PERSONNEL ‘MATTER’
The Alaska Human Rights Commission has an executive session meeting scheduled for Monday, April 1 to take up the matter of its top manager: Can Marti Buscaglia be salvaged or has she so damaged the reputation of the commission that she must be shown the door?
Buscaglia, the executive director of the Commission, earlier this month instructed a state worker to put a note on a contractor’s truck, telling him to get out of the parking lot with his offensive “Black Rifles Matter” truck decal. She thought it was racist. She thought it was “hate speech.”
The truck belonged to a local plumbing company that was doing work on the downtown building where the Human Rights Commission has its offices.
The commission has a reputation for investigating hardworking business owners for all kinds of infractions, such as firing people wrongly or not allowing service animals on premises. The businesses often have to pay fines to a charity, such as an animal shelter, as part of their penance.
But by putting a note on the back of her business card telling the contractor to remove his vehicle, Buscaglia took her authority a step further.: She may have violated the constitutional rights of the plumber who owns the truck.
She also took her vengeance to Facebook, mocking the owner of the vehicle for his decal, all under the name of the Human Rights Commission, and the State of Alaska seal.
The plumber went on social media to describe what happened. Read Must Read Alaska reports on the incident here:
[Read: Human Rights director thought she was regulating ‘hate speech’]
[Read: Human Rights Commission vs. First, Second Amendment]
Gov. Michael Dunleavy asked the Department of Law to conduct an investigation, and that investigation has been wrapped up and delivered to the Commission’s volunteer board, whose chairman is Brandon H. Nakasato.
The “personnel matter” on the calendar could mean Buscaglia’s possible removal. She is not a classified employee and can be dismissed by the commission for cause.
