It's hard to believe that an agency as "upstanding" as ODOT would hire a spokesman who is more arrogant than Peter Murphy. But then again, the person who is your spokesman is your mouthpiece, so it stands to reason that Mr. Murphy's comment that Sen. Ben Westlund is "just another person" is also how ODOT feels.
The arrogance of these people is astounding! The fact that Sen. Westlund was the head of the Senate Ways and Means Committee that ODOT has to go to for money makes him NOT "just another person." Mr. Murphy should be referring to an elected official with much more respect. The implication here is that Sen. Westlund has no more credit than Joe Blow down the block, and he's "just another person."
But this is textbook ODOT all the way. It's apparent that they believe they are above all of us, even our elected officials. I think what ODOT has forgotten is that the money they receive comes from us, the taxpayers.
The bottom line is that ODOT doesn't believe they are accountable to anyone, and all of a sudden here comes someone (enter Ray Perry, QUALITY CONTROL OFFICER) who is telling us that ODOT isn't following its own protocol. Now they're in a bind, because they usually just hire "yes men" who turn a blind eye to the misdoings, but Ray isn't saying "yes." He's saying, "No, that material is faulty, and it's going to fail."
Hmmm. What to do with someone like Ray Perry? I know! Let's say he's "having problems with his communication and interpersonal skills." True, to a degree, especially when you consider that ODOT doesn't like what Mr. Perry is communicating, and won't back down when they tell him to "dummy up" documents. It won't be hard to prove in court that Mr. Perry was, in fact, an outstanding employee, who had MONTHS of sick leave in reserve.
For ODOT to claim that Mr. Perry was fired for "failing to show up to work" is, again, an exaggeration of the truth. Mr. Perry was under so much stress from trying to do the right thing, going before manager after manager to alert them of wrongdoing, that it just about killed him. Under a doctor's order, he went home and was told NOT to work in those conditions.
Mr. Perry is the taxpayer's equivalent of a knight in shining armor. We need a whole slew of Mr. Perry's clones in the ODOT agency, and then it would run the way it is intended to run, for the taxpayer's benefit and safety, not the other way around.
Susan Wells
