COURANT: Crooked DCF Attorneys in the news again.

[Mort Zuckerman]

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Subject: COURANT: Crooked DCF Attorneys in the news again.

Date: Nov 23, 2008 4:10 AM

[ARTICLE BELOW]
=================================

Okay, so what about AAG Jessica Gauvin defrauding the court
with her OTC of my children, stealing CT AG Richard Blumenthal's
RICO mail off of his desk, and interfering with my malpractice
suit against James Phillips, which was initiated before DCF took
any action against myself?

DCF bugs people's phones, that's how they interfere with a persons
defense against false allegations:
http://www.actionlyme.org/andersonpenisbiter.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/PENISBITERDOCS.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/PHILLIPS_JE_PERVERT.htm
Phillips tried to treat me for the brain damage he gave me,
as you can see from the records. This is malpractice, *clearly,*
and I have several witnesses.

It's not just malpractice against myself, but everyone who has
Lyme. Phillips was given mine and my kids' medical records,
including brain scans.

That's why everyone, when annoyed by these evil, lying, stupid
hoes, should ***immediately leave the State** with their children
and not use their own phones to make the arrangements to keep
their kids safe from DCF.

They're all insane liars and they protect malpractioners rather
than children. They have Yale staff say things like, "like Ted
Kascynski" and "dangerously intelligent," under oath to protect
their own hides- allowing children to be triply brain damaged,
abused by foster carers, and mostly crippled for life, in one way
or another.

There is no end to this, with DCF... We cannot have RETARDED
LIARS, playing Kangaroo Kourt, defending international criminals.

The CT attorney on the WALR radio show who said DCF was "worse than
the
PATRIOT ACT" because of their illegal wiretapping and "courts,"
was Michael Agranoff. He would know.


And the rest of the world is going to know about it.
I did their jobs for them, like I did the FDA's job,
and the USDOJ's job... and some idiot pervert who never
should have been given an MD degree is allowed to be my
critic and call me a Unabomber Chemist?


I have never come across a more cowardly man.


Kathleen M. Dickson
http://www.actionlyme.org
http://www.relapsingfever.org

=======================================
http://www.courant.com/news/local/columnists/hc-govwatch1123.artnov23,0,7139149.column
Top Lawyer Broke Own Agency's Rules

Jon Lender | Government Watch
November 23, 2008

Officials at the state's Department of Children and Families call it
their legal
duty to protect the confidentiality of tens of thousands of their
clients in cases
of child abuse and neglect.

So it was a big problem when the agency's own chief lawyer gained
access to
those computerized records — twice — for unauthorized personal
reasons.

Now, two months after the incidents were reported to the agency, DCF
has handed
a 10-day unpaid suspension to Barbara Claire, its $125,848-a-year
legal director,
who heads a staff of more than 20 lawyers, public records show.

"Specifically, this action is taken due to you accessing … records, on
two
separate occasions, on a case matter involving a member of your
family," DCF
Deputy Commissioner Heidi D. McIntosh wrote Nov. 3 to Claire. "In
light of
your role and responsibilities as Agency Legal Director, your actions
constitute
serious misconduct."

Jon Lender Jon Lender E-mail | Recent columns

When Claire took advantage of her access to the computerized DCF
database for other-than-official
reasons, she breached the confidentiality of a member of her family
and broke DCF
confidentiality regulations, McIntosh wrote.

The agency would not identify the family member or give any details
about the DCF
case involved, citing the same confidentiality requirement that Claire
violated.

Claire appealed her suspension to state personnel officials last week,
even as she
served it. No decision has been made. "I categorically deny any
wrongdoing
and I have filed an appeal with the Office of Labor Relations," she
said in
an e-mail Friday night. "I have no further comment."

The Claire episode would be troubling even in good times — but these
aren't
good times at DCF.

For one thing, two state legislative committees are in the midst of an
investigation
of various DCF failures and are considering at least a partial breakup
of the massive
agency.

For another, a high-ranking legal lieutenant of Claire's at DCF,
Maureen Duggan,
is facing discipline by the Statewide Grievance Committee for lawyers.

Duggan in 2004 wrote an intentionally misspelled "anonimus" letter
posing
as a parking lot attendant and alleging irregularities inside the
State Ethics Commission's
office where she then worked as a staff attorney. It led to the firing
of her boss
and the dismantling of the ethics commission.

DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton has said "we have had no concerns
regarding
her performance or professionalism during her employment with this
agency."

But DCF's image also isn't helped by the similarity between Claire's
case and that of a Hartford police officer who was charged criminally
this year
for accessing a crime database to obtain information about a woman to
give to a
friend. The cases aren't identical, because Claire is not accused of
giving
the confidential information to a third party; if she had, she might
have been fired.

Claire's suspension — two weeks' worth of workdays on Nov. 6, 7, 10,
17,
20, 21, 24, 25, 26, and 28 — is more severe than discipline meted out
to others
who accessed records for personal reasons but didn't disclose
information to
"a third party outside the agency," DCF spokesman Gary Kleeblatt said.

Claire got more than the typical suspension of one or a few days
because, "as
legal director … there's an expectation that she would be fully aware
of, and
versed in, these important rules," Kleeblatt said.

During an Oct. 22 disciplinary hearing, Claire acknowledged that she
understood
"the rules regarding access to confidential case information and the
appropriate
use of state equipment," McIntosh wrote in her Nov. 3 letter.

"What's not apparent from the letter is that the misconduct dates
back
to 2005, when she was assistant legal director to Sue Hamilton,"
Kleeblatt
said. Claire has held her current position more than two years.

The Claire incident was reported to DCF in September after it was
uncovered by the
offices of state Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein and Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal.

In a Sept. 19 letter, they told Hamilton their offices had received
allegations
about Claire's actions and had verified through an "electronic
footprint"
that she had obtained access to the computer records.

They did not include case details, but did mention that Claire took
part in a family
matter before DCF. In July 2006, they said, Claire "served a subpoena
on DCF
in connection with court proceedings involving family members."

Blumenthal and Milstein wrote that Claire has access to confidential
case files,
but DCF employees are only supposed to use such access for official
reasons.

Also, they wrote, there was no record "of any steps taken by DCF or
Barbara
Claire to ensure that Claire did not have any official role with
respect to any
file concerning her family members" or to ensure that "the ordinary
course
of DCF action" would not be "affected or influenced ... by her
position
within DCF."

Kleeblatt said that Claire would have been legally entitled to all or
most of the
information to which she gained computer access because "an individual
whose
family is the subject of a child-protection record is entitled to
those records."

But the process by which citizens must obtain that information
involves examination
of records by a DCF lawyer to see if any information must be withheld
about non-family
members or others whose privacy rights require legal protection. So
not everything
in the file would necessarily be available via the normal route.

Blumenthal and Milstein issued a joint statement Friday:

"In child protection work, information is a supremely important public
trust
because it reflects not only confidential facts, but provides power
over children.
Any violation of this trust to children is an egregious breach of duty
that breaks
faith with vulnerable individuals in the state's care. When it occurs,
it deserves
strong and severe sanction."

•Jon Lender is a reporter on The Courant's investigative desk, with a
focus
on government and politics. Contact him at jle...@courant.com,
860-241-6524, or
c/o The Hartford Courant, 285 Broad St., Hartford, CT 06115.