Gema Hernández

The Bush administration has done a great job keeping the public from knowing what is going on inside the walls of government. They have used and continue to use administrative procedures and reprimands as a way of sending a very loud message ‘if you talk” you are fired. It is under this atmosphere of fear and intimidation that employees have stopped talking not only to the public but also to each other. In the last three months more than six employees of the Department of Elder Affairs have received reprimands for commenting among each other about the low morale and constant absenteeism of the new Secretary. This absenteeism has led those quietly observing the situation to believe that for Secretary Green this was never intended to be a job but just a platform to launch a statewide political career.

Because Secretary Green is never there to do the job she is paid $111,000 to deliver, the reprimands have been handed down by her Chief of staff in order for the Secretary to have complete deniability. Therefore if and when the employees get extremely tired of the situation and begin a class action suit against the Department, the Governor and the Secretary can save face and claim complete ignorance of the situation just like they did in the case of Secretary White. This has been the Governor’s standard operating procedure for years and it has worked well for him. Why change?

The method has worked every time there was a need to maintain complete control and silence and to stop an evolving situation promptly. It worked in the alleged Henderson case when Secretaries were told to deliver the message to the troops that anyone regardless of position caught talking about the alleged incident will be fired on the spot. The method has also worked well when there was a need to create a negative public perception of something or someone. This reverse of silence has been used in many instances by dropping a couple of leaks in strategic places. These leaks, in some cases complete fabrications, have generated the expected results and overnight, the subject of the leaks was viewed in a new negative light. By now the media has accepted this effective method of behavior modification and after years of no leaks and/or selective leaks, the press is so eager for news that any leak coming from the administration is welcome and is taken at face value.

It is sad to see that the employees being reprimanded or terminated from their jobs are among the ones that have been there since the beginning caring for the frail, the poor and the minority elders. It is my belief that one of the reasons for the reprimands is the fact that several legal actions against the administration are now in their discovery phase and employees are being interviewed in support of the individuals suing the Department. What better way to assure “cooperation” in keeping the administration’s secrets under wraps than to effectively coercing them into silence. This code of silence by the way was responsible for the many incidents which allegedly occurred from 2002 to 2004. Some of those incidents culminated in the alleged sexual harassment case against Secretary White. This case, according to anonymous sources, has several plaintiffs.

But the code of silence cannot work unless you have coconspirators and perhaps the reason the code of silence has so many coconspirators outside the walls of government is because some of the individuals that have been attacked by the administration are of minority ethnic and racial coloration. Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that this code of silence is also a code of colors and if you come from a less popular color or ethnic group, your story is not as appealing as other stories with the correct coloration; or perhaps your story is less of a human interest story because people are more prompt to sympathize with individuals of their own ethnic or racial group and not with others.

If we want to break this code of silence we need to expose the abuse of power that is taking place and protect those individuals willing to come forward to tell the truth. In Florida government in the Sunshine has been replaced by a dark cloud, a cloud that covers all possible avenues to the public.