I try not to post based upon anonymously posted information, but this is too good to pass on. I cannot vouch for it. It is possible that it is a complete fabrication. If it is, please let me know. Read this reply to a post I made yesterday about Martin Gerry's apparent firing. Gerry was the right hand man of former Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart. Gerry made the surprising decision to try to stay on at Social Security after Barnhart's term ended. He recently left his job at Social Security in what appeared to be an abrupt manner that strongly suggested he had been fired. Former Commissioner Barnhart wanted everyone to love her. If this post is true, Commissioner Astrue wants everyone to fear him. That would be a dramatic change for upper level Social Security personnel.
4 comments:
First, the story is quite accurate. Second, the reason for the abrupt dismissal isn't clear, just its nature. The 'changing the locks' aspect seems peculiar; what secrets and/or documents might Gerry have that needed to be protected? Something to do with DSI or something of a more personal nature? That part of the story is still unknown.
Changing of the locks in an abrupt termination is not unusual in corporate environments, which is where Mr. Astrue came from. It is more of an unwritten policy rather than an indication of anything sinister on the part of the terminated individual.
I heard that it had to do with Astrue's shock at what happened during the SS Subcommittee hearing on Feb. 14. He realized that the Subcommittee had come to believe that Barnhart had misled them for years about ALJ hiring.
It sure took the Subcommittee long enough to figure that out.
The Azdell case was, for all practical purposes, over in February 2003 (even though the mandate did not issue until July 2003.) Yet, as recently as last Spring,Barnhart was still invoking that case as one of the reasons that ALJ hiring had been so lethargic.
Leave Astrue alone. We at SSA could not be more pleased with these developments.
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