse.  One study by Johns Hopkins University found that the rate of sexual abuse within the foster-care system is more than four times as high as in the general population
  • Children are drugged.  Studies have revealed that youth in foster care are force medicated with psychotropic medicine at a rate three times higher than of children not in foster care.  
  • Bloated bureaucracy.  In Connecticut, the DCF has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion and some 4,300 children in its custody on any given day.

Related Stories:
  • Potential Conflict of Interest: 33% of Connecticut State Senators are Lawyers - April 12, 2013 (link)
  • Connecticut Politicians Do Not Like Being Exposed As Corrupt - April 03, 2013 (link)
  • CT State Senator Steve Cassano Wants Traffic Enforcement "Photographers" Taking Pictures Of You In Your Car - March 06, 2013 (link)
  • CT State Representative Stripped of Title After Lewd Comment To 17-Year-Old Girl, During Committee Meeting - March 02, 2013 (link)
  • Red Light Cameras In Connecticut; Corruption, Agenda 21 & the Rockefellers - March 01, 2013 (link)
  • Connecticut: New Controversial Bill Proposing Mandatory Periodic Inspections for Cars Over 100,000 miles - February 22, 2013 (link)


No comments:

Post a Comment