Security Breach in San Francisco, & How People Are Hired
On July 22, 2008 I saw a report on the KTVU-TV newscast about how employees at the San Francisco Department of Human Services put some people's most private personal data literally out on the street. This had to do with people who applied for benefits such as food stamps and general assistance. Here is the link http://www.ktvu.com/news/16961916/detail.html If it doesn't work, you can copy it and paste it onto your web browser.
While I am not qualified to say what the exact cause of this terrible security breach was, I do strongly believe that the way that the city and county of San Francisco has been hiring many of its employees over the past 25 years or so could be a major factor. There is a practice where San Francisco hires workers as "provisional." Supposedly they're hired to work for something like up to 6 months and then perhaps take a civil service test. Often these tests aren't given and the workers become permanent. Many of the people who are hired for these "provisional" positions with the city are Filipino, but I want it to be understood that I'm not saying that anybody who is Filipino can get a job with the city of San Francisco this way and they don't, but it does help to be part of a network. I am also not opposed to Affirmative Action, although I would like to see Affirmative Action be something that is more class based. I also must state that there are many excellent and dedicated people who work for the city and county of San Francisco, and I know many of them. I also will say that San Francisco's policy of hiring people "provisionally" instead of giving more job related civil service tests is very bad. It shows in the quality of the work that gets done. When I lived in San Francisco, I had a couple of situations where I had to call a city office. Even though I called the office during the times that employees should have been answering the telephones, I would get a voice mail that I should call within the certain specified hours. During the 7 years that I lived in Chico, whenever I needed to call a Chico or Butte County office I have always found that someone answered the telephone. I find that the Chico and Butte County personnel are very helpful and professional.
Eleven years ago, I had an experience of my own when I applied for one of the San Francisco city government's "provisional" positions. The position that was available was for a Supply Room clerk. The position required being able to take inventory. A major part of my duties in my position as a custodian and utility person in the private sector up to that time, involved taking inventory and ordering supplies for office buildings. When I applied for this "provisional" position with the city I was turned down. I was told that I didn't have any previous experience working in a supply room. In the downtown San Francisco high-rise office buildings where I worked, there were many firms that had supply rooms. Unlike how it is in the government, firms in the private sector don't have someone holding a position strictly being in charge of a supply room, so what I was told by the city department didn't make any sense. I have to add that I asked then State Senator John Burton for his assistance so that I could obtain that Supply Room clerk position, but he didn't want to get involved. A good friend of mine who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, told me that if John Burton's brother, Congressman Phil Burton were alive at that time, that I would have obtained the job. I didn't get that position because I simply wasn't a part of the network.