By Ken Snyder
"Big Bill" is still running things at BPU -- which does not surprise those who see the BPU as the model for cronyism and corruption they are. When the General Manager is away, he still runs the Board of Directors meetings. At this rate, he'll be the next General Manager -- and fit right in.
Clark still has a job at BPU. After his masterful handling of my termination (let's remember, it only cost BPU $45K plus whatever Wonnell and Sieve-Wilson charged to rid themselves of the obligation to retain a spot for someone serving in the National Guard) he will eventually be promoted up the food chain; until then he is in charge of the tree trimmers, trouble crews and traffic signal workers.
DeLeon still weasels his way around HR at BPU. As long as he can get away with what he did in my case (and let's face it, he got away with it) he has a bright future with BPU.
Before DOL was even able to get a statement from DeGraeve, he retired. He was spending his time hawking used cars (perfect place, given his "integrity") at some rinky-dink car lot called "Kewl Cars" on State Avenue, not far from the Service Center, but that went belly-up and now he's nowhere to be found. By the way, Greg: it's "depend", not "depand" -- your pencil-whipping of documents needs improvement.
Once DeGraeve was out of the picture, Castle became the Working Foreman in the Traffic Signal shop. Much like DeGraeve was, you rarely saw her outside the shop. But then again, you rarely see the Traffic Signal people out working anyway, as the number of bad signal lights and poorly-functioning signals in town would suggest - they're stealthy like that. Eventually she was able to retire as well, so now she lives off of the great BPU retirement benefits I'll never get. Maybe her conscience will let her live with her lack of integrity like DeGraeve's does.
Sisson's still around too, and I'm sure that since he has Union protection he can get away with pretty much anything he wants -- remember, he was caught living outside KCK and was still able to get back in at BPU.
Dunn is now set for life: well-entrenched at BPU, brother working for the Unified Government, wife has friends in BPU HR (who are friends with BPU's favorite law firm), he's pretty much untouchable. Integrity, however.......
Not long after I had to accept BPU's offer both Sieve-Wilson and Wonnell left McAnany, VanCleave & Phillips. After all the inept moves they made (remember, they sent us files we weren't supposed to have and kept insisting BPU did no wrong -- even after the FACTS started coming out!) I'm surprised they are still in the business.
Sieve-Wilson went to work as a lawyer for an insurance company. That's a good place for someone that would excel at taking advantage of people in unfortunate situations. That position didn't last for long, now she is entrenched in the Wyandotte County Courthouse as a lawyer - more about that later.
Wonnell, on the other hand, went straight to the top. He was appointed by Governor Brownback to a judge's position in Johnson County -- one more inept move for Sam. I believe anyone that's a veteran and finds themselves before Wonnell should demend a change of venue, seeing how he handled my case.
Once Kelvington cleared my case I never heard from him again. You would think that he would have realized that (because of what happened) I could use some assistance in finding another job or additional training. However, as of 17 August 2016 there had been no communication at all. Thanks for all your help -- it's apparent that VETS is practically useless. Sometime after that, he left VETS altogether and is now Regional Program Manager at Administration for Children and Families.
Something that really chapped my hide was how BPU said I "was not completing tasks in a timely manner." This, coming from a place where a downed power line electrocuted a man in a public park hours after they were notified. And they had the nerve to talk about me "not completing tasks in a timely manner"!
There were also comments made that I was not "paying attention to detail" -- coming from people who did this:
(notice the Kansas flag.......)
Not too long ago I came across a statement that sums it up pretty well: "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." So, after reading through this entire site to this point, what "standard" do you see BPU showing through this? It's one thing to have "integrity" listed as one of your so-called "values", prominently displayed on your conference room wall, it's an entirely different thing to actually show it. How about this statement: "Actions speak louder than words" -- you claim to support men and women who are serving this country, but you go and do this? You can sign all the "Statements of Support" you can get your hands on, attend every military job fair in the region, get "Patriot Award" after "Patriot Award" but when it was time to take a stand what does the record show that you did?
These people are tasked with providing safe and reliable electrical and water service to the residents of Kansas City, Kansas -- if they feel it's "acceptable" to pull a stunt like this, what else is "acceptable"?
If you're naive enough to think that this is an isolated incident, just take a look at YouTube videos:
Not a pretty picture, is it?
I won't even dignify the person this is directed at with posting their name:
You can claim to be so godly, post blogs about righteousness and all, raise enough money to give every person in Africa their own clean water well, but there will be a special place in Hell for the likes of you. Actions speak louder than words.
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