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Wanna see what Illinois State Police officers are talking about behind the scenes? I’ve been watching the ISPeeved blog develop for months. Only with this particular blog it’s not the posts but the comments that are so fascinating.
I didn’t want to link to it before because it was still young and I wasn’t sure that the powers that be knew about it. That’s no longer the case. Plus, I gave the founder a heads-up last week and he wasn’t concerned. Have a look.
Somebody ought to start one of these for every state agency.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 12:09 pm
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Whoa, pretty wild. I guess Rich is not the moderator of that board. A lot of rumors, but I am certain some of it is true. You can’t really believe much, since it is all anonymous, understandibly so.
Comment by Wumpus Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 12:28 pm
One of the fun things about this ISP and other blogs I read is the responders can post pictures to help make thir points, and these are often very powerful. But Rich, I don’t think your service could handle it, just based on your occasional caption the picture contests. You’d have too many folks posting inapropriate stuff… it would be fun, though…
Speaking of which, there was a great pic for such a contest in yesterday’s story about the 8 million dollar GA fundng awarded to Loyola on top of a TIF district, all under Madigan. The pic has Madigan and Blago both making faces like they just sampled some bad hors’deuvers.
Comment by One Bad Apple Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 12:53 pm
i hope no one gets dooced for that, which is probably quite possible. good stuff, i’d like to see dhs and corrections blogs.
Comment by anon Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 2:04 pm
Aren’t there enough state employees playing on the computer all day already?
Comment by RHINO Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 4:07 pm
“Somebody ought to start one of these for every state agency.”
Don’t stop with state agencies, go ahead and go federal. I would love to see a Pentagon site and see its comments about Rummy and Bush or a CIA website discussing Bush.
Disgruntled employees be it municipal, state, federal or corporate is nothing new. People can post anonymously and say what they want. Some of it credible, most of it not. Interesting reading, but at the end of the day much ado about nothing, Rich, much ado about nothing.
Comment by wndycty Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 4:56 pm
Better to have them playing on the computer all day than….*shudder*….”helping us”
Comment by Lefty Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 4:56 pm
The unionists and MC’s don’t do much now if they to add posting and reading blogs to the schedule the work product would be zilch.
Comment by T.X.Payer Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 5:11 pm
looks like the ISPeeved site still turns off comments during the week so the Troops don’t post from the in car lap tops and the office.
Bet there will be a lot of Cop DUIs this weekend with the FOP convention in CHItown.
Comment by T.X.Payer Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 5:55 pm
Former State Police Employee.
I raised hell before leaving. Would I do it over again? F****G YEAAAA!!!!!!!!!
Visited the website about a month ago - but if it meant reliving some of the most stressful times of my life - I had to pass. At least, I got interested in public policy after my experience.
Too many anonymous postings - would of been great if was done by region or department.
Comment by Marta Elena Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 5:58 pm
Lefty, good point! We had one political hack try and tell our Land Acquisition department how much efficient the filing system would be if we were to replace all the plan yellow folders with a different color for each county. Maybe if you were just starting a new filing system but I can’t see replacing decades of folders. On top of that he was hired as a TM V (no previous experience in Land Acquisition and making more than a couple of career employees with Masters degrees – not to nice for morale). In addition, he has a tendency to argue with other employees about what work he will not do even though the work falls under his ‘made-up’ job description.
Comment by state worker Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 6:10 pm
Very funny site! I have talked to a couple of ISP and they are very disgruntled/disillusioned (and I am being kind) with this administration.
Rich, have you ever thought having a separate ‘folder or page’ for the different state agencies. I bet you would get a lot of interesting tidbits from IDOT, DOC and DCFS.
Comment by girl friday Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 6:54 pm
Yeah…lots of fascinating tidbits about who got to the comments section first and why requiring cops to wear seatbelts is akin to the atrocities of the Taliban.
Keep it.
Comment by JJSpringfield Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 8:43 pm
Will someone please name me one time, just one time, state workers have loved the Gov. they worked for? I know many of you love Saint Edgar, but for those of us who lived in Springfield when he was in charge, the state workers hated him, just like they did not like George Ryan. Face it, they always love someone who will tell them Illinois needs more state workers, state workers should be paid more and state workers work hard. Sounds like a JBT ad. in the works. These people (state workers) are never happy, and it does not matter who the gov. might be.
Comment by Anon Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 8:56 pm
I’ve been reading ‘peeved for a couple months since a ISP friend told me about the blog.
The low morale and the troops v. command issues certainly are clear from even a few days’ reading of the blog. Are those issues common to many agencies in the Blagosphere? Guess so, from what I see and hear pretty frequently.
The difference here, and what really concerns me as I read ISPeeved, is that the unhappy campers at IDOT, DNR, et al aren’t rolling around with a bad attitude, a fat ticket book, and a 9mm pistola on their hip.
We old-timers can remember the good-ol-boys, now long gone, of the ISP in Southern IL who graciously handed out speeding tickets “with the compliments of Governor Thompson.”
The mind wanders with how the modern unhappy road trooper might express to the taxpayer his/her concerns about the Blago administration.
As for “one for every agency..” Pass. My agency has one-it’s called the Suggestion Box. Most of the suggestions have to do with the parking lot (it’s free) or the restrooms. Not terribly fascinating reading.
Comment by NumbersGuy Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 9:12 pm
I don’t know long Wyndycty has been reading this blog, but most of you will remember a contributor from IDOT who outed the manager who had a girlfriend in southern Illinois living high on the hog job-wise. He was up to all kinds of shinanigans, including power-washing the IDOT bldg, which didn’t need it, if I remember rightly. Bloggers challenged the contributor to name the guy and he did. The result was that the goldbricker was investigated, found to be incompetent and his lady friend was also. And I bet there are more revelations out there just like this one. So it’s not all, “much ado about nothing.” A lot of it is fact and scary fact at that.
Comment by Disgusted Friday, Jul 7, 06 @ 9:25 pm
OK, Rich - you asked for it. Here it is, all in one convenient ‘web portal’ (where have I heard that before?):
‘Business As Usual’
http://forums.delphiforums.com/NMBAU/
As you said, it’s the comments that are fascinating in somthing like this, and that’s why I chose a forum. A blog has to be driven by one personality and his postings. Not so with a forum - anyone can start their own topic.
Comment by TaxEater1818 Saturday, Jul 8, 06 @ 2:34 am
To anon at 8:56… Governor Thompson. After Walker [who hated us], Big Jim was the much-needed pendulum swing. He liked us and expanded our role, responsibilities and size. Ask any trooper 2 things; 1) Are most of the items written about in ISPEEVED really happening? and 2) compared to 1984 - 1986, do you have 1/3rd, 1/2 or 2/3rds the number of troopers working the road in your district today?
Comment by North of I-80 Saturday, Jul 8, 06 @ 4:56 am
This administration has used the Illinis State Police as a political pawn since day one when the Troopers Lodge 41 endorsed him. When the day comes in law enforcement that every action taken by this department is subject to a press conference or concerns over what enforcement may offend who/what over results, its no wonder we are in the mess we’re in.
Comment by proud state copper Saturday, Jul 8, 06 @ 8:14 am
Anon 8:56
I agree with you that State Workers have never “loved” a Governor. As a long time state worker I must say that I have always liked my job and been proud of my public service. The pay is not as good in the private sector however, the trade-off was for a 37.5 hour work week with less than stellar but, decent benefits.
I worked under Thompson, Edgar, Ryan and now Blagojevich. There has always been a turnover of political positions at the top, but the new guys (most of them anyway) always understood that there is a level of middle management workers that knew how to get the work done and, left us alone. After all, it was the worker bees that made the highers look good.
The current administration came in with “reform and renewal”, “hiring only the best and the brightest”, and those of us still working expected that change was going to take place and were prepared to support the new administration as best we could. After all, we were already battered by the exodus of early retirement and the time was right to figure out how to do more with less. Unfortunately however, unbeknownst to the existing workers, the current administration has from the very beginning, not only demonstrated no regard for the people who do the work but, has assumed that all of us are lazy and good for nothing. And what does it accomplish to complain? Bradley Tusk says “if you don’t like the job, then leave.” Easier said than done.
The most valuable asset in a business is its human resources. The organizational structure has to have a level of competent workers who know how to get things done. Blago’s folks still don’t know that and they don’t care.
Having blogs/suggestion boxes for each agency would be a great idea if they were used for constructive criticism and that Senior Management took them seriously.
The problem is that the master plan is still to save money by reducing headcount and labelling that as efficiency. There is no plan for improving government…..There never was.
Comment by SeeTheMess Saturday, Jul 8, 06 @ 10:07 am
Boy, I bet the troopers could tell some stories about Blagojevich and his brown shirts.
Comment by Willie Saturday, Jul 8, 06 @ 11:52 am
Gee, Willie, I’ve mostly seen him in white shirts.
What ever is it that you mean? Please elaborate your oh-so-intelligent comment, would you? Are you saying that the Governor, whose father escaped a concentration camp, is himself a Nazi?
Do elaborate for us all, won’t you, as you elevate the high discourse here.
Comment by JJSpringfield Sunday, Jul 9, 06 @ 9:13 am
ISP troopers are just highway maintainers with guns
Comment by Anon Monday, Jul 10, 06 @ 5:26 pm
I just love the way District Commanders, in the past 7 or 8 years, have become nothing more than puppets on a string. They are not “commanders” anymore, just puppets. One thing hasn’t changed though. If a District “puppet” wants to burn the very Troops that work under him/her, they still have that latitude. It’s too bad the District “puppets” can force their personal values and beliefs on everyone else and if the Troops don’t agree, too bad. I know there are still a few good Lt.’s and above out there, but they are obviously an endangered species if they still exist. “Burn the Troops” is any “command” officer’s intentions nowadays: “Burn the Troops.” Too bad they don’t practice what they preach. With a policy manual as thick as a Thanksgiving ham, the Troops do not stand a chance with this department anymore. Thanks for letting me vent.
Comment by Bondo Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 12:56 pm
With every election the constant “Changing Of The Guard†and inevitable questionable appointments have reduced the ISP to a joke, not only the people of Illinois but to other police agencies.
What remains is a group of highly trained, highly paid officers of low morale who are not allowed to do the job they were sworn to do: Serve & Protect.
Fearing retaliation for voicing their concerns with their “Superiors†they are forced to
publicize their opinions in anonymity; a Blog no less.
My point; DO SOMETHING
Comment by ISPY Tuesday, Jul 25, 06 @ 9:46 pm