Mr. Bare, What is Going On?

When interviewing someone for employment, especially for a government job, great care must be taken to ask all the right questions. Some questions cannot by law be asked. The City has an outstanding Human Resources department that could have assisted in the interviewing process of potential City Council employees. Perhaps in the future that should be done.

Mr. Bare’s questioning of Mr. Kraher suggests he knew Mr. Kraher’s law license had been suspended, but Mr. Bare did not publically disclose that fact to his fellow council members. During the interview, which was videotaped, Mr. Kraher was offered the opportunity to make any comments he wanted about his qualifications before any questions were asked. He failed to disclose his law license was suspended. Since Mr. Bare apparently knew the license had been suspended, he later in the interview noted that Mr. Kraher’s resume stated he was currently practicing law and asked Mr. Kraher if that was indeed the case. Only then did Mr. Kraher disclose the suspension.

Potential employers cannot decline to hire someone solely because they are in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. However, the employer can and should obtain credit reports for anyone who will be making or participating in financial decisions. We have asked to see evidence of any background or reference investigation that Mr. Wells conducted of Mr. Kraher.

The point is that the city’s Human Resources department would have done a competent background investigation and has the requisite expertise to know what can be asked of a job candidate, what should be disclosed and what additional information should be obtained to properly evaluate a person for employment.

This video interview of Mr. Kraher is available on the city website. The embarrassment of the disclosures that eventually were made by Mr. Kraher is self-evident in both his written resume and his verbal comments. He was offered a job by the City Council making more money than he has ever made in his life, and it appears, at least for now, that no one did very much to see if he was qualified for this $100,000-a-year job.

We also wonder, Mr. Bare, why did the other candidates withdraw?