I think rules are rules and the kid shouldn't have been in the program. I don't know if his father's influence was improper -- often that stuff is perfectly fine. However, is this was improper string-pulling (nepotism) then it is shameful.Johnston's father, Keith Johnston, said the governor had nothing to do with getting Levi the Slope job. Keith Johnston said his own position as an ASRC construction engineer accounts for any help his son received in landing work.
I'm put in mind of the time my wife, who was working in a school cafeteria, was asked by a coworker if our college student daughter wanted a summer job in a big company. The daughter accepted - and when she started work she was immediately asked what connections she'd had to get the job! She mentioned the name of the husband of that coworker - and everyone said, "Oh." (Story seems strange only in the sense that I don't know why his wife was working - not for the money, evidently).Again, this is not about Gov. Palin at all. It's not about Republicans at all. However, the GOP would be advised to oppose ANY impropriety ANYWHERE. No improper influence, no corruption, no rule breaking. The GOP should have no tolerance for any of it.
The Dempocrats are going to hand us about 9732 instances of corruption and rule breaking. But all of that will be washed away if the media can find 5 instances of Republican malfeasance. Republicans need to be very careful about shrugging at impropriety.
The moral of the story is that as far as the Democrats are concerned, Levi Johnston cannot legitimately succeed. Anyone who gives him a break will be accused of doing a favor for Sarah Palin.It puts me in mind, somehow, of the media coverage of the runnup to the Oklahoma-Florida BCS game. There you have a bunch of teenagers, essentially, put in a pressure cooker media event - and have their words put in the worst possible light by reporters. The ESPN reporterette hyping that stuff just stinks of desperation for ratings.
It sounds like Levi Johnston got no more of a break than wouldn't make you blink an eye if you learned that any high school quarterback in the country got it. But if it's Sarah Palin's grandson's father, it's a federal case.
I worked in my company's HR dept. at our stamping plant in Detroit for over 25 years and I can't even count the number of 3rd generation employees that passed thru our gates. We went out of our way to hire the sons and daughters of current employees if we were in a hiring mode.
During our last peak years, the 80's into the 90's, we would typically hire anywhere from 100 to 200 college kids to work production in the shop to cover for all the employees taking vacation time. All these kids were either friends or relatives of our employees.
Most of these kids would return to school in the fall and the ones who didn't usually were hired as full time employees.
Our company too had a "Policy" of requiring a high school diploma or equivalent GED.
But the only reason such policy existed, and the same reason why all other companies have such a policy is to deter kids from dropping out of high school and entering the work force.
Since it was obvious Levi had the approval of his father to go to work, the company certainly did not have an issue with it.
For anybody here thinking that Levi or the company were somehow breaking the rules, they need to lighten up.