ADOT didn't just fire Cliff Young; it attempted to crucify him

When the writer made the comment that it is unknown what propelled the agency to file criminal charges against Mr. Young, so long after the fact, the back story is that the agency when recognizing that Mr. Young was winning his personnel board case, ADOT did a scoop and grab in the middle of personnel board case using their OSI officers ala Gestapo techniques, waiving a piece of paper in the air claiming it to be an arrest warrant. They questioned Mr. Young on nothing but the personnel board case, and then "un-arrested" him and took him back home. The agency tainted the board case by insinuating that Mr. Young was “arrested” and there might be criminal charges pending in the case. The hearing officer in the personnel board case then did a complete 180 and found against Mr. Young.
Mr. Young subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against the agency for "kidnap," and then and only then did the agency get a secret grand jury indictment and go after him in criminal court. All the while trying to use the criminal case as a bargaining chip to get Mr. Young to drop his civil lawsuit. There is much, much more to this story and I hope the New Times will follow up.

I am familiar with this case also. It is true that when Mr. Young subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against the agency for "kidnap," and then and only then did the agency get a secret grand jury indictment and go after him in criminal court. I beleive the agency did taint the process in personnel board case and were using the criminal case as a bargaining chip to get Mr. Young to drop his civil lawsuit. There is a whole lot more to this story and I too hope the New Times will do some follow up.

What a waste of tax payers money. I remember reading the story last year in New Times about the Contractor issues talked about here and these people were allowed to retire, yet good tax payers money were spent to on this case? Firing him would have been enough. Didn't we just see ADOT in the news this past week for screwing up with an April fool’s joke? Does the Director down there have nothing better to do? Can't he rain in his people, specially whatever/whoever was involved in spending our tax money? Thanks Governor, I don't see how you could ever handle a position in Washington when you continue to allow ADOT's Director spend our money and screw up as such. How about doing some firing of your own!

What Young should have done is take the disc to the media.
This would have brough attention to the tactic's of ADOT.
Thus making it harder to railroad him....
Cockroaches don't like the light and they would have scattered and left Young alone before being exposes for the cockroaches they are.

With all the road constructgion going on, someone needs to investigate ADOT...I would be curious to find out if any kick backs are going on to the higher staffers of ADOT...

The author of this article obviously does not know Cliff Young like those who were unfortunate enough to work with him at ADOT... To fire ANYONE at ADOT if almost takes an act of god. In an employment scenario outside of ADOT Cliff would have been fired well before this.

Cliff was always a nice and “very” bright person. Those who worked around Cliff who either didn’t get along with him or didn’t like him were usually very technically inept. It was very frustrating when I worked in ADOT’s IT Department how they continuously hired non-technical people in Management positions. The IT CEO himself was a auditor, he never installed a operating system in his life. As far as those in ADOT’s IT Department working in the private sector, very few of those in Management positions would have a job beyond a few days in the real world because they require you to have some idea about the IT field.

Fact – Cliff was a very technical person and knew his job well.
Fact – While I worked at ADOT, he was always nice and friendly to myself and those around me
Fact – He was always accurate and knew what he was talking about during IT meetings on technical issues
Fact – The CEO never liked Cliff and tried more than once when I worked at ADOT to dispose of Cliff anyway he could
Fact – The IT CEO and John Bogart are “very” good buddies and whatever the CEO wants, is what Mr. Bogart will do
Fact – The IT Department is ran by fear mongering. Those who have left ADOT, such as myself, will tell you how low the moral is. Those who work there dare not say anything about moral or they will be fired.

ADOT personnel have a limitation on how much data can be stored in their email and personal drive space provided by ADOT. This limitation is set at under 1GB and IT customers who have been there for years are now deleting public records because they are being forced to remove email. This is what you get when an auditor runs your IT department. Heaven forbid spend a little more money on some drive space. According to the documents that was left on Cliffs desk, IT Management had documented how they were going to get raises while IT personnel would not by using poor employee reviews. Yea, no reason to spend that money on additional drive space to save additional public records.

During my stay with the State and even afterwards, I had always felt that the current CEO of the ADOT IT department was a complete waste of tax payers money. It has never been all about what is best for us the public, but what his agenda was and how to get there. I’ve never understood why the Director continued to put up with his constant antics. I’m glad I’m gone and no longer have to put up with the crap that goes on there. What’s interesting is that after going to retirement parties of IT friends from other state agencies, none of them had to put up with this sort of crap.

Something not mentioned in any of this is the ongoing porn problem within ADOT's own IT Department. The recently had an issue where their IT people were sharing porn through an email list. In the end, none of the women involved with the list were let go, yet at least 4 men were released from service for involvement. Two of the women involved were within the IT department's own management team and the CEO was more than aware of this. It is well known in the IT department if your female, thin and wear short skirts, the CEO will have no problem keeping you on. This whole thing smells of three little words: Joe Blows Goats!
Good use of tax payers money morons!

As to number 6, I work to represent state employees either terminated or suspended over 40 hours before the state personnel board. It does not take an act of God to terminate a state employee, and in most cases the agencies do not even have the evidence or back up documentation to justify terminating a long term employee. In this case the employee had over 29 years in with the agency. If he were a problem, something would have happened long ago or he would have had a long history of discipline. None of that existed in this case. I am more willing to beleive the agency abused its power and went after this guy for exposing their corruption. I would like the New Times to ask for the first "arrest warrant" to see if it ever existed and ask the OSI officers for copies of their notes, reports and taped interview.

They won't mind - they love spending taxpayers money.

Get rid of Victor Mendez and his whole crooked crew. Put this guy back to work, he sounds like the only honest one over there.

There is so much abuse of taxpayer's money going on over at ADOT; I have to question why upper management has been allowed to remain.

How about doing a public records request on their missing fixed assets. An external auditor comes in every year but the missing fixed assets never becomes part of the public report. I know one year, they had $2 million worth of new computers which turn up missing, hmmmm. The last time the public records request was made, they said they didn't have such a report, then why haven't the auditors done a "finding" on this, because all government entities are required to keep track of their fixed assets as well as report on things that turn up missing, hmmmm.

Next, I would like to see the New Times do a Public Service Announcement (full page ad) requesting former employees to come forward with evidence of the things ADOT has done and current employees, too. Protect current employees through the whistle-blowing statutes ARS "38-531 Definitions" pay close attention to the definition as defined "Public body" means the attorney general, the legislature, the governor, a federal, state or local law enforcement agency, the county attorney, the governing board of a community college district or school district, the board of supervisors of a county or an agency director; and "38-532 Prohibited personnel practice; voilation; reinstatement; exceptions; civil penalty", which defines the voilations of law all employees have a duty to the public to report.

Arizona will never change. . Employers rule no matter who they are because they OWN Government. . .screw the working men and women and trash the environment all in the name of Greed! Not what you do it is who you no that matters! Born and raised in Arizona, moved to Oregon and never want to return to visit . . .never mind move back!

I was in the courtroom during most of the trial for Mr. Young’s alleged criminal wrong doing. It is my opinion having worked at ADOT and in the department at ITG that the agenda was a personal attack by the CEO of the Information Technology Group at ADOT against Mr. Young for previous complaints made by Mr. Young regarding wrong doing on part of the CEO ADOT/ITG. Again it is my opinion the information that Mr. Young discovered from a floppy diskette that was placed on his desk anonymously and the data he then presented to his then supervisor was public record information. There was testimony by persons that during their investigation they saw no evidence that the A drive, or floppy disk drive was accessed during the time frame that Mr. Young reported accessing the floppy disk. I found it curious that these persons were either under the employ of the CEO at ADOT/ITG or contracted outside source by the CEO of ADOT/ITG. Likewise, if this information was so sensitive, regardless where the data was stored, why were their not more security features to protect the data? The data was not even password protected.
This data that was discovered my Mr. Young presented employee problems for the CEO so they reverted the focus to Mr. Young. I really would like to see the public and moreover the state employees at ADOT unit against ADOT to stop the management tag team from misrepresenting state interest in place of their own personal agendas. I am proud to call this one man crusader a friend, but I must say that I have concerns in his efforts to right the wrongs at ADOT and throughout other various state agencies in his position as a representative lead at the American Federation State, City, Municipal Employees local 3111 union. My concern is the enormous task that he is taking on trying to seek justice for state employees in an unjust government system. Many state government employees applaud his efforts, but do to fear of job or unwillingness to get involved allow the abuse of authority to continue. ONE COURAGEOUS man cannot do it alone. This is what happens when one person stands alone, the employees of state government and the public alike must unite to stop state government waste of human and financial resources. To do this we have to stop being sheep and watch others like Mr. Young and other union representatives who are few, go up against goliath. We have to act as did David and cast the stone to create change. The abuse of authority at ADOT and from what I have seen in other state government agencies has been going on much too long, it is time for reform. I encourage all government employees to join unions and become the majority to create change within state government. Again the aforementioned is the opinion of only one person, I hope you share these views and act.

I would like to see an investigation by the Governor's office into all the allegations of wrongdoing by ADOT. We knwo they abuse employees, waste taxpayers money, engage in scurilious activites, I have heard about procurement violations, land swap deals with legislators, procurement and public records violations! They are the kings of deception and cover up.

I would encourage every employee within ADOT to contact the new times and give the inside information on the wrongdoings there, or your state legislator and ask fior whistle blower protection.

The one writer was correct when they referenced the ADOT pornocopia scheme. Managers, Directors and Supervisors were bombarding their employees with hard core porn on the ADOT email system and those who came forward to complain were either fired or suspended.

Do a public records request for all ADOT investigative reports on abuse of the email and internet accessing porn and the discipline the employee received including their title and you will quickly see management was protected and line employees punished severely.

ADOT is a corrupt agency that need a top down house cleaning. A new director and new admministrative staff.

And the employees probably need counseling and a support group to heal from the damage the agency heads have caused.

ADOT General Comments & Inquiries 602.712.7355

It never hurts to have your voice heard.

It is true about the management salaries in ITG. It would be interesting to see what a public records request for the salaries of the ITG management team pre-Joe Throckmorton and now. For example, one might find that the manager of the security department's salary has increased 10K for the past 3 consecutive years. The same department responsible for spearheading the investigation against Cliff. It was this department that began investigating its own employees and systematically began 'targeting' higher salary employees in line level positions. By eliminating a few higher-paid line level employees, the management salaries could be increased.

Why would you call ADOT to voice your concern? So they can manipulate the information to their own advantage. Call the governor's office instead at 602-542-1318 and demand the Director's dismissal along with his executive core team.

Nice story, and that is all it is, a story, meant to entertain. I have had the misfortune of working with Mr. Young over the past several years. However, there are two sides to every story. And performance evaluations alone will not tell the true story.

My favorite quote from this article, "Young is a slight man who's spent most of his career as a network engineer — you can't imagine a guy who's less of a threat to society."

Well during my brief time at ADOT I can say the following:

1) During Mr. Young's 'management' career on the PC LAN team, Mr. Young had an extra-marital affair, with is then immediate supervisor (Hala), on state time, on the state dime (off-site hotels paid for by ADOT).

2) Mr. Young's wife divorced him for another employee (Glenn). Mr. Young has stalked, harassed, and threatened that employee. Again, on State time.

3) Mr. Young was accused of arson during his time at ADOT. It was rumored that he burned down his home after it was awarded to his ex-wife.

4) A former human resources worker (Donna), is so deathly terrified of Mr. Young that during his personnel proceedings, she would not even wait in the same building as Cliff and had to wait, physically, across the street from the proceedings at the AG office.

Just those four examples I have provided, and can be verified, indicate that, YES, this man is a threat to society (based on his previous actions that in today's world can be considered terroristic). There are numerous other mis-deeds and allegations over the years about Cliff Young.

Nice story, and that is all it is, a story, meant to entertain. I have had the misfortune of working with Mr. Young over the past several years. However, there are two sides to every story. And performance evaluations alone will not tell the true story.

My favorite quote from this article, "Young is a slight man who's spent most of his career as a network engineer — you can't imagine a guy who's less of a threat to society."

Well during my brief time at ADOT I can say the following:

1) During Mr. Young's 'management' career on the PC LAN team, Mr. Young had an extra-marital affair, with is then immediate supervisor (Hala), on state time, on the state dime (off-site hotels paid for by ADOT).

2) Mr. Young's wife divorced him for another employee (Glenn). Mr. Young has stalked, harassed, and threatened that employee. Again, on State time.

3) Mr. Young was accused of arson during his time at ADOT. It was rumored that he burned down his home after it was awarded to his ex-wife.

4) A former human resources worker (Donna), is so deathly terrified of Mr. Young that during his personnel proceedings, she would not even wait in the same building as Cliff and had to wait, physically, across the street from the proceedings at the AG office.

Just those four examples I have provided, and can be verified, indicate that, YES, this man is a threat to society (based on his previous actions that in today's world can be considered terroristic). There are numerous other mis-deeds and allegations over the years about Cliff Young.

The person who wrote the comment regarding Cliff obviously does not know him. I have known him for over 15 years and I can assure you none of these statements are true. This shows just how low ADOT’s Joe Throckmorton will stoop to discredit Cliff.

First of all I was at Mr. Young’s personnel board hearing. I also know “Donna” who used to work at ADOT Human Resources and I can tell you that she retired from ADOT approximately 6 years before Mr. Young was terminated. I can also tell you that “Donna” was not at his hearing and was never called to testify either for or against Mr. Young. The writer of this comment doesn’t know what he or she is talking about.

I had to check this out according to Maricopa County Court records Mr. Young was awarded the family home and was living in the family residence located at 7703 N 47th Drive, Glendale at the time of his divorce. The records show that Mr. Young was ordered to sell the home as part of his divorce settlement. There is no record that the home was ever awarded to Mr. Young’s wife nor was it ever “burned”.

2. Father is 42 years of age and resides sometimes in Phoenix
in the former family residence, and with his father. Father works as a computer technician at the Arizona Department of
Transportation. The most recent report of his gross monthly
income is $5,158.
12. The parties' residence located at 7703 N. 47th Drive,
Glendale, Arizona shall immediately be listed for sale and sold.
Net proceeds shall be shared equally by the parties. However, if
the residence sells prior to September 15, 2001 and Father still
owes Mother the equalizer payments provided for above ($1,075.50
and $825), those sums shall come out of Father's one-half share

I remember a Project Enterprise a few years back where Joe Throckmorton was the chief auditor and that project lost between 30-40 million dollars for the taxpayers of the State. Instead of Joe being fired his buddy John Bogert now Chief of Staff for Victor Mendez promoted him to the position that he currently holds as Chief Information Officer at ADOT. John Bogert also hired Chief auditor Michael R. Spector. Michael R. Spector participated in a $2.1 million securities scam in which his company received at least $97,000. Spector later signed a consent decree in 1997 to settle a Security and Exchange Commission securities fraud investigation. See the New Times article, August 18, 2005 http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2005-08-18/news/bird-in-hand/2. Is there anyone at ADOT that is not involved in criminal activities? When is the Governor going to clean house at ADOT?

The comment made by Comment by former ADOT employee from Today, 08:49 are incredibly outrageous. The real reason Mr. Young was terminated was because he brought to light the wrongdoings of the CIO, Joe Throckmorton. The truth is Mr. Young filed a complaint with ADOT’s Human Resources regarding Joe Throckmorton having an affair with one of his employees and then raising her salary to $80,000+ per year. After Mr. Young filed his complaint he was demoted by Joe Throckmorton, his subordinate whom Throckmorton was having the affair with retired happily from ADOT. Both Joe and his subordinate denied the affair. Nothing happened to Joe or his subordinate and she and Joe got married just before Joe terminated Cliff. Hum… Now she and Joe are living happily ever after on her retirement and his $100,000 per year. Hum.. It was Joe Throckmorton who created the document that was later found on Cliff’s desk. Hum.. When Cliff turned it in to his supervisor the diskette disappeared never to be seen again. Hum… It was also Joe who had his people investigate Cliff. Both investigators and Cliff’s supervisor quit ADOT while Cliff was going through his personnel hearing. It was also Joe who pushed for Cliff to be prosecuted in a felony case. Hum.. The Governor really needs to investigate the corruption going on at ADOT.

Comment by Steven L. Higgins from Glendale Apr 24th, 08:50
Thursday, a work day, posting from work?

Comment by Concerned ADOT employee from Phoenix May 16th, 09:00
Friday, a work day, posting from work?
Those who critize Joe T. shouldn't do it from work if you value your job.

And $200 fine or not, the guy was still found guilty. Guilty is guilty.

Response to the comment by the author of neitherhereorthere from phoenix today 5/16/08 at 02:03 P.M.
First of all, I do not work for the great State of Arizona any more because I got fed up with the B.S. and quit. The time that I spent commenting on this issue regarding my innocent friend Mr. Cliff Young on April 24th at 08:50 was made during my time, if it is anyone’s business. Furthermore, anyone with half a brain if they attended the trial for Mr. Young, or if they read the transcript testimony, would conclude that it was all B.S. I believe the judge saw this to be B.S. and this is why he only fined Mr. Young the total sum of 200 dollars. Additionally, he encouraged Mr. Young to share his knowledge of computers in his order of community service. Interesting, since the allegation was computer tampering. The reason that Mr. Young was found guilty in my opinion was that he had a public defender that knew little about computers, did not prepare his case on Mr. Young’s behalf and the jury wanted to go home on a Friday afternoon. I will have you know that I tried to talk my friend Mr. Young out of going to trial, because of the injustices of justice, and even the judge offered Mr. Young a plea prior to trial, a deal that would have amounted to practically nothing. Mr. Young, standing on principle and believing that justice would prevail stood his ground, believing in the justice system. Finally, NEITHERHERORTHERE your comments “Those who critize Joe T. shouldn't do it from work if you value your job.” This is just the type of tyranny that Mr. Young and all of the good people of AFSCME unions are trying to fight against. IS THIS STILL AMERICA?? I would like to reiterate my previous comments of April 24th in my opinion “The abuse of authority at ADOT, and from what I have seen in other state government agencies, has been going on much too long, it is time for reform. I encourage all government employees to join unions and become the majority to create change within state government.” I am not pro-union; I am just anti-abuse of authority and corruption. I would also suggest that anyone commenting on this article regarding Mr. Young stand behind your comments and identify yourself, after all according to the author NEITHERHERORTHERE this would be acceptable as long as it is not during work hours.

In response to neitherhereorther; If you are trying to infer that just because you are found guilty by the United States Justice System that you are actually guilty. Tell that to the 129 defendants that were convicted, sentenced to death and subsequently either-
a) their conviction was overturned AND
i) they were acquitted at re-trial or
ii) all charges were dropped
b) or they were given an absolute pardon by the governor based on new evidence of innocence

Some of those individuals were sitting on death row for as long as 33 years before DNA or other evidence came along and proved their innocence. To date DNA evidence has exonerated 16 individuals from Death Row since 1973. How does this happen you say? Perhaps reading the individual cases at http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=110 will give you some insight into how the system really works. In those cases you will see a common theme; they were poor and couldn’t afford a good attorney. There have been several high profile cases recently where the defendant literally got away with murder because they could afford the best attorneys. Mr. Young would have been sent to prison for two years if ADOT management had gotten their way. Instead Judge Burke knew something was wrong about this case and gave Mr. Young what amounted to a slap on the hand. Thank god or what ever deity you believe in for Judges like Judge Burke who are not swayed by political influences and pray that you never become a victim of the system.

An affair on state time, on state dime (off-site hotels paid for by ADOT? First of all I’d like to say I’m appalled that an individual’s name was dragged through the mud that had nothing to do with this case. This is typical of the management at ADOT. Second Cliff was not required to travel as part of his job, since he lived in Glendale he was not authorized to stay in hotels. Third if Cliff did have an affair he probably would have been promoted and would still be at ADOT since affairs get you promoted to CIO and your salary raised 40%. It’s a well known fact that the current Infrastructure Manager at ADOT has had sex in several state buildings as a result she was promoted and her salary was raised to $85,000 and yes she also works for Joe.

I worked with the “Glenn” in the comments when I was at the ADOT Traffic Operation Center for about three years. I remember that there was some kind of involvement with Cliff’s wife and I know that Cliff filed an Injunction Against Harassment against “Glenn” in Maricopa County Superior Court to stop him from harassing Cliff at work not the other way around.

I have to point out that Mr. Young’s case was the last case heard by David Gering for the State of Arizona. Seems David was involved in a little ex-parte communications and resigned his position as a hearing officer rather than face the music for tainting a case. It seems ironic that David Gering pointed the finger at Cliff and determined that Cliff could not be trusted when he had already proven that he had no problem violating the Judicial Code of Conduct. He also allowed an ADOT witness to be present at Cliff’s Hearing for the entire proceeding so that he could listen to all the testimony. After Wes (we won’t give his real name) had heard all the other testimony he was allowed to repeat the other witnesses testimony as his own. This had to be the fastest railroad in Arizona.

What happened to Cliff’s attorney? And where does ADOT get their authority to investigate a felony matter? I thought they were responsible for building and maintaining the State’s highway system. Even a first year law student could see the incredible conflict of interest for the AG’s Office to bring charges against Cliff and then to prosecute him on felony charges.

For all you lawyer type, PER-5.05 ADOT guidelines for progessive discipline state under section 7 (gaining unauthorized access to state records) 1st offense - WRITTEN REPRIMAND TO SUSPENSION. So apparently even ADOT violates their own rules. Interesting, huh?

Wes, Throckmoron’s chief investigator got his forensic certification from an open book, multiple choice test he supposedly took over the Internet. The company that sells these online tests allows you to purchase as many “practice” tests as you want before taking the online test. This speaks volumes when you consider the fact that no law enforcement agency ever did an independent investigation into this matter. I also find it incredible that Cliff was prosecuted by the AG’s office on the basis of such a flimsy investigation, let alone that he was convicted. It’s obvious that Wes was in over his head on this investigation and ADOT should have had DPS’s Forensic Unit investigate this matter assuming that a crime had actually been committed. The only reason Throckmoron and ADOT used their own so-called pseudo investigator was they obviously wanted to control the outcome of the investigation. I agree where was Cliff’s attorney?

Several people from ADOT who worked on the server team with Cliff including myself were called to testify on Cliff’s behalf. A couple of days before we were to testify for Cliff, each of us were called into a meeting with ADOT’s Motor Vehicle Investigator, Jeff Himmelstein. Himmelstein asked each of us about the case and told us that he knew the AFSCME Union had subpoenaed us to testify on behalf of Cliff. Himmelstein went on to threaten us by saying that if we were asked by the Union about the case that we could not say anything. He went on to say that it had become a criminal matter and that we were to tell Cliff’s representative and the Union that we could not talk about it. He went on to say that if we did testify about what we knew that we could be prosecuted in a criminal matter. I felt that this was a direct threat to my job if I told what I really knew about the diskette and the spreadsheet I would not only be fired but possibly prosecuted by ADOT. I felt bad that I couldn’t testify for Cliff as to what I knew about this case; however I did not want to be prosecuted by ADOT. After seeing what ADOT did to Cliff it just makes me sick. You can’t imagine what it’s like to work for this place. We are all afraid that if we come forward we will lose our jobs and even worse we might have the same thing happen to us. Sorry Cliff for not having the guts to stand up like you did.

Cliff's attorney? Cliff's attorney was a public defender. They're better known as deal brokers. The public defenders work for Maricopa County, need I say more? When Cliff stood his ground and refused to bargain by not taking taking a plea his attorney simply did little or nothing for him. Unfortunatly this is the way things work here in the State of Arizona.

We Americans puff ourselves up when threats to our freedom and our so-called way of live are threatened, yet threats and acts of abuse of authority in the work place from some of the Arizona Department of Transportation Management go unchallenged. We stick our tails between our legs like whipped pups, hiding behind the cloak that we must not up-set management by saying anything in the name of job preservation. I must admit that during most of my seven-years of employment with ADOT I tried to remain focused solely on my job, trying to stay below the radar. My immediate manager wanted to mold my way of thinking, and admittedly, for a time, I too was fearful of losing my job if I had any disagreement in the so-called management style. When I had a personnel legal matter develop in the first quarter of 2007, I turned to my immediate management to hopefully seek some empathy to the false allegation that was alleged and to advise why I was going to need additional time off from work. I also sought empathy from a couple of co-workers whom I thought would be compassionate and empathic as well. Not thinking at the time that anyone would take me literally, I admittedly used an inappropriate symbolism to try to describe the anxiety I was going through. The next thing I knew, I not only had to contend with false allegation in my legal plight, but I was also being attacked on the work front. I was confronted with mandatory psychological evaluations and when this was not successfully able to remove me from my employment. I believe that ADOT management from the supervisor up to the Director of ADOT to include the support of ADOT Human Resource conspired means to remove me from my employment. Without going into extensive detail, I was subjected to additionally, not one but two special evaluations based on my work performance. I was subjected to weekly reviews of every maniacal notation that would place me in an unfavorable position such as, failing to say good morning to my supervisor, or forgetting to place a signature block on an E-mail. My work performance always met expectations in previous years and although I was dealing with an outside influence, my work ethic was unchanged. When I attempted to reason with management why there was no progressive discipline measures instead of jumping straight into a special evaluation. I was offered a letter of reprimand and management declared that I requested this measure. To add to the insult, I was directed that if I accepted this reprimand in place of the Special Evaluation that I would have to sign away my rights to due process and could not grieve the reprimand. The main subject matter of the reprimand was that I had to stop declaring that management was trying to create a constructive discharge of my employment. Going to a department of the Governor Office, I sought assistance and they directed a letter to the director of ADOT to seek an investigation. Although ADOT management claims they are unaware of any such letter from the Governor’s Office, astonishingly the following day my second special evaluation was over turned and although I had not changed a thing in my work ethic, I suddenly met work expectations. The harassment did not stop, I was subjected to increased workloads, and management was scrutinizing my every movement. They created such a hostile work environment until one day; eight months later in an emotional reaction to the ongoing harassment, I presented my resignation. They declined my attempt to withdraw my resignation on a technicality, but I believe the truth is this was a good way to stop the investigation from the Governor’s Office. The aforementioned events where depicted for several reasons. First, it is my belief that my request for assistance from Cliff Young, a Union Representative for AFSCME, antagonized ADOT management resulting in prejudicial treatment in my case. Secondly, I believe that if everyone who has illustrations of wrong doing on the part of ADOT and/or management should be annotated in this article. Perhaps the Governor’s Office will have to take action to correct the problems. Finally, my hope is that people under ADOT employment will unite in numbers to force the changes that are so prevalently needed within ADOT’s working environment. I suggest contacting AFSCME @ 602-252-6501 to show your support. After all Cliff and the good people at AFSCME are powerless without you and that is the way ADOT management wants it.

The Infrastructure Manager has sex in State buildings? Wow! I've always heard the State had great benefits! Where do I sign up?

Wes Bateman the so-called investigator in this case was actually caught using Mr. Young’s network account and password. Bateman was given a list of computers to examine by Tami Price, the Infrastructure Manager and one of Throckmorton’s employees. Somehow Bateman he never got around to looking at most of the computers and went straight for Mr. Young’s. Mr. Young’s supervisor Bob Powell, told all the employees of the server team to clean off their computers because this incident was going to be investigated by Bateman. When Mr. Young tried to subpoena the security logs from the servers which would have indicated who had accessed this document amazingly ADOT claimed all the logs had been overwritten and were not pertinent anyway. In short ADOT destroyed everything that would have proven Mr. Young to be innocent. The only link to that ADOT had to Mr. Young was somehow shortcuts to this document were found on one of Mr. Young’s machines. These shortcuts to all had the same exact date and time stamp. The Hearing officer noticed this discrepancy and asked Wes Bateman, “How is it possible that Mr. Young could have looked at all these files at the exact same second”. Bateman replied “he really didn’t know”. It would appear that these shortcuts were all copied to Mr. Young’s machine or created programmatically. There are many unanswered questions in this case that would seem to be problematic for ADOT. Good luck Mr. Young in your appeal.

Speaking of affairs on State time, State dime! Joe Thomas Throckmorton is the king, in the last few years he’s had at least three that we know of. Karen, Kim, Dawn, and probably many others we don’t know about. He and Karen were flying to Las Vegas to carry on their love life and we as the tax payers were paying for the air fares and hotels. This can be verified by addressing your public records requests to Joyce Geyser at ADOT, 206 S 17th Ave, Phoenix, Arizona. Not bad for fifty nine year old that wears a toupe.

We are trying to figure out how Glenn still has his job at ADOT Traffic Operations. He was convicted of burglary, embezzlement, grand theft, drug possession and other felony charges. I find it interesting that with all these criminal convictions he still has access to sensitive records at ADOT.

Let’s not loose site of the fact that ADOT violated Cliff’s Civil Rights when Jeff Himmelstein and others came to his house and pretended to have an arrest warrant, and also pretended to have a search warrant. Keep in mind that when this happened Cliff was a private citizen and was no longer employed by ADOT. Himmelstein and ADOT had no authority under Arizona statutes to investigate an alleged felony, and by the way they never showed Cliff any warrants. Still Cliff was handcuffed and taken away to ADOT’s secret OSI Office at 7th St and Thunderbird where Himmelstein questioned Cliff for several hours regarding his testimony before the State Personnel Board. Cliff’s case was sealed by the hearing officer at ADOT’s request and was not supposed to be discussed outside the Hearing Office. Cliff reported that the questions Himmelstein asked were the same as had been given in testimony at the hearing. Himmelstein also asked Cliff questions regarding how long he had been in the Union, when did he join the Union and other questions that clearly had no bearing on the case. Instead these questions reflect the contempt that Victor Mendez and his band of thieves have for the Union and its members. You should know that Cliff was a Union Steward at the time of his dismissal from ADOT. I ask you as citizens of this State is this the type of behavior that you want taking place in the Department of Transportation? In closing I have to say kudos to Sarah Fenske and Cliff for exposing these bastards for what they are. Janet Napolitano has turned her blind eye to the corruption going on at ADOT, because she has taken little or no interest in the affairs of this State she has no business taking on an even higher office in Washington DC. Rumors have it that Janet is on the shortlist for a political appointment if Obama is elected to the Office of President. I urge you to call the Obama Campaign Offices at (866) 675-2008, you can also contact them by mail at: Obama for America P.O. Box 8102 Chicago, IL 60680. Call or write and let them know your displeasure with Janet.

TO STEVE HIGGINS - R U the same, terminated ADOT employee from here: http://www.personnel.state.az.us/minutes.htm and the AZ Personnel board erases each months minutes so here is the context, "I"m going to make a motion that we adopt the hearing officer's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as our own. I then move the complainant's complaint be denied and the whistleblower complaint be dismissed."

yea, ur not bitter.

And to the rest of the current or former employees who have commented here, many conflicting stories posted here in the comments and it seems as if noone really KNOWS for sure what really happened. It seem s like all speculation, "S/He did not do this because i know them" type child-play. But it sure does seem that all the disgruntled former ADOT employees are posting here with all kind of accusations. And that seems about it, accusations. And it seems if anyone contradicts any of the statements printed here, all these 'former' employees jump up and down. Honestly, to these 'former' employees, good riddance!

Dear Concerned Citizen (AKA ADOT management), perhaps you should check your facts. Mr. Higgins resigned from ADOT under pressure from his supervisor. Mr. Higgins sent a letter requesting that he could withdraw his resignation; this letter was responded to by NO OTHER THAN JOE THROCKMORON himself. Of course Joe did not allow Mr. Higgins to withdraw his resignation letter. MORE DISINFORMATION by ADOT managers. Steve was never fired as was alleged by one of Joe’s managers.

We didn’t delete our copies from AFSCME. We have a copy of his resignation letter and the responses. We have the 1st illiterate response from Throckmoron and we also have the response from head criminal Vic Mendez. I’m sure Mr. Higgins wouldn’t mind AFSCME sharing this information with you so that you could actually be informed about what you are talking about. Copies can be obtained by writing to AFSCME, 420 N 15th Ave, Phoenix AZ 85007. We know what we are talking about, and we don’t spread disinformation.

Regarding your comments concerning the Arizona Personnel Board. I did not expect to win this hearing. After all if they had found in my favor this would have open the door for a law suite for the State of Arizona and the management at Arizona Department of Transportation. This is why the Attorney General’s office represented ADOT. (DA!) Just the fact there is a recording of the complaint is enough for me, at least I did not stick my tail between my legs as so many other employees that sale their souls in the name of job preservation, concerned citizen from phoenix.

Present and former ADOT employee’s who know Cliff Young are outraged with the events that resulted in his unjust verdict in Maricopa Superior Court. The current ADOT employee who supports Mr. Young is concerned with retaliation; Mr. Young and other former ADOT employee’s are examples of the ADOT machine. It is the former employee’s who are no longer threatened by ADOT who speak out. It is my hope that the state Senate, Legislation or Governor office will begin jumping up and down and give credence to these comments and seek investigation to these so called conflicting stories. It seems to me that ADOT management is the only ones telling stories, they have the most to lose, and former employees have nothing to loss.

As to being bitter, I would not give ADOT or its management the satisfaction. By the way concerned citizen from phoenix, did you make these comments on my time public servant?

Kick ass AFSCME! That was a great middle finger to ADOT management. I’m proud to say that’s my Union.

This link takes you to Karen Strickland’s divorce. It was her husband who filed for divorce after she began an affair with Throckmorton her boss.
http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/FamilyCourtCases/caseInfo.asp?caseNumber=FC2003-000182

This link takes you to Joseph Thomas Throckmorton‘s and Karen’s prenuptial agreement.
http://156.42.40.50/UnOfficialDocs/pdf/20060829094.pdf

And this link takes you to Karen Strickland who is listed as representing ADOT ITG (Information Technology Group) where Joe Throckmorton is the Chief Information Officer .
http://www.azdot.gov/CCPartnerships/Government_Relations/PDF/2003_Legislative_Summary.pdf

Need more proof? Joe T. do you remember ADOT’s Deputy Director telling you that she hoped this relationship didn’t come back to haunt you? God I love the Internet and public records.

It was Glenn Steven Jonas of ADOT Traffic Operations who was making up and spreading the rumors about Cliff. It seems Jonas was having an affair with Cliff’s wife while this was going on. It was also Jonas who was complaining to ADOT about Cliff and Throckmorton felt compelled to investigate Cliff by placing him on administrative leave each time Jonas made a complaint. Eventually Cliff complained and that began his down fall with Throckmorton. If anyone should have lost their job it should have been Jonas. His affair with Cliff’s wife was very disruptive to the work place. Cliff eventually got an injunction against Jonas to stop his attempts at causing Cliff to lose his job. I know I was there and I saw how entertaining this was for Glenn. I also understand that Glenn was fired from ADOT by Juan Martin who at that time was the MVD Director. Glenn was fired because Director Martin didn’t want someone working on your MVD records with the extensive criminal history that Glenn had. So how did Glenn get re-employed by ADOT?

With all the affairs going on at ADOT, one has to ask when do you have time to plan closing every freeway in the valley each week end? I have a solution to the mess at ADOT, outsource the entire Agency!

I'm confused is his name Throckmorton or Throckmoron?

It doesn’t matter what his name is. Personally I’d say his name was mud. It’s obvious that he’s the most disliked person at ADOT, and there’s nothing like having all your nasty little secrets exposed on the Internet. You can’t look up ADOT on Google without this story popping up. Looks like Cliff’s story made what’s his name famous.

Who do we need to call? This is ridiculous..It appears ADOT management is wasting our tax dollars and nothing is being done about it. This Throckmorton guy has got to go as well as his boss. Doesn't ADOT management have a code of ethical conduct? What ADOT management is getting away with is far worse than the guy they heavy-handedly threw the book at. The Governor should know about this.

It’s obvious that Mr. Young crossed the “good ole boy” network at ADOT when he brought up the complaint against Throckmorton. Mr. Young did one thing wrong in that he reported the misconduct to ADOT managers who were part of the problem. These managers had a vested interest in making sure he paid dearly for it. No wonder Throckmorton felt Mr. Young couldn’t be trusted after all he had already proven that he wouldn’t stand on the side lines and watch as ADOT managers continued to violate our public trust. It could just be that Mr. Young was one of the few managers at ADOT that still had some integrity, because of that ADOT tried to ruin his life. ADOT wasn’t happy with just firing him they tried to send him to prison. My guess is they are still trying. With this felony conviction hanging over Mr. Young’s head it will be hard for him just to get a job. They in effect did ruin his life. What a slap in the face this has to be for Mr. Young after a 21 year perfect career at ADOT. All taxpayers in this State should be disgusted with ADOT and the Attorney General’s Office not only for wasting our tax dollars, but for trying to ruin this man’s life in order to protect their own misconduct. In a normal state I’d say call the Governor’s Office however it appears she’s not interested in what’s happening on her watch.

One thing’s for sure, ADOT management underestimated Mr. Young. I’ll bet they never considered that he would stick to his guns and go to trial and then take his story to the press and make them look like the vindictive fools that they are. One reader commented it would be difficult for Mr. Young to get a job. I disagree, after reading this article and the comments posted I would be proud to have him work for my company.

As civil servants you are employed to serve the objectives of State Government and the agency for which you work. It is your duty to support the mission of your agency and because you are entrusted with that duty this is why your existence is justified. It is your role in carrying out this mission that qualifies you to be paid from public funds and to use public resources. We as taxpayers expect you to place the obligations of public service above your own personal interests.

The agencies published value statement says;

We are truthful, honest and open. We obey the law.
We treat people with respect and dignity. People are the foundation of ADOT’s success.
We are accountable for our actions.

It would seem that ADOT has fallen far short of these basic values. In closing I’d like to say that I am greatly disappointed that the Arizona Department of Transportation is allowed to continue this unethical conduct with impunity.

It was Roger Baune who was having the affair with Hala, not Cliff.

As a former ADOT employee I can tell you that taking ANYTHING to the media assures your employment with ADOT is over! I can also say that ADOT be discriminatin' fools. I was fired for attendance issues with no infractions during my first 3 years and an above average work performance scoring. Infact the first thing ADOT did during my "Personel Board hearing" was announce that the Agency would like to identify that my work performance was never an issue (exemplatory, outstanding work performance)and that I never fell behind or handed in work that was of poor quality AT ANY TIME, INCLUDING THE PERIOD OF POOR ATTENDANCE. MY poor attendance came as I was trying to escape from an abusive and destructive "relationship".Before I was able to have the restraining order servered I was left with an empty thrashed apartment, an eviction notice (due to police being called) my car being vandalized every other day(she got my spare car keys too)and on my way to being terminated. I provided my supervisor with a copy of the restraining order, informed him of my home life crisis but because it wasn't a case of a man and woman having domestics it went to a deaf ear. As the Chief Right of Way Agent Sabra Mousavi said to me "Now Lorraine is a single mother and Susan takes care of her elderly mother and helps with her grandchildren, but there is absolutely no reason that you should be missing any work Julia." THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I FELT DISCRIMINATED AGAINST (and I'm pretty gay and grew up in a small and un-gay town before it was popular to be gay or bi). ADOT's discrimination is nasty and it leaves you screwed upon termination with very little chance of finding a food job at all but you can kiss working for any government agency (city, county, state or federal) goodbye. PS the restraining order I provided my supervisor meant so much that the person casually was in and out of my building until the very day I was fired. If she didn't find me in my cubicle then she was just redirected to where I was working in the building. Napalitano needs to pay attention to what ADOT is doing because in my opinion her neglegence is allowing that agency to run the way it is.

First, Congratulations Cliff. I hope you go for the Appeal. It's been a long road and you've managed with grace and dignity.

Jeff Himmelstein and Company - Now there's a crew. They couldn't find one old ladies car. She had to do it herself. Apparently, every five years or so they need to get together run around and hand cuff someone to reaffirm their personal belief that they are actually performing some sort of public service. Get a real job!

To Comment #11 - Excellent idea on the full page ad. I'll be happy to join in.

Cliff's mistake probably happened the moment he walked over the the Personnel Office. I tried to tell people for years that those people are not your friends. Their job is to bury problems not address them. Look at the people they have there? We're not exactly talking "high quality" and education does not seem to be a requirement. Then there's that black dude with the 80's hair. What's that about? Grow old gracefully or at least ... not in public.

To Comment #43 - You may call yourself "concerned citizen but you be sounding a lot like the "bitter pill" Don't be such a poor sport. There's plenty of folks left to screw.

The way to ADOT's heart is by attacking their federal funds. They get a lot of them and they are required to provide Equal Opportunity, Due process, etc. Saying they do just does not count. Maybe we should take a deeper look???

Victor Mendez crawled across a lot of backs to get his position. He's not going to go quietly. Our Governor has never cared what ADOT was doing as long as it didn't cause her a problem. Actually, that's how she tends to handle all her business. As far as the AG's office, I'm assuming it was that creepy little white haired man that represented the state? In any case, rule of thumb at the AG's office. The kids come in as trainees and move on. If they've been there long enough to go white haired ... well it pretty well defines their talent.

There is no way anyone with any good sense couldn't see that something was REALLY wrong with this case. ADOT employees don't do their own jobs with the diligence apprent in the persecution of Cliff Young. Rest assured, as we speak, ADOT is doing it's best to put a positive spin on their very public loss.