Good thing they didn’t tell her to jump off a cliff
AL State Rep. Sue Schmitz took the witness stand in her defense today and offered up this novel argument.
State Rep. Sue Schmitz, D-Toney, testified this afternoon that the time cards prosecutors have made so much of in her fraud trial here – the ones with all “8s” showing hours worked each day – are that way because she was ordered to fill them out that way.
…
“She said I needed more hours on there than what I had listed…,” Schmitz testified. “She said everyone put down eight hours and that was what I was to do on a daily basis.”
Schmitz also said the business manager, Barbara Creel, gave her a calendar showing how many hours she was supposed to work each month and “said I had to total up all my hours to come up to that total.”
“I simply tried to redo them the way she said,” Schmitz said, although she testified that she did tell her state boss, Ed Earnest, that she didn’t like it.
“‘Ed, this bothers me,’” Schmitz said she told Earnest. “I was really distraught about this.”
Earnest, who has since died, told her just to do it, Schmitz testified, and so she did.
Just doing what she was told! What a model employee! How convenient (for Schmitz, not Earnest) that the man who could verify her statement is deceased.
Are we seriously supposed to believe that a sitting Alabama state legislator doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong? OK, that was a rhetorical question. Let’s pretend they do know right from wrong. Are we supposed to then believe that this powerful individual – a person hired for her clout and ability to control purse strings – is so timid that she would do the wrong thing despite knowing better? Come on!
This whole Schmitz fiasco is appalling. Whether or not she is found criminally culpable of any wrong doing she is the poster child for legislative abuse of power. She had no business being employed by CITY. None whatsoever. She was given special treatment because she is state representative. Once there, it is quite obvious she did no real work.
I just don’t see how anyone can defend what Schmitz did.
Time to pass a law against double dipping.