I wanted to provide a follow-up on the story I wrote last week about the Iowa Department of Public Defense ignoring Iowa’s Open Records Laws. My friend Darwin had applied to be an installation security officer at Camp Dodge. Darwin is a seven year veteran of the United States Army, he is a disabled Iraq War vet, and he has seven years of experience working as a security manager. He was told based on their point system he did not qualify for an interview, even though being a disabled veteran with all of the appropriate paperwork was supposed to qualify for 10 points. He made a formal request – numerous times to get a copy of that paperwork. Iowa law is clear, they have to provide it. As of today they still have not complied.
Darwin today decided to go in person to see if he could meet with Janie Keubler, a Human Resources Associate with the Iowa Department of Public Defense, since he has exchanged several emails and phone calls with her.
In the video below after they instructed him to turn his camera away, he spoke with the receptionist at Camp Dodge and the Provost Marshal.
Apparently Darwin is now being bounced to a Colonel Stabler. I’ve been unable to ascertain his exact position. It would seem likely that he oversees the human resources department for the Iowa Department of Public Defense. Darwin then followed up with another phone call to Ms. Kuebler, but instead spoke with Georganna Beavers who is an Human Resources Tech Assistant with the Iowa Department of Public Defense. She is the first person that Darwin had contact with in this process. She said, as you can hear in the video below, that Kuebler was unable to release the document until certain “issues” had been resolved which she refused to describe.
Darwin continues to get the run around. The Iowa Department of Public Department continues to stonewall and by doing so they are breaking the law. Darwin currently has a complaint filed with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, and now plans to file a complaint with the Inspector General’s Office and the Iowa Ombudsman’s Office. He will also continue to try to meet with Colonel Stabler.
