BUREAUCRAT ALLEGEDLY LIED ABOUT INSTRUCTING HER STAFF TO MISLEAD HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
The top human resources official for governor Nikki Haley‘s law enforcement agency has been accused of committing perjury during a S.C. House of Representatives oversight hearing.
In fact, the bureaucrat is specifically accused of lying under oath about her efforts to get other agency employees to mislead members of the S.C. House Legislative Oversight committee.
Tosha Autry – director of human resources for the S.C. Department of Public Safety (SCDPS) – was asked under oath by S.C. Rep. Eddie Tallon whether or not she had ever instructed her employees to lie.
Autry – having been duly sworn – answered in the negative.
At that point, Tallon produced what he claimed was evidence to the contrary – specifically an audio recording in which Autry’s voice could be heard explicitly providing such permission.
“If you work in HR … you a liar,” Autry said on the tape. “It’s not a bad liar but you will tell white lies. You don’t know what’s going on you guys act like you don’t know what’s going on. All right? They got terminated, you knew they got terminated. Did you know so-and-so got terminated? I don’t know what you’re talking about. You just lied because you know they got terminated but you can’t tell them that they got terminated.”
According to our sources, audible gasps could be heard in the hearing room as Tallon played the tape – which Autry acknowledged was authentic.
S.C. Rep. Kirkman Finlay – who was presiding over the hearing – called for order and urged Autry to consult with legal counsel. Finlay later called on the agency’s director – Leroy Smith – to explain his employee’s testimony.
SCDPS – which oversees the S.C. Highway Patrol (SCHP) – has been under intense scrutiny regarding allegations of discriminatory hiring. Last year, a group called “Troopers FED UP” formed with the expressed purpose of challenging this alleged culture of discrimination.
Obviously that’s not as hot as the “Sex, Lies and Troopers” scandal this website uncovered five years ago, but it’s one of the areas Finlay’s panel is investigating.
For more on this story, check out this report (with video) prepared by the Associated Press and WLTX TV 19 (CBS – Columbia, S.C.).
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