Grains of Salt (v9): More Fitzing Around

As I noted the other day, the local prosecutor is a busy man.

He's investigating City Hall because, well, because he's a known "not a fan" of the mayor and police chief, er, I mean, for trying to sway public opinion on an economic development deal, and now we learn that his office has been the subject of an arbitration investigation regarding an employee harassment case.

DA-for-Life William Fitzpatrick's office fired a victims' assistance coordinator who had been working with a woman who had been involved with an abusive man. The DA's employee wasn't fired for being a bad employee, it seems. She was fired because the abusive man was the son of the chief investigator in the DA's office, and the chief investigator retaliated against the woman, leading to her wrongful termination.

This, according to the arbitrator, means that the woman, Gigi Potocki, should get her job back -- and get $70K in back pay. Four months later, she's still unemployed and hasn't gotten any money; Onondaga County is appealing the arbitrator's decision.

The details are laid out in this article, including how Potocki allegedly was harassed by the investigator over an extended period of time  - two and a half years - after his son was involved in the domestic violence case; the harassment including filing eight administrative charges against her. (There's a video interview with Potocki here.)

Another person in the DA's office corroborated Potocki's allegations, which apparently helped sway the arbitrator.

The article also notes that Onondaga County had tried to get Potocki to take a settlement (health benefits and a year's salary) and sign a non-disclosure statement, something she's refused to do because she wants her job back.

Fitz, in a classicly abusive manner, apparently questioned "why she'd want to return to a place she says is so terrible."

He also noted, in reference to the retirement of the corroborating witness:

Former Investigator McCarthy, after 40 years of public service, has decided to collect his pension and retire. Who can blame him when he has to deal with crap like this.

Hmm.

Why do we keep re-electing Fitz, when we have to deal with crap like this?