State DOJ Picture Becoming Clearer, Maybe

The somewhat foggy and confusing picture of the State's Department of Justice situation is now coming into focus, if one reads between the lines of today's JSOnline story.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen demoted the state fire marshal Wednesday, saying she had threatened top Department of Justice officials and obstructed an investigation into e-mails she wrote

He also said Carolyn S. Kelly had slowed the release of public records related to the Crandon shooting by an off-duty Forest County sheriff's deputy. For the past 14 years, Kelly headed the unit that investigates arsons and high-profile homicides.

...

Kelly was suspended with pay in January after her boss, James Warren, abruptly retired after Van Hollen said he planned to move him into another job.

There's a lot of silly stuff having to do with a "hit" and "taking out..." I think that's foofoodust which Kelly and her attorney are pumping into the story to make VanHollen look like an idiot.

HERE'S the payoff:

In her e-mails:

• Kelly told agents at least twice to avoid dealing directly with Van Hollen's aides. "I do not want anyone dealing with them on these issues, particularly the situation up north," she wrote, adding that she viewed this as standard protocol.

• Kelly said she was sick in early November and hoped her germs "spread like wildfire" in meetings with Van Hollen's aides.

• She referred to Van Hollen's aides as weasels and sent a picture of a weasel to Warren.

What we see is a classic 'I'm tenured, I've been here 25 years, I'm not going to let some newly-elected twit run this department.....' sort of thing which happens all the time, in private industry and in Gummint bureaucracies.

Usually the entrenched ones survive, in most cases due to inertia and the unwillingness of a change-agent to actually follow through.

Doesn't look like the case here.