BROWARD NEW TIMES
Pink Slip Justice
When a clique is in charge, you don't stand a chance - even at the State Attorney's Office
by Bob Norman

"Sonia King says she was appalled when one of her coworkers made the proposition: If she would marry an illegal immigrant, she could make $10,000 in cash...

King reported her coworker, Adriana Vanegas, and the secretary was fired.

Not Vanegas, who still works at the State Attorney's Office, but King, who says her life was made miserable by management after she filed the complaint.

Internal SAO records support her claim that she was systematically bullied and badgered by management before she was finally given a pink slip on January 30 of this year. And the allegation of marriage fraud? It was tossed aside by the agency with a cursory investigation.

King's story shows not only how lax State Attorney Michael Satz's office can be when it comes to policing its own ranks, but it also provides a rather outrageous example of a cliquish workplace, drumming out an employee for having the nerve to point out wrongdoing in the ranks...

Here, incredibly, you have an example of the SAO not only failing to investigate alleged criminal activity in its own ranks but also suggesting that its own employee search out federal agents to find justice...

(SAO Spokesperson) Ishoy, meanwhile, claims the SAO did nothing wrong...

Perhaps, but it seems her greatest sins were getting on the wrong side of a gang-like bureaucracy and failing to keep quiet."