Looks like some folks in the Jacksonville Public Defender’s Office are rallying around their new boss. One comment on my post about the issue calls the fired attorney Pat McGuinness a “disingenuous prick.”
It rambles a bit about the methods of McGuiness and his colleague Ann Finnell. I only want to address one point:
These two lawyers also made perfectly clear they were leaving the office if Shirk won.
Of course they did. Matt Shirk ideologically opposed to the effective functioning of the office they work for.
It’s no secret that he views the office as a platform for future political ambitions. He wants to turn it into a laboratory for cost-cutting measures that jeopardize the mission of public defenders at a time when PD offices nationwide face a mounting budget crisis.
And Shirk fired them via e-mail, without even spelling McGuinness’s name right. Some boss.
That really doesn’t make sense. You say of course these attorney’s weren’t going to stay because they were opposed to Shirk’s policies. But the whole argument made in the original post was that how could Shirk fire these attorney’s with so much experience. You are admitting that it didn’t matter whether they were fired or not because they weren’t going to be employed at that office either way when Shirk took over on January 6. And you say he “fired” them by e-mail. How can one fire someone that he doesn’t supervise. Shirk didn’t take over until January 6, therefore he couldn’t fire them even if he wanted. Also, it’s a bit contradictory to say that it’s ineffective to come up with cost cutting measures during a time when PD offices are facing “mounting budget crisis.” isn’t that exactly what we need during a budget crisis? someone to come up with effective cost cutting measures?
So your not going to post my response to this? Because my argument is valid?
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