A news by yahoofreeshop:Joe Miller the Republican Senate candidate from Alaska, was disciplined for using three co-workers’ computers for political purposes and initially lying about it when he worked as a part-time lawyer for the Fairbanks North Star Borough in 2008, personnel records released on Tuesday under a court order showed.
“He maintained the whole time that he did not violate the computer use policy and that actually all of us did for not securing our computers,” Jill Dolan, a lawyer for the borough and one of the colleagues whose computers was used, said in a written statement on March 13, 2008, the day after the incidents.....
Ms. Dolan said Mr. Miller had eventually told her he was using the computers to vote with “different URLs” in an online poll about the state’s Republican Party chairman, Randy Ruedrich, whom Mr. Miller wanted removed......
“I told him the door was locked and he was a confidential employee and we shouldn’t have to worry about him using our computers,” Ms. Dolan wrote. “I explained to him that I am not a political person and that I did not appreciate him injecting me into his mess by making it look like I voted in some poll to oust Ruedrich.”....
Mr. Miller cleared Internet cache files from each of the computers. He also used his own computer to participate in the poll and then cleared his cache.
After initially lying about the computer use, he eventually admitted to it in a letter to his supervisor, Rene Broker the lead borough attorney......
“I acknowledge that my access to others’ computers was wrong participating in the poll was wrong, lying was wrong and there is absolutely no excuse for any of it” Mr. Miller wrote to Ms. Broker on March 17. “I accept whatever punishment you feel is appropriate.”
He was placed on administrative leave that lasted for about two weeks and then punished with the loss of three days’ pay. He was also placed on probation for six months, ordered to complete employee counseling and to “work hard to rebuild the co-worker relationships that were harmed” because of his actions....
According to the notes of a conversation made by Ms. Dolan, who spoke by telephone with Mr. Miller at the time he said that his actions had been “beyond stupid,” that he had been under stress and that he was having marital problems in part because he was “too flippin’ busy.”.....
Mr. Miller also ran a private law practice while working 20 hours a week for the borough. Although Mr. Miller has said he drew the bulk of his income from his private practice, the borough job provided health care benefits for his family. He and his wife, Kathleen, have eight children. Records of the disciplinary action show that Mr. Miller was concerned how the handling of the matter could affect his health coverage. It was unclear whether it had any impact.......
Mr. Miller is in a tight race with Senator Lisa Murkowski a Republican who is running as a write-in candidate and Scott McAdams, a Democrat......
Mr. Miller initially refused to address reports that disciplinary action had been taken against him while he worked for the borough though he later acknowledged some elements of the case. He fought efforts in court by Alaska news media outlets to obtain the records. A judge ruled against him on Saturday. The documents were released on Tuesday after Mr. Miller declined to appeal.....
Portions of the documents released Tuesday are redacted, including most of a page at the beginning of Ms. Dolan’s statement Some comments later in the statement that are not redacted do not have clear context.....
At one point in her statement after discussing her conversation with Mr. Miller about his use of the computers Ms Dolan said she had “asked him more about the threats that he had received but he said he could not tell me.”
A spokesman for the Miller campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about information in the documents.
Mr. Miller resigned from the borough in September 2009 and he has said the disciplinary action did not play a role in his decision to leave.....
But his supervisor and colleagues were clearly concerned about other aspects of his conduct in the weeks before his resignation. In one instance they questioned whether a case he was working on in his private practice might represent a conflict with his work for the borough. They also appeared to question the legitimacy of an apparent medical excuse he gave for taking leave shortly before he resigned.....
When Ms. Broker later asked a computer specialist to extract files and e.mail from Mr. Miller’s computers she was alarmed to learn that Mr. Miller had deleted years of e.mail she said would have included public records......
