Mock not the powerful and oracular nature of the mojowire! No seriously, it really hurts our feelings...
Moreover, I hate being right all the time! (Don't start, Ed!)
But it looks like our first guess here was the right one. The "mystery letter" with detailed information about 1,300 or so alleged undocumented immigrant, circulated to local, state and federal law enforcement in Utah, as well as state agencies and news media may have originated, or at least had help from two, and possibly four people in the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
The Department of Workforce Services is the Utah state agency responsible for administering aid for the unemployed and adjudicating workplace issues like equal employment and helping the unemployed find work.
Robert Geherke at the Salt Lake City Tribune reports that the investigation revealed that the "core group" of people involved had been working very methodically for a long time to compile the list from data the state keeps, although officials refused to elaborate further.
Fortunately, it appears that Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert is taking this pretty seriously, and the investigation is also being joined by the feds, since this clearly seems to indicate an unauthorized release of protected personal health information.
Two employees were escorted from their state offices and have been put on administrative leave pending completion of the full investigation, said DWS executive director Kristen Cox. She said it is uncertain if their leave would be unpaid.
Cox said officials suspect “a couple more” employees may have been involved in compiling the list, potentially as many as four, and the findings of the investigation will be turned over to the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
“We feel very confident that we have identified the core group,” she said. “The people we’ve identified certainly have strong political opinions and have frustration around the issue of immigration. ... If they want to go rogue, they need to quit the department.”
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said he has already had “initial discussions” with federal authorities and will meet with them further to determine if anyone should be prosecuted in state or federal court — or both.
This is really the sort of thing I was worried about.
But there's also another political dimension here: The Associated Press story reported that some conservative Utah law makers may be quietly shopping around a Utah version of SB 1070, the Arizona anti-immigrant law, although there was no attribution for the assertion, and no further elaboration.
If true, then I find two interesting things here. One being that apparently the anti-Latino memetics of the Right are spreading to other state houses beyond the traditional Southwestern Sun Belt.
Second, if legislation is being shopped, then it seems more than just coincidental that state lawmakers would be circulating a legislation proposal at just the moment this "mystery letter" appears on the state political scene.
I'm not saying it's a conspiracy involving state legislators looking to create an issue and misreading the reaction from other state officials, while pandering to a fascist and racist demographic and looking to make political bank on the backs of immigrants...
No, I'm just saying it smells like rough trade to me...
mojo sends