Posted on 01/08/2009 6:05:11 AM PST by Badeye
Lessons From McCain's Palin Background Check By Sean Leviashvili
Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant, plans to keep the baby and marry the child’s 18-year-old father.
We know all that now, the question is, did John McCain know it before he chose Palin to run as his VP?
That information may have come up in a background check, and the thoroughness of McCain's is being questioned. And what he did, or did not do, before announcing his running mate, holds lessons for any professional, according to career experts. Some may argue that picking a running mate is similar to hiring an employee. How should the background checks compare?
As for the legal guidelines regarding background checks for employers, like most areas of law, they vary based on location. For example, in Kentucky, no consumer reporting agency, which is an investigative agency that falls under the guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, can maintain any information relating to any charge in a criminal case unless the charge has resulted in a conviction. Meanwhile a consumer reporting agency in Montana, Kansas and New Hampshire can maintain information regarding records of arrests and indictments, with or without convictions, for seven years, according to www.hrliability.com.
And criminal history is just one area employers can delve into. Other areas include credit reports, driving records, references, school records, and others. But what areas are off limits? Can a potential employer pry into a possible employee’s personal life on a job interview?
Again, the answer is unclear. “There is no comprehensive law that says it is inappropriate,” says Pauline Kim, law professor at the Washington University school of law in St. Louis. “Very often there are protections and laws that protect medical information more generally, but not specifically a person’s privacy.”
When it comes to asking about a person’s family before making a hiring offer, it is usually acceptable, she says. “Unless it’s put off limits by a particular law, information about a person’s family that could be known by members of the community is not prohibited.”
On a national level, some legislation limits the extent of job interview questions. For example Title VII, makes it illegal for employers to ask about religion, race, or national origin as part of a hiring decision. (However, the information can be obtained if a potential employee consents in a release form.)
The extent of the background check usually coincides with how closely a potential employee will be connected with the government, says Stephen Brown, founder of HindSight Services, inc., and author of the second edition of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating. Employers seeking workers for government agencies will pull information from databases like the Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons database, or the Department of State Trade Control Debarred Parties. But for the everyday worker, most employers won’t spend the money on extensive background checks.
A cheaper alternative are online background checks, but these sources generally don’t meet the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in that they have a more limited coverage. “The information must be current within thirty days, and should cover a range of counties,” says Brown.
Also, these files won’t disclose information about a potential employer’s family of personal life. But, to bring it back to the McCain camp, should it?
Family members could be an indication of a person’s ability, but it is often out of the employer’s league to make that judgment. “When you’re hiring someone, you’re hiring them, not their family,” says Brown.
One piece of legislation that further separates candidates from their family trees is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, which was signed in May. The act works to protect Americans against discrimination based on their genetic information when it comes to health insurance and employment.
“With this act, medical information is becoming more private,” says Kim, associate dean for research and development at Washington University Law School. “But as for an employee’s child’s pregnancy, that is not off limits.”
Who says a Palin / Norris ticket wouldn’t win?
I think they would drive the biggest GOP landslide in election history.
Besides I thought of another interesting benefit:
So far all the catty “Palin-bashing” I’ve seen from alleged conservatives, for the most part has been from Mittens. Female Mitt Romney supporters who like his hair, and don’t like the fact Sarah Palin’s hair is even nicer.
Well, Chuck Norris is far more appealing to Mittens than Romney. So in one fell swoop, the ticket would completely remove a segment of Palin-bashers from the dynamic.
Importantly, from the *primary*.
Just saying. I’m not joking about a Palin / Norris ticket.
The combination would be literally unstoppable.
Wouldn’t that be a nice change?
A GOP ticket, everyone could be enthusiastic about...
When the mother isn’t on welfare and is getting married and is being supported by her Christian family and church.
The Alaska Secession movement must be looking pretty good to her about now. I’d move there. Maybe Alaska could actually adopt and follow the U.S. Constitution minus every amendment added since the Bill of Rights. Yes, including the thirteenth, which is redundant if you read the original document anyway.
Look at it as a compliment.
They would just ignore her if they didn’t see her as a threat.
Thats not why I posted the article. I did so to point out background checks on all that would hold public office should done, by multiple entity’s, from PACs to the party’s themselves, on both the party’s nominees and the party’s opposition.
” I did so to point out background checks on all that would hold public office should done, by multiple entity’s, from PACs to the party’s themselves, on both the party’s nominees and the party’s opposition.”
hee hee!
Good luck with that.
We’re talking about politicians afterall.
Yes, this is the reason the media hated both Palin and her daughter the most. They both are living proof that abortion (child-killing) is unnecessary.
Sorry, I just took a chance on McLame, and lost.
I’m not interested in ‘experimenting’ politically the next time around. Had my fill of it this last time, from Thompson’s ‘walking for President’ schtick, to Huckabee’s assine runnin’ with God bs, to Rudy’s ‘one state, cause I’m a celebrity’ nonsense.
We (Conservatives) win with high quality conservative tickets, backed up with a VP that has loads of experience. That was the secret of Reagan.
And by choosing not to kill their unborn, they inherently "condemn" those that have done so. This is why many "liberal" women vehemently, viciously, hate her.
I just know she was a skank.
If you can’t see it, don’t know what to tell ya.
I agree completely.
quickly became known
(chuckle)
You have mail.
The Democratic Party’s background check should have found that Edwards was boffing the help.
I would actively campaign AGAINST the GOP candidate locally if this were to happen.
It's my belief that politics is over, anyway. I'm pretty sure that the Democrat Congress is going to open the illegal immigrant floodgates in 2009 in order to complete the destruction of the election process.
Ironically, one of the major constituencies of the Democrat Party will have to take its rightful place at the back of the bus... ;-)
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