West Virginia Blue:: Kanawha County Commission flirting with drug …

( - promoted by Clem Guttata)

As the stakes ramp up between Kanawha County teachers and the County Board of Education with a lawsuit filed last week, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper has announced that he would be interested in expanding mix with drugs testing to embody County employees whom handle cash or deal through the public (basically all of them.)

From the Daily Mail:

The Kanawha County Commission may join forces with the county school system in a legal fight and begin drug testing more, if not most, of its employees. Its president, Kent Carper, wants the commission to expand its random drug-testing policy to include employees who take hold of money and records or deal with the public. This could include accountants, clerical workers and housing inspectors. The commission already randomly tests “safety sensitive” county employees who work vehicles and equipment or have firearms. Those categories include about 170 of its 417 employees. Carper hopes the duty will join with the school board — a separate entity that is not controlled by the commission — to fight what may be a long and costly legal battle over the school system's new policy to randomly drug test teachers.

This certainly is an interesting twist of events. At first glance, it does baffle the be inclined as to why the County Commission would get involved in what would certainly be a lawsuit that would cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars that each inhabiting knows full well could go to wagerer use.

Given the current economic strait, it is using specious arguments to assume that government budgets from the federal all the direction of motion down to the municipal and county levels are going to start tightening. Is this a good conversion to an act of County taxpayers' money?

One thing seems certain: Much of what is happening here seems to revolve around expanding what is considered a “safety easily affected” work at jobs. Those who favor Unconstitutional drug testing would make the definition very broad and murky so as to include everyone. As Commission President Kent Carper is quoted as sententious precept:

Now, Carper wants to see the commission expand the description of safety sensitive to include employees who come into the contact with the public and handle public records and money. This could include inspectors who go to people's homes and clerical workers and secretaries who deal with important documents or money. If his plan is approved, he suggested it would be “like a camel through the needle” to find any of the 400 county employees who are not considered safety sentient. “There is a intellectual powers to take drug-testing policies with public employees, sadly. I apprehend that because of the experience we've had,” Carper said.

Talking whole over using semantics as an end run encompassing Constitutional rights.