Gondo's Giles copies Herald-Trib article on police chief applicants... including the mistakes

.
Do you know how teachers usually catch students copying another's work? The cheater invariably copies the mistakes.

On the morning of Friday, December 17, the Herald-Tribune's John Davis reported that former Sarasota Sheriff candidate Dave Gustafson had submitted his resume to city hall for the police chief position (LINK). Gustafson had attended the city council meeting last week in an effort to find out the ground rules for submittuing an application. I spoke with Gustafson during the meeting, even introduced him to the Herald-Trib's Kim Hackett, while the Gondo's resident CQG ball-washer Greg Giles stood by, uninterested and unaware.

On Friday afternoon, the day after Davis' article appeared in the H-T, both Alan Bullock and Kathy Smith (of the city's Human Resources Department) stated that they had received no such resume from Gustafson.

In Saturday's Gondo, Giles re-reported the dubious factoid under his own byline with no attribution to the Herald-Trib (LINK). The Gondo went on to report on Saturday that several "unknown" candidates had submitted resumes, not altogether accurate information again taken from the Herald-Tribune by Giles and unattributed, as several had simply sent letters of interest, not resumes.

According to the city's Human Resources department, Giles had not made it in to city hall to collect information from them prior to writing his article.

Had Giles simply inserted the phrase, "According to a news story that appeared in the Herald-Tribune, ..." which would have been the ethical and honest thing to do, he would have been OK. He didn't, though, thus taking credit for portions of research, including mistakes, done by the Herald-Trib's Davis.

Here's the "unknown" candidates that the Gondo claimed had put in their resumes (gentlemen, start your Google searches). Their former and present positions, as stated below, are taken from the documents on file at city hall and have not been verified.

Wayne Bennett -- currently resides in Clifton Park, NY, formerly employed by the Schenectady PD and, later, the New York State Police. (*)

H. Randall Dilling -- former chief of Miami Springs (Florida) PD; Dilling didn't send a resume, rather he sent a letter of interest asking that it be kept confidential, apparently unaware that his letter would automatically become a public record.

Stan Duncan -- Sarasota Police Department.

Terry Lewis -- North Port Police Department.

Chuck Lesaltato -- now a bailiff, formerly the Sarasota Sheriff's public information officer.

Paul Redecha -- was with NYPD from 1968 - 1990, now teaches police cadets at Manatee Technical Institute in Lakewood Ranch.

William (Bill) Tokajer -- Bradenton Police Department.

All of this info was available last Friday morning at city hall to anyone who came in and asked. As of city hall's closing on Friday at 4:00 pm, Giles had not made it in to city hall gather the info required to write his story.

Correction Addendum, 12/21/10, 9:00 AM
(*)  Bennett sent an email on late Monday to correct an error in the above story: "Just wanted to bring to your attention one clarification in my current and former employment record as it is reversed in today's article. I was employed as a New York State Trooper for 39 years, retiring as the Superintendent in 2007.  At the time of my retirement, the State Police consisted of 5,400 sworn Troopers and 1,100 support personnel. I then continued my professional career as the Commissioner of Public Safety for the City of Schenectady, New York, in May 2007, and remain in that capacity overseeing the operations of both the city police and fire departments.  Schenectady is a city of approximately 62,000 inhabitants and has a 166 member police department and a 117 member fire department."