Inadvertent Online Resumes Continue To Cause Some Problems

from the broken-off dept

Tue, Aug 14th 2007 1:44am — Carlo Longino

It's pretty common for people to do Google background checks on prospective employees (or potential dates) these days, so it's a little surprising to see people still put all sorts of information that could harm their job prospects online. A substitute judge in Las Vegas lost his position last week, after some people noticed that his MySpace profile listed his personal interests as, among other things, "Breaking my foot off in a prosecutor's ass ... and improving my ability to break my foot off in a prosecutor's ass." A local district attorney alleged that this displayed a bias against prosecutors, and asked that the judge be recused from his criminal cases, but court administrators went a step further and decided not to use his services any more. The judge, or now ex-judge, says that, basically, he was trying to be funny, and that the overstatement on his page was obvious. That may be the case, but given his position -- and his political ambitions -- it's hard to imagine that he couldn't foresee any problems from putting the comments up online.

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Filed Under: judges, social networking
Companies: myspace

26 Comments

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Michael Long, 14 Aug 2007 @ 2:24am

Sad, though...
Sad, though, that these days apparently one has to be politically correct at all times, and in all places and locations and situations.
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- Charles Griswold, 14 Aug 2007 @ 2:33am
  
  Re: Sad, though...
  Sad, though, that these days apparently one has to be politically correct at all times, and in all places and locations and situations.
  It seems to me that this is a case not of political incorrectness, but of political boneheadedness.
  
  There are plenty of things that are political incorrect that wouldn't necessarily have had the same effect on his career. Expressing a fondness for hunting, for instance.
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- Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2007 @ 2:44am
  
  Re: Sad, though...
  Yes, it almost makes one wish that it was possible to not use real-names on the internet.
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- Nasty Old Geezer, 14 Aug 2007 @ 4:22am
  
  Re: Sad, though...
  If one is a politician (don't think judges are not political), then yes -- one must be politically correct at all times. Especially when anyone can see -- like in public places.
  
  If you don't want to see yourself on the evening news, don't post stupid things online.
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me.g33k, 14 Aug 2007 @ 3:50am

Not really new
The fact that this guy got sacked for saying the wrong thing is not new. This has been going on in various forms since humans learned to talk. In the past this same circumstance could very well have occured in a bar where an overly inebriated fellow happens to boast jokingly of his penchant for excersizing his skills at podiatric proctology with certain members of counsel. Only to be overheard by someone related to counsel who happens to be on the unfortunate inebriates docket.

The only difference now is that the bar is much larger and the memory of the listeners is much longer.

This lesson has been taught numerous times already and all that's left is to pity those that refuse to learn it.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2007 @ 4:44am

Survival of the fittest
I love seeing things like this. I view it as Darwinism. Every person that puts that type of stuff on the web is one less person that I have to compete against for a job or apparently a date. Go youtube, facebook, myspace, et al.
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ATTHRE, 14 Aug 2007 @ 4:57am

MySpace = Attention Whores
The lot of them!!
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E!, 14 Aug 2007 @ 5:56am

please
There had to be more to it than this innocuous comment to oust this dude.
It was more likely a confirmation of his already established dislike for prosecutors. Probably "the straw that broke the camel's back".
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ArtWoman, 14 Aug 2007 @ 6:14am

An equivalent view
"Breaking my foot off in a prosecutor's ass ... and improving my ability to break my foot off in a prosecutor's ass."

It sounds to me like he wanted to uphold the ethics of the position. And some good Christians put a spin on it and got the context seen from their side.

Sometimes the prosecution gets unfair. They have rules. And they are "his side" in that they work for the government too. He has to exercise control and impose imitations on all who come before him.

He could have also said - "Breaking my foot off in some lawyer's ass ... and improving my ability to break my foot off in in some lawyer's ass." - and it would have been just as true. Simply he was thinking about the prosecutors at that moment when he wrote the list of interests, maybe something happened that week. MySpace is personal, not a life-statement-canon.
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- Nasty Old Geezer, 14 Aug 2007 @ 8:51am
  
  Re: An equivalent view
  Try substituing "perp" for "prosecutor" and the left half of the country will want to hang him high.
  
  Judges are not perfect -- that is why there are appeals processes -- but we need to start with the field as level as possible. This guy showed a clear bias, and did so in a very public manner.
  
  Just the fact that he chose to put those kind of thoughts on the Internet reveals a clear lack of judgement. We are well rid of him as a judge.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2007 @ 6:21am

He was a SUBSTITUTE judge...who cares!
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Jesse Bacon, 14 Aug 2007 @ 6:29am

This poor guy!
What has happened to the freedom of speech in America? I support this judge all the way. Where in our public doctrines does it demand that public officials not be real people? If anything; those comments prove that he is a person like the rest of us...and therefore fit to be a judge!
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- CookthatBacon, 14 Aug 2007 @ 7:14am
  
  Re: This poor guy!
  Are f*cking kidding me?
  
  Regardless of what this judge said, do you really want a judge that is BIAS against [fill in the blank of something you believe in]?
  
  Use your brain for a second or two.
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Bob Knight, 14 Aug 2007 @ 6:59am

Prosecutors
I served on a grand jury recently, so I know first hand how prosecutors work.
One even used the term Piling ON when enumerating charges.
Our system is broken and is again starting to lose faith with the people.
And all that happens is more laws get passed that you can run afoul of.
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ac-all-the-way-baby, 14 Aug 2007 @ 7:39am

Can I get this judge, the next time in trouble with the law? ;)
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Larry, 14 Aug 2007 @ 8:26am

Please don't substitute...
Please don't substitute claims of 'political correctness' for professionalism.

The judge was unprofessional and in a way that drew into question whether he was capable of handling his job.
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Rod Burch, 14 Aug 2007 @ 8:46am

Inadvertant on-line resumes...
This "judge" was not fired for his dumb statement on MySpace, he was fired because he was obviously stupid. The community did itself a favor by cutting him loose before he drug them down with himself.
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- Otis, 26 Sep 2007 @ 8:40am
  
  Re: Rod Burch
  Rod, I am a PI in Montana and need your help locating a Burch in Vegas. Please contact me if you can help.
  
  Thanks
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2007 @ 8:50am

But then again maybe the American public needs to fucking grow up. Political correctness has gone to far, we're becoming an impotent nation that can't do anything because we might offend someone or another. Grow up people.
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- Anonymous Coward, 15 Aug 2007 @ 6:55am
  
  Re:
  Political Correctness squashes thought. What ever happened to having a good old fashioned debate on the merits and drawbacks of both sides of a point of view? Now, you better not say anything that might upset someone that is part of any group, or you might as well have said it to the entire group.
  
  I think this judge said 'prosecuters' in an effort to not say someone specifics name.
  
  Go ahead and offend someone, start a debate, make people use their minds.
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Josh, 14 Aug 2007 @ 8:59am

Maybe a symptom...
Perhaps this is also a problem with judges across the US, and not just an isolated incident.

http://economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9413718

I do think it was a bit foolish for a working professional to put something like that somewhere so public, but I'm still on the fence on the "inadvertent resume" issue.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2007 @ 2:17pm

MySpace, Facebook, et al are an intelligence test.

If you have an account, you have failed the test.
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RandomThoughts, 15 Aug 2007 @ 7:40am

A judge had a myspace page? Really?

People really need to consider having their real name on a blog or anything else that is public. I have a blog, its pretty boring, but I do like to write about some business issues, DRM, whatever. Why would I want my name connected with an opinion piece when in the future, I may want to work for a company that is against that position?
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Information Goddess, 17 Aug 2007 @ 8:25pm

Google searches overrated
Google searches are overrated in the first place. Have you ever Googled yourselves? Perfectly upright professionals share names (and nothing else, I might add) with porn queens and recently released convicts, as well as lesser politically incorrect people. Admittedly a MySpace page is pretty damning, but otherwise how is a searcher going to know which person is which? Libraries have had to deal with these kinds of confusions practically since their inception.
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David - Merchant Cash Advance, 8 Jul 2008 @ 1:46pm

Can I get this judge, the next time in trouble with the law?
Lol! I never really thought of something like that happening.
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merchant loans, 27 Jul 2011 @ 5:35am

One can never be politically right at all times.
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