Records: GOP's Miller lied about computer use

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska Republican Senate hopeful Joe Miller admitted to improperly using three co-workers' government computers over a lunch break to access his personal website to participate in a political poll, then cleaning the caches to try to cover up the activities.

Miller's admission and three-day suspension over the event is included in records released Tuesday under court order following an open records request by The Associated Press and other media organizations. The records also show a dispute about leave ahead of his Aug. 28, 2009, resignation.

In a March 2008 statement to Fairbanks North Star Borough Attorney Rene Broker, Miller said he'd lied about accessing all the computers initially when asked and about the reasons why he used them. Clearing the caches also removed passwords and website IDs used by co-workers.

Slackers or 'saners'? Ralliers say they aren't just kidding around Updated 55 minutes ago 10/27/2010 4:22:26 PM +00:00 They’re reasonable, they’re lucid, and, damn it, they want their voices heard. At a moderate conversational level, of course.

Updated 98 minutes ago 10/27/2010 3:39:37 PM +00:00 NYT: Fraudulent voting re-emerges as a partisan issue Why Dems are on the verge of losing the House Crist put on hot seat for switching parties 'Shove it' comment looms large in R.I. gov debate Obama campaigning quietly from White House GOP volunteer who stepped on protester faces court Woman up! Motherhood becomes a wedge issue Political Cartoons Obama's first year BLTWY: Political news, photos and gossip

Miller, a Tea Party favorite, is in a three-way race for the Senate. He faces incumbent Lisa Murkowski, now a write-in candidate he beat in the primary, and Democrat Scott McAdams, the mayor of Sitka.

"I appear to be the only candidate in this Senate race whose entire life history matters to the media," Miller said Tuesday in a statement about the release of the records.

He added that the records show that the computer issue and his decision to leave the borough job more than a year later were unrelated.

Miller, who was working as a borough attorney in 2008, said in a March 2008 email he understood his actions were wrong.

The records show Broker suspended Miller for three days and referred him to an employee assistance program, which he successfully completed.

"I expect that you will work hard to rebuild the co-worker relationships that were harmed due to your actions on March 12, 2008," she wrote. "It will take effort on your part to regain their trust."

Miller acknowledged in a March 17, 2008, email that "I did not clear the cache to cause harm to anyone and was not aware of the impact that would cause my fellow employees."

Read Joe Miller's e-mail exchange over his employment (PDF)

Clearing the caches "also cleared out passwords and IDs for various websites that people were using and was very hurtful. ... 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," he wrote.

Miller also wrote that he first lied about accessing the computers, then admitted accessing them but lied about what he was doing and then, "Finally, I admitted what I did."

The issue bubbled up before the primary, when blogger and Murkowski supporter Andrew Halcro posted a piece on his website that read: "We Know Palin Quit ... But why was Miller Fired? Say it ain't so Joe."

Former Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor Jim Whitaker said earlier this month that Miller used the computers in 2008 for a failed attempt to oust state Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich, the Anchorage Daily News reported. After Whitaker's statement, Miller first refused to answer questions from the press about it, then acknowledged he had been disciplined.

Miller's camp disputed any firing, claimed it was a smear and released, in conjunction with the borough, heavily redacted documents related to his tenure.

'Proxy voting'
Whitaker has said it was his understanding, based on briefings from borough officials, that Miller was engaged in "proxy voting" in an effort to oust Ruedrich. Ruedrich, whose party is backing Miller, has said that process didn't exist at the state convention.

An assistant borough attorney who was acting attorney at the time, Jill Dolan, said in a partially redacted memo that Miller admitted to using colleagues' computers "so an opinion poll would have different URLs."

"I explained to him 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," she wrote, adding later: "He kept saying he was sorry and he was stupid and asked what he should say to everyone else. I told him an apology might be a good start."

Miller told her he had contacted the poll site's Webmaster to change the results so they would end at noon, apparently before he had gotten onto the computers.

Dolan said a later check of his personal website showed percentages rather than the vote count. She wrote that she "did not want Joe at work."

Besides the computer fiasco, an email exchange on Sept. 1, 2009, indicates a disagreement between Miller and Broker over the nature of a denied leave request.

He submitted his resignation to Broker on Aug. 28, 2009.

Miller said in one email that he sought personal leave but that the borough had him change the request to Family and Medical Leave.

Tips from the man who lives without money Updated 55 minutes ago 10/27/2010 4:22:26 PM +00:00 Slackers or 'saners'? Ralliers say they aren't just kidding around First rescuers reach scene of deadly tsunami Victim was thrilled to date ‘Hiccup Girl’ Richards on Sheen: ‘I have faith in my ex’

He wrote that she had, twice within a week's time, taken "inappropriate actions with regard to my work" — including asking that he draft a memo related to a case even though he had raised concerns about a conflict.

He also complained about the cancellation of a "long-time preapproved" leave.

"Did you or did you not represent that the leave was due to your [redacted]?" Broker said in an email. "You cannot obtain leave on the basis that you need [redacted] immediately and keep the leave when that circumstance changes significantly."

He later canceled a medical procedure that seemed to have been the basis of the leave.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View the original article here

5 Common Myths About Credit Scores

A person’s credit score is an integral part of his financial life. A lot of agencies and individuals regularly look at your credit score, from banks, credit unions, utility firms, landlords, insurers and even employers. According to a recent survey, half of Americans don’t exactly know how their credit scores are derived, or what factors are used to compute those three vital numbers. Here are five common myths about credit scores.

Myth No. 1 – The Major Credit Bureaus Use Different Formulas In Computing A Credit Score

This is one of the most common myths about credit scores. The truth is that the major credit bureaus, from Experian, Equifax to TransUnion all have a different term for the same score. TransUnion for example, calls it the Empirica, while Experian calls it the Experian/Honest Isaac Risk Model. While these major companies have different names for the credit score, they still use the same formula for coming up with it. While the names used by the major credit companies are essentially the same, lenders often use just one credit report, to analyze your loan application.

Myth No. 2 – To Repair Your Credit Score, Simply Pay-off All Your Debts

The truth is that your credit score will be influenced, and determined by your past credit history, and not by your current amount of debt. While you may be currently quickly paying-off your credit card debts, and settling any other outstanding obligations, your previous history of late or missed payments will still reflect on your score. As the credit experts often say, it takes time to repair your credit score.

Myth No. 3 – Closing Old Accounts Helps Boost Your Credit Report

This myth’s nothing but a common delusion. The truth is that closing old accounts won’t affect your credit score, but opening these old accounts will surely hurt your score. Having to many accounts also does damage to your credit score, because your score is usually affected by the difference between the available credit and the credit that’s being used. Shutting-off an old account only helps to make your credit report look young and fresh, but the damage has already been done before.

Myth No. 4 – Loan Shopping Hurts Your Credit Score

Whenever a creditor makes an inquiry about your credit score, the score can drop by as much as five points. Some borrowers often fear that if they shop around for lenders, each time the lender makes an inquiry, their credit score plummets again. The truth is that multiple loan inquiries are generally treated as a single inquiry, provided they come within a 45-day period. It would help if you do your loan rate shopping within the 45-day window.

Myth No. 5 – A Loan Company Can, For A Small Fee, Fix Your Credit Score

Credit bureaus can’t do anything to soften up or alter your credit score, especially if it’s filled with lots of information about you not handling your debts well. The only way to improve or enhance your credit report, is by showing that you can handle your debt load well in the future.

To improve your credit score, you need to do four things: Reduce your debt load, Pay your bills on time, Remove existing errors in your credit report, and apply for credit occasionally.

It’s about the kids

I‘ve never appreciated politics that uses the it’s-about-the-kids argument. Maybe it’s because such an argument is overused and can be manipulated to defend almost anything. But Joel Demos’s new ad might be an exception.

Demos is running for the House seat representing the city of Minneapolis and a few suburbs. His ad focuses on the debt being dumped on future generations — an it’s-about-the-kids argument that I think is appropriate:

H/T: American Thinker

View the original article here