How not to kill off a media story. The saga of former state bureaucrat, Wilson Tindi, has been extended for another week, with a fresh round of media reports. From Jenna Gloeb at Alpha News,
Minnesota Department of Education [MDE] to strengthen hiring practices — after Alpha News reports.
Alpha News had the original report on Tindi, that illegal alien, convicted felon, registered sex offender, and accused drunk driver, who was, until late last month, employed by MDE as their Chief Audit Officer. He had earlier held the same position with the state’s Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), having worked there since late 2018.
In their latest piece, Alpha News documents the response of MDE to a letter sent by state Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), the chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee. The Robbins letter basically asks, “How was this guy employed by MDE?” Alpha News reprints the MDE response, dated July 3 at the bottom of their piece.
MDE’s response speaks volumes for what it doesn’t say. Quoting MDE,
MDE fulfills all hiring obligations under federal and state law and state policy.
But,
MDE is also instituting an enhanced set of hiring practices. MDE has adopted a policy for criminal background checks for all new hires and is in process of developing and adopting further enhancements to hiring and personnel policies.
Translation: MDE has done nothing wrong and they totally won’t ever do it again. The MDE response does not address whether the new background check policy will be applied retroactively, to all current employees. How many other Wilson Tindi’s are there on the state payroll?
For his part, the Kenyan-born, Wilson Tindi, age 42 is playing the victim. He’s been emailing local media outlets trying to tell his side of the story. Tom Hauser of KSTP reports,
Former state worker claims ‘character assassination’ after losing job over criminal sexual conduct record.
Specifically, Tindi claims “retroactive” character assassination. I’m not sure there is another kind. Hauser provides the blow-by-blow,
In multiple emails to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS since our story last week, Tindi says he’s a victim of “character assassination.”
The email campaign prompts KSTP to repeat the details of Tindi’s felony sex crime, which I will not reprint. Tindi laments,
What purpose is served by publicly tearing down a record of nearly seven years of blemish-free public service?
KSTP adds,
In his emails, Tindi said his previous criminal record should have no bearing on his job, because he’s never faced any complaints about his work. In fact, he says he’s received awards and positive job reviews during his public employment.
Awards, promotions, salary bumps, MPCA has a lot to answer for with Tindi. Tindi has 20-year record of plea deals, dropped prosecutions, and kid-glove handling by authorities. To this day, he appears to show no remorse for his past conduct. For example, KSTP closes with this sequence,
When KSTP asked Tindi for an on-camera interview, he declined, saying, “Objectively, nothing in my state career justifies the level of retroactive character assassination I’ve endured — nor does it support the suggestion that the state’s hiring practices were improper or flawed.”
We asked if he’s considered what the victim in his case has endured since 2014. He declined to answer.
If you are interested, KSTP prints a two-paragraph statement (in italics) from Mr. Tindi. He is due back in state court on his latest drunk driving charge in August.