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https://n2v.almanacnews.com/square/print/2010/04/11/whistleblower-protection-for-atherton-employess

Town Square

Whistleblower Protection for Atherton Employess

Original post made by John P. Johns CPA, another community, on Apr 11, 2010

Charles Marsala has said that I "rewrote" the Town's Fraud Policy to "serve his own agenda".

Marsala's allegation appears in the Palo Alto Daily News article below disclosing my settlement with the Town:

Web Link

This is another one of the many untruths Mr. Marsala has told.

The truth can be found on the City's own website:

Web Link

The fact of the matter is that, until 2004, the City did not have a fraud policy. The auditors recommended that one be in place and provided a copy of a policy that the auditors had written for another one of the firm's audit clients. I did not rewrite the fraud policy. I prepared one, using a template provided by the Town's auditors at the time.

Additionally, whistleblower protection is a standard element of fraud policies these days. For an example of a fraud policy written by another community (Fullerton California)

See the following link:

Web Link


This is an example provided by the California Society of Municipal Finance Directors.

The bottom line is that if any Town employee finds an elected or high placed appointed official abusing the public trust, he or she will be protected.

Councilman Marsala preys upon the apathetic and ignorant. Don't be fooled by Marsala's lies. Do your homework, get involved.

Comments

Posted by Michael G. Stogner
a resident of another community
on Apr 11, 2010 at 8:37 am

Fraudulent activity is deemed to include but not be limited to:


Misrepresentation of information on official documents;

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Posted by Jon Buckheit
a resident of Atherton: West Atherton
on Apr 11, 2010 at 9:02 am

I personally never took that allegation seriously since California law protects whistleblowers (Govt. Code Sec. 12653) whether or not a policy is in place. The fraud policy you linked to simply refers to this law in its whistleblower section (though doesn't quote the actual code section like I did). The bottom line is that even if you never wrote the policy (and even if the policy never existed), you could have made a whistleblower claim if you believed you were terminated because of bringing what you believed was wrongdoing to official attention.

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