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Suffolk probate office a frickin' mess, report claims

The Globe reports it got its hands on a copy of a report on the state of the Suffolk County Probate Registry, now under its second suspended elected register, and that the report essentially describes a giant cardboard box into which thousands of documents and checks are poured, never to emerge again, as lawyers and just plain folks spend hours in line to have their documents and checks taken and made to disappear.

The part of the report dealing with current Register Felix Arroyo Sr.'s allegations this is deliberate racially tinged sabotage by oldtime workers, however, was not released.


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Sorry about that.

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... by longtime patronage workers wanting to get the outsider dumped. I can't imagine Arroyo was the person who hid/"mislaid" all the documents and paperwork.

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If a government official were sabotaging official legal processes, that's not just grounds for firing, but perhaps for lawsuits and criminal charges.

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However, the bottom line is that Felix was elected (and paid a handsome salary) to do a job and he failed. He was not up to the job. The fact that the people in the office may have set him up for failure is not an excuse. Since he cannot do his job, he must be removed from office. Period.

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Dropped in to replace him and things will MAGICALLY improve.

Sorry, but not doing your job to sabotage people cannot be rewarded.

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-- Throughout his career, Félix has never backed down from a fight for social, economic, and racial justice and he’s not about to start now --

That explains the gross incompetence. But why would anyone vote.... oh, yeah.

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That explains the gross incompetence.

Please explain the linkage between the first statement and this statement. Show your work.

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The Probate Court still refuses to conduct an open investigation so Arroyo took it upon himself to release what he had.

He has set up a website where everything is in the open and all the files are in the "behind the curtain" tab. Frankly I think its clear from the transparency that he isn't afraid of the investigation and that there is much more at play here with the sabotage issues that have come to light. This will be interesting to keep an eye on.

http://www.standwithfelix.com/

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Ok, so let's assume any relatively competent manager has employees who are sabotaging him/her and thus poorly serving the public. And let's say the manager is competent and has the best intentions. What do you do?

In my opinion, that manager should declare there's a new sheriff in town. Start firing people. Or at least trying to if the State bureaucracy won't let him. Bring in an outside consultant (or the state IG) to help with an evaluation of the situation. Prepare a report of how inept the current staff is, why we need funding for the consultant, and why we need political backing to clean out the old-time-hard-core-prejudiced-hack-staff.

So, if we find evidence that Arroyo did all of those things - or tried to - then he's a good manager who's doing his best to turn around a troubled office. If we don't have evidence of those things, then he's in-over-his-head and should resign, and we (taxpayers) should stop paying him.

There. Easy.

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It sounds like an incredible mess.

There was an audit at the start of Arroyo's first term, at his request, that found mismanagement in several areas. Were those problems corrected? If they were, then that's a point in his favor. If not, then it counts heavily against him. Things were pretty awful under his predecessor, why wasn't this done then? She wasn't suspended until she got into physical altercations with staff. A report at that time described her lack of work, but nothing beyond that.

The Globe also reported that most users of the Suffolk County office are not lawyers, unlike the other probate courts. It would require a different staff set-up.

Regarding the complaints about staff sabotage, intrigue and factions, it would be useful to know who sponsored these people for jobs. I assume many, of not most, had someone put their name forward.

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At least, that's my reading of the Globe's reporting.

Granted, Arroyo inherited a mess. Thus, Harry Spence and the Trial Court gave him until October 2016 to make progress. Arroyo didn't improve the situation. Instead, it was getting worse (‘dysfunctional chaos’ is not a term one often hears).

Then (Oct. 2016) Spence et al replaced Arroyo's 'first lieutenant' with Terri Klug-Cafazzo from Essex County. Effectively, Arroyo was pushed aside -- he retained his title, but was not really in charge.

While Keith Motley at UMB handled a similar situation, Arroyo did not. So, his suspension became inevitable.

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It's almost as if we keep electing the wrong people.

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Has there been an explanation on why the review of the office can not be transparent. Redact employee names, if necessary.

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Just because things don't get done in the office when Felix is off cruising for babes in Venezuela doesn't mean people are out to get him.

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