This week’s wimp won’t be a problem much longer in our state government because he didn’t run for re-election this year. However, we could not let his wimpy behavior pass unnoticed and undocumented.
State Treasurer Shane Osborn has disregarded the privacy of university students and the value of taxpayer dollars.
Osborn was recently featured in the Lincoln Journal Star because the Treasurer’s office had been posting students’ personal financial aid and loan information online. In an effort for more transparency, the Treasurer’s office posts the state’s government payments online. According to the Journal Star, “Students’ names and the amount of refunds of loans, scholarships and/or financial aid reimbursements in 2008-09 are posted on the website.”
When initially pressured to take down the students’ private financial information, Osborn complained that his staff didn’t have the time to go through all the payments. The private information was taken down Monday afternoon, and the University’s staff is already scrubbing the 2009-2010 reports which is expected to take two weeks.
So we’ll admit that going through 300,000 university payments is a daunting task. But if the university staff can go through 2009-2010 in two weeks, it’s not impossible. But what really makes Osborn’s complaints ring hollow is that he’s got a reputation for spending too much of his time working for SilverStone Group and not at the State Treasurer’s office.
Taxpayers have a right to be ticked off that a guy they pay $85,000 a year is skimping on time in the office. And what’s worse is that Osborn’s been recruited to lead Jon Bruning’s 2012 Senate campaign. Does the man feel no responsibility to the voters and taxpayers who put him in the Treasurer’s office?
Osborn’s flaky work ethic and disregard for student privacy is why he’s this Wednesday’s wimp.