The complaint, filed Tuesday in Kauai Circuit
Court on behalf of deputy Rebecca Vogt, raises concerns about equal
pay, gender discrimination, free speech rights and county ethics
violations. It names both the county and Iseri-Carvalho, who was sued by Councilman Tim Bynum yesterday.
Vogt alleges she was pressured to
support Iseri-Carvalho, who rewarded employees she considered loyal.
When Vogt did not actively campaign, she claims she was passed over
for a raise, while five less-experienced male deputies who supported
the prosecutor got hefty pay hikes.
As you may recall, I wrote a post on that very topic last week.
She says Iseri-Carvalho handed out the pay raises even though in March — following “sparse attendance at her major fundraiser” — she had told staff that she would be cutting salaries due to “budget cuts.”
When Vogt complained about the
arbitrary nature of the raises, and their apparent unethical link to
campaign support, she says Iseri-Carvalho retaliated against her,
giving her more work, denying her comp time and stripping her of the
authority to independently approve plea offers.
Vogt maintains Iseri-Carvalho violated
the county Code of Ethics, which prohibits county employees from
using their positions to secure unwarranted privileges, advantages and
treatment for themselves or others. She also says her right to free speech was violated when the prosecutor punished her for speaking up.
The complaint alleges Iseri-Carvalho's
actions were “willful, wanton, outrageous and oppressive,” and
that Vogt suffered job insecurity, income loss, humiliation, and
emotional and physical anguish as a result. The extent of the
retaliation forced her to take a medical leave of absence, she
alleges.
Vogt, who began working for the Office
of Prosecuting Attorney in August 2010, says she had always received
favorable work reviews.
Note: Sorry I can't post the complaint, but the file is too big for my upload facility. However, if you would like a copy — it's interesting reading — email me at eastsidegrrrl at yahoo.com.
Posts
51 comments:
Still true!
Voting for the law
That's the general occupation
First comes the public safety
Second comes the nation
You won't believe me now
But there's been some illumination
The wisest cops have realized
They fucked the operation
Cooking up the books
A respected occupation
The anchor and foundation of multi-corporations
They don't believe in crime
They don't know that it exists
But to understand
What's right and wrong
The lawyers work in shifts
The true character of Shay has been more than exposed. Corrupt, unethical, vindictive, racist, petty, etc. What will it take to get this woman out of office? It should have to be an election. Recall? Impeachment? I don't know.
Shayme, now we have to go after her associates. Mel and Kipu are her loyal servants and so what did they receive for their services? Mel got money from the OPA for his private investigator business and Kipu got money for his camaign manager at the Y.
The real question is was Moore set up to be murdered. If you take all the pieces of information and connections and put it together one would be suspicious with the links these people are associated with and how Moore was killed. It wasn't a random act, it was calculated and premeditated but the who else was involved is the key question. It was like the Bynum rice cooker case where certain people was used to set up Tim.
Shay should never serve the public ever again. She should be behind bars serving her time for her crimes.
I can hear Shay and her supporters now: "The County Attorney settles these cases too easily. We want to go to trial. We want vindication. We want Jake on the stand answering questions under oath about the tape and the conspiracy." Right.
The Ethics Committee has a certain responsibilities, under the charter.
They have failed to do their jobs allowing this woman to continue her occupation of this important position.
Prosecute the Prosecutor! Now. The mayor should fire her - at least remove her from office. How many more suits are waiting?
The Mayor has his own lawsuits against him pending...
All you have to do is look who is on the Ethics board and find out who and what they are connected to. This is some serious stuff people, these people in office are the real criminals on Kauai that are protected to do as they please.
What about the GAS theft case, why hasn't the OPA pprosecuted people for this. It's because she won't arrest and prosecute family and friends, this is Kauai and that's what they do.
Someone ask Kusaka if she's sorry she help kill the 8 people on the north shore of Kauai.
Becky Vogt is well respected by her colleagues. I can't say the same for Shaylene.
I guess she is happy Friday finally arrived.
Becky does good work and gets no raise while other less qualified individuals make more money? And this after four other EEOC complaints? Al is happy it's Friday.
Hrmm, I predicted this 2 weeks ago but you deleted my comment.
Anyone else out there think it's a little asanine to sue someone b/c $80,000/year isn't good enough?
Meanwhile she's collecting "sick leave" checks to file this rediculous bunch of crap. I hope our county doesn't settle this, but they will, probably immediately.
If i were to comment on why Becky didn't get a raise, you'd just delete it. And no, I'm not Shay or Jake, but I know, and it had NOTHING to do with supporting her campaign. It is a very specific incident, for a very specific reason. All I will say is Rebecca Vogt was lucky she kept her job after that incident, and if I had been in charge, she wouldn't have.
It's funny how the folks posting negative comments about Becky aren't brave enough to sign their comments. It really makes them seem all the more believable.
I worked at OPA under Shaylene and these allegations of rewards for supporting Shaylene's campaign seem accurate to me.
If you can't comment on why Becky didn't get a raise, maybe you can explain why Charley got a $31,000 raise. What did he do in to earn that raise? And why give inexperienced deputies maximum pay? And why is Jake the first deputy when he has the least amount of trial experience in the office?
2:34 and 2:37 AM: sure there was an incident warranting Becky not getting a raise. Your sleep deprivation seems to have made you delusional.
Anonymous said...
"Someone ask Kusaka if she's sorry she help kill the 8 people on the north shore of Kauai."
September 21, 2012 8:48 AM
And, ask the judges/cours if they are sorry who tried to get the PO killed by Richie.
If this is the PO who keeps posting maybe someone else got annoyed with you.
Ditto!
No idea why Charley Foster got that raise. But two other people, who also happen to be white females that do NOT actively support Shay's campaign, are paid the max. That would be Lisa Arin and Melinda Mendes. gender discrimination? obviously not. Racial discrimination. obviously not. campaign support discrimination? obviously not. performance rewards? makes the most sense based on the facts. Charley Foster is the appellate attorney for the office, it may simply be that handling appeal merits max pay, while screwing up your cases doesn't.
Here are a few quotes from the media recently>
“A federal civil rights agency says Kauai County Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho likely harassed a white lawyer who worked for her based on her race.”
“Iseri-Carvalho says it's all a conspiracy to keep her from being re-elected in November. She said Bynum wants her out of office as retaliation for prosecuting him on a zoning violation (the attorney general took Iseri-Carvalho off the case and later dismissed it)”
“Kaua‘i County Council on Wednesday voted in favor of Council Vice Chair JoAnn Yukimura’s request for council approval to ask the county Board of Ethics for a diversion program offered by the county Office of Prosecuting Attorney.”
“This is a totally politically motivated (move) to try to mar the reputation of prosecutor’s (office),” Iseri-Carvalho said
“Rebecca (Vogt) found out that five lawyers were awarded raises the day after showing support for the prosecutor at a televised debate,”
“We deny the allegations contained in Vogt’s complaint …” Iseri-Carvalho said.
“The County of Kauai will pay $120,000 to settle a federal charge of race harassment by a former attorney for the County of Kauai's Office of the Prosecuting Attorney.
“These are the actions of a County Attorney, who has provided $600 in political donations to my opponent” Iseri-Carvalha said.
The EEOC says it ultimately found reasonable cause to believe that the county violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the harassment”
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jake Delaplane. Said “While the EEOC may have found ‘reasonable cause’ to believe that discrimination occurred, we wholeheartedly deny”
“Burns testified that Deleplane asked him to secretly record a conversation and to ask …about Bynum’s dwelling.”
Judge Watanabe said: “To protect the integrity of the process and when I say the process I mean the prosecution and the judicial process, (the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney) should not be involved in any manner whatsoever with State v. Bynum…. It is clearly apparent that the public interest requires the intervention.”
The letter, which” Iseri-Carvalho marked confidential but later released to the media, …stated that “Bynum's paranoid belief that the actions taken by our office were calculated personal attacks against him is without any merit and is completely baseless.”
“Delaplane said the unfortunate recusal of the OPA did not allow its case see the light of day in trial.”
“Justice requires integrity …,” said Bynum
“If you are looking to understand how not to handle potential conflict situations, I think the past four years of the prosecutor’s administration has been an excellent example of that,” Kollar said.
“Special Deputy Attorney General Richard Minatoya said testimony did not support the charge that Bynum violated the Kaua‘i County Code…”
“A prosecutor cannot use a criminal prosecution against a political rival in an attempt to intimidate him and prevent him in a County Council meeting from asking legitimate questions about the operations and budget of the Office of the Prosecutor,” said former Attorney General Margery Bronster”
“Councilmember Bynum’s rights were severely injured and we plan to bring everyone involved to justice,” Bronster said.
“The OPA raised the salaries of two newer attorneys to the maximum allowable $101,066 per year. Two other new attorneys now earn $95,000 per year.”
“Iseri-Carvalho asked that the county pay for 10.5 prosecutor positions.”
“If we want to know the number of attorneys that you turned over, please give us those numbers,” Furfaro said.
I said hello to Shaylene the other day and she said hello back but didn't smile. I'm suing for discrimination since she didn’t smile. The County funds are unlimited and no case has ever been challenged. Easy pickings.
How many lawsuits were filed agsinst the Prosecutor's Office when Craig De Costa was the Priosecutor? ZERO! If you think all these lawsuits -6!!!- are frivolous and that Shaylene has done nothing wrong, you are drinking some serious Kool Aid.
vote she go Betty Ford.
After six weeks on the job, Charley was doing such a great job writing press releases and blogging - oh, wait, he's not getting paid for blogging - yeah, must be his other duties, that Shay gave him a $31,000 raise. She's a great manager and frugal with taxpayer dollars.
Shay is so Shayme!
DeCosta is just as corrupt as SHAYME but in a more subtle way.
EVERYONE knows that De Costa was clean -- there were no allegations of wrongdoing. Just ask the attorneys on island. How many lawsuits against Shaylene? six? will there be more? We can't afford Shaylene.
Charley the top hasn't been spinning lately. Will Shay revoke his raise?
BS EVERY Attorney on Kauai knows how the game is played. You are either in the GOB or associated with dirty attorneys and if you ain't no judge on kauai is gonna hand you a bone. It's the same thing as NO BID contracts and greasing palms. The whole Judicial system on Kauai is tainted just like the Pohaku program. They protect and serve Kauai's Mafia.
Give us some examples of no bid contracts besides the Pohaku program. And tell us who the "dirty attorneys" are so we can get handed bones by Kauai judges.
9.22.12 @ 4:28pm the problem with your theory is that the 2 women you named are veteran trial attorneys who handle the most serious cases in OPA (which makes narcistic Shaylene look good). That is why they were getting top salaries along with Shaylene's first dpa (little trial experience and no caseload), Second dpa and her top campaign money contributing dpa (2 males with less trial experience and less serious cases). You cannot compare them apples to the situation that just occurred with the greenie dpas.
The core problem is that right before the election Shaylene gives raises to several still green behind the ears attorneys (yes part-time blogger Charles included) but leaves out a female dpa who didnot support her even though that female had more experience and more serious cases than the greenie males. If that female is a bad apple and did something deserving of punishment (excuse me, was that Shaylene praising her during the televised debate), give her notice of what she is doing wrong and a opportunity to correct it, or inform her why she being punished, and then give her cases worthy of the level you believe her capable of handling, but do not secretly give HUGE pay raises to the other greenies while you secretly deprive her of one.
Get real, Shaylene has claimed she is fiscally responsible with our taxpayer money but she is giving her supporters huge secret raises right before the election. This whole situation smacks of either favortism or retaliation. At best it shows Shaylene is a very bad manager.
What happens to bad apples? You throw them out!
Who have to check out Kauai's national guard also, that's where CID can start investigating their militia men (muscle) for the GOBAG.
now dat's a problem!
I have a real problem with 27 year old kids getting 100K of taxpayer money. I don't care how good they are or who they support. We could afford two attorneys for every one Shay is paying. We could DOUBLE the number of prosecutors, if they were paid on par with their mainland colleagues.
This is not fiscally responsible or sustainable.
Yes, What is the reason Kauai Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene
Iseri-Carvalho is giving inexperienced attorneys over $100,000 a year?
What new event compelled Shaylene to just hand Charley, Jared and Lance over $20,000 to $30,000 in raises?
Why should we vote for someone who uses taxpayer money this way?
"Charley Foster is the appellate attorney for the office, it may simply be that handling appeal merits max pay, while screwing up your cases doesn't."
Then why is Jake getting max pay?
Well then Mr. 10:38, what about Ramsey Ross, Kai Lawrence, and Gary Nelson, Hrmm? Looking at that pay graph, it would appear they were all overlooked for raises as well, and yet Rebecca Vogt gets to sue and we all call her brave? rofl. greedy, petty, maybe ungrateful, but never brave. if she were brave she wouldn't still be collecting a sick leave paycheck while she files this lawsuit.
We should all be glad she is off on leave, otherwise Shay will continue the retaliation and rack up the bill for all of us to pay. Now that she is back from her New York trip with JKe she'll be cracking Bynum soon.
Betcha Shay and her new buddy DP announce a break in a cold case. October suprise anyone?
Melinda, John, Sam and Lisa have lots of experience and handle the serious cases. While not as experienced, Becky prosecuted felony property cases and was praised by Shay for her work.
Why Becky really didn't get a raise:
Jake: Stand when I enter the room.
Becky: You're kidding, right.
Jake: Failure to do so is insubordination and could result in consequences.
Becky: Go away, can't you see that some of us actually have cases to prosecute.
Jake: Becky used a stern voice with me.
Shay: What?! We'll have to tweak her attitude. Hmmmm. This will really piss her off. Give Charley the max raise and make sure Becky finds out. Give some of the other kids a raise, too.
Mr "Come are you kidding" @ 2:04:
Perhaps that graph is not up to date huh? Funny thing about paperwork, it leaves a trail.
Really. Ms. Vogt is ungrateful because she is upset about getting $21,000 less than two less experienced attorneys doing less serious work. If you are one of those attorneys, you should be embarassed because you do not deserve it.
And if you are honorable, you should ask yourself, do you think giving out those huge salary increases to green lawyers was a good management decision by Shaylene?
If Charley Foster doing appeals merits max pay, then why didn't Shaylene start Charley at $101,000? What could he have POSSIBLY done in 6 weeks of working at OPA to warrant a 45% ($31,000) pay raise? Maybe he was on a 6 week probation? Crazy!
Thank you Ms. Vogt for bringing this corruption to light!
A six week probation and then a 45 percent pay raise, wow all of Kauai county employees should go on strike and renegotiate their contracts.
The County council is STUPID for letting this happen!
The Mayor and his Admin is STUPID for letting this happen!
The Board of Ethics is STUPID for letting this happen!
The people of Kauai is STUPID for letting this happen!
The only SMART one is Shaylene for getting away with ABUSE OF POWER!
At the Prosecutor's debate on August 21 Shaylene acknowledged Becky Vogt, and then the very next day she overlooks her for a raise while giving many of the less experienced men raises? That is very suspicious.
Iseri-Carvalho gotta go, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER...
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