Roach supports bill that would require state workers to tell truth
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A proposed law in the state Senate would require state employees to be truthful when providing information.
Lawmakers began considering the bill Tuesday, with Republican Sen. Pam Roach saying that people who do not tell the truth should not be employed by the state. Roach says the measure is modeled after internal ethics rules at the Washington State Patrol.
State workers who lie would be subject to disciplinary under state ethics laws. Nobody testified against the measure during an initial committee hearing Tuesday.
Roach has been the subject of Senate personnel investigations related to complaints that she has verbally attacked staff members in the Legislature. She believes that she's been unfairly targeted by colleagues who are trying to ruin her.
Lawmakers began considering the bill Tuesday, with Republican Sen. Pam Roach saying that people who do not tell the truth should not be employed by the state. Roach says the measure is modeled after internal ethics rules at the Washington State Patrol.
State workers who lie would be subject to disciplinary under state ethics laws. Nobody testified against the measure during an initial committee hearing Tuesday.
Roach has been the subject of Senate personnel investigations related to complaints that she has verbally attacked staff members in the Legislature. She believes that she's been unfairly targeted by colleagues who are trying to ruin her.
As a former state employee, there are already safe guards into making sure you tell the truth. If you were to lie, it always gets exposed and it will come back to bite you. There are expectations and rules already in place. Why would we spend tax dollars when we are already in the red to debate a situation like this? I would much rather see the proposed 10 cent gas tax debated, Hanford Nuclear leak debated...maybe since gay marriage and pot are legal, they are running out of things to fight about? *rolls eyes*
Pam, Pam, Pam what the hell are you thinking? Mike made a comment below that speaks the truth, WE keep voting these idiots into office! I'm not in the district to vote for Pam, but come on people. What next Pam are we going to try to legislate common sense and morality?
Pam introduced this bill for her own gain because she thinks her colleagues targeted her. So her bill passes (laughable) and then she brings charges that her colleagues lied, then we spend millions with a crackpot case tying up the court systemÂ
Let the truth be known ...
Dear Pam, your heart is in the right place, but to require a government worker to tell the truth is fiction. You cna't get your fellow legislators to tell the truth. After 12 years of government schooling the kids don't have a clue what is right and what is wrong. YES don't ask them not to steal. Every day they are on the job they steal from taxpayers.
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this:
You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery," and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians.
It creates a hostile work environment.
shouldnt they have to tell the truth anyhow??...wth...
Let's see..... a senator, a politician who, when her lips are moving means she's lying, wants everyone to tell the truth? How are any of the politicians in Olympia ever going to be able to speak? I mean, this could be the beginning of a historical event. Silent liars..... I like it.
That is perhaps the dumbest bills I've heard of yet. And just like any law, only the honest people will follow it. Give another gold star to our senators.  UGH>>..
Pam, you do not have a chance in hell of getting that bill passed. If you by some stroke of magic or something get it passed we would have to fire every politician we have. Politics and truth have never been further apart and this bill sure won't bring them any closer together.Â
@LongBeachBum And we keep putting them back in office. We get what we get
The problem with such legislation is determining who actually is lying. I had fellow employees of the state bullying me and when I comptained to the chief of audit, I was told "these people are my friends they would'n't lie to me." which implies that he thought I was lying. Nothing was ever resolved. another employee lied about me on my performance evaluation and I was expected to take responsibility for his comments. Lying is so common in state government because people like to play political games with other people's lives.   In particular case you have a PR, who has a history of complaining about people lying about her. How do you tell who is lying and punish the correct person.
@greetingsCorrection: Lying is so common because people like to play political games with other people's lives.
Wait... so politicians don't want other people to lie? They do realize that they too are employed by the state of WA right?
So if you read between the lines Roach is telling us the people we vote for are feeding us a line of BS. I agree
Wow! What a creative way to waste tax dollars!
The proposed legislation is a waste of time and money. Most state/county/local govt. jobs already come with employee code of ethics. You have to sign annual competency declarations stating that you understand those ethics rules each year.Â
@KOMOdo-dragon As government school grads, do they understand what they read? do they have an intrinsic understanding of truth?
Would it also require elected officials to be sane?
I wouold go for this if it included the elected people of this state!!!
wasn't there a book about the thought police? 1984?  and a Tom Cruise movie? how else could the truth possibly be legislated? WA is indeed pretty progressive and leading the pack.
Roach needs to voluntarily place herself in a mental health facility. She is a nut.
Need a bill to tell the truth? LMFAO
@whenudieitsdone  Its a whacky crazy world isn't it.lol
Roach should first introduce a bill that requires state legislators to tell the truth and would punish legislators who harrass legislative staff members with a life time disbarment from public office.
Man, if she could do just that one thing, she would go down in history as the greatest senator in Washington State history!
*gasp!* What about all the State's lawmakers?!
A person thats truthful and has ethics will never hold a state job, thats just crazy talk....
They are creating a public image campaign for their own gratification. Such a bill can never be inforced. this is a comlete waste of itme. Anyone who is actually caught in a lie will spend an etternity playing lawyer chess. If Bill Clinton can lawyer tag his way through an oval office BJ, what chance does the state of Washington have trying to hold liers accountable.
They should look in the mirror and realize they were lying to the people the whole time.
LMAO Really come on they will NEVER tell the truthÂ
Did she forget that The governor and Senators are state employees? Â Or is there a clause in the bill that exempts them?
@FBrumfield There probably is a clause. There's a clause that allows cops to lie to people. Of course the public don't have any such clauses. You get caught lieing to police and you're in big trouble.
So that means it was ok to lie before?
This would seem to require Pam herself to control her tongue. I'm fine with that.
People who don't tell the truth should not be employed anywhere - not just the state? WOW.
Exactly.
This bill is going to be interesting â itâs probably a good thing for Ms. Roach that she has the caveat in it that it only pertains to those âsupplying informationâ vice running for officeâ¦. since a lie while running for election is considered âprotected speechâ and allowable by the State Supreme Courtâ¦.
@dome200q Unlike the UK where it is a crime, and punished.
@Mark DuPriest If youâd care for a halfway intelligent reply, you might want to narrow your response a bit, since I see at least two possibilities.
Are police considered state employees? It's perfectly legal for a cop to lie to a suspect.........
Only the State Patrol personel.
They do realize we would have to fire just about all of them as pretty much I don't know a politician who never told a lie!
You know...this bill might be a good thing! Catch any of the politicians lying instant firing! They may be elected but they DO work for the state. :P
@MoonDragonWitch Sadly, you are incorrect. State workers are not elected. Somehow they get to dictate policy to us though....
How about one for politiciansâ as well?!
Oh. Roach is full of all kinds of interesting bills. Â Can we legislate her behavior? Â Considering the reports of her aggressive, disrespectful, and disgraceful, behavior, I find it so amazing that she'd come up with this. Â Is she a tea party darling? is that it? What was her other weird bill? Was it armed guards in schools? Â And someone elected this person. Â Of all the issues that need solving in this State, she comes up with that. Â Unreal.Â
@DT, This was her tit for tat childish grandstanding. She probably thinks she made some kind of point. She'll lose her seat next election.
Well if we had to hold Sen Roach to the TRUTH she would fail badly. And I thought the republican party was a party of less rules and l.aws. Another Hypocrite.
So we have to pass a law to tell the truth? I thought we were supposed to anyway? And besides if you lie to an entity such as a legislative committee, most government agencies, law enforcement or the court thesere are already laws in place. Sounds like Roach is trying to get legislation passed to use against people enemies list.
"Â A proposed law in the state Senate would require state employees to be truthful when providing information"
Well,, that pretty much takes care of ANYONE in politics......
Is that to say they've been telling lies?? OMG!!! Say it isn't so! I was uder the assumtion that politicians always told the truth. This is going to affect how I vote!
It's going to be like what hand to hold the hot potato in. Either way you're going to get burned.
@SargeMcC  chuckle.... Ha! ME TOO!!!