Trust lost? SEANC still has work to do to regain employees' confidence

Will state employees' trust in their lobbying group, the State Employees Association, dissipate in the wake of the Dana Cope scandal?

Cope, the ex-SEANC leader, pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing more than a half million dollars from the organization's coffers.

The money is made up from volunteer contributions made by state employees -- a group of people who work hard for their money and despise the idea that someone entrusted to use it for their benefit took it and used it for personal gain instead.

Cope, to his credit, stood in court and admitted "I am a thief," and added that he deserved his punishment.

This may be noble to a certain degree, but it doesn't give contributors to SEANC much solace. Some have considered pulling out of the organization because of the weakened trust they now have for its leadership.

And who could blame them for losing trust -- a half million dollars is a lot of money to most of them and they were beseeched to donate to the cause by the organization's representatives, who promised that it would be used for the betterment of all state employees.

Now, a lot of that trust has evaporated or at least been damaged. Can SEANC make it up to them?

Let's just say that the organization needs to be squeaky clean for a long time if it wants to rebuild that trust and keep it -- and the dollars -- of the rank-and-file state employees.

Published in Editorials on November 19, 2015 10:52 AM