Nepotism

WASHINGTON -- Eight senior Department of Justice administrative employees should be disciplined for seeking jobs for their children and other relatives, and the department needs to tighten its employment guidelines after three nepotism incidents in recent years, the Inspector General's Office said Thursday. In the latest cases, the inspector general's report determined that within certain departments, a culture of “nepotism, ethical lapses and misleading statements was the result of bad behavior by individuals insufficiently impressed with the principles of fair and open” job hiring competition.

Hunter will be Houston's problem Hit the parties, pretend to play defense and decide the fate of the longtime chief of their labor union. The agenda for All-Star weekend received a somber addendum this week for members of the NBA players' union who will participate in their league's midseason showcase Feb. 17 in Houston. The union must determine whether to fire Billy Hunter after the head of the organization was placed on indefinite paid leave after a scathing report that disclosed dubious business practices and nepotism.

A firefighter who married a fire captain's daughter was fired after a judge in Columbia ruled against a request to let him keep his job while he sues the city over its anti-nepotism policy. The judge denied Matt Cooper's request, saying the city's policy is clear. Cooper, 25, was told that he was going to be fired after his June 18 marriage to Brooke Lowery, 21, daughter of fire Capt. Herbie Lowery.

WASHINGTON - Eight senior Justice Department administrative employees should be disciplined for seeking jobs there for their children and other relatives, and officials need to tighten their employment guidelines after three nepotism incidents in recent years, the inspector general said Thursday. In the latest cases, Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz's report said that within certain departments a culture of "nepotism, ethical lapses and misleading statements was the result of bad behavior by individuals insufficiently impressed with the principles of fair and open" hiring competition.

Re "Nepotism Is Merely a Boogeyman," by Adam Bellow, Commentary, July 7: I too am a writer. I have written two screenplays and a nonfiction novel. I attended New York University film school with hopes of becoming a filmmaker. Never heard of me? Of course not. I do not have family in the business, and I do not know the "right people." Please tell me, Mr. Bellow, what is a talented, educated person who is not related to anybody supposed to do? And please don't flatter yourself. Nobody is "jealous" of you. Frightened, yes, as nepotism does so much more harm than good.

As a result of the "marriage in management" at the Child Support Division, the D.A.'s office has initiated a number of special arrangements specifically to accommodate the Troms. The plan is to remove the child support ombudsman from the office and put her in a location completely separated from the child support function. Also, a newly created classification awaits her (in order to fit in with the organizational chart that has been renovated). The dictionary defines "nepotism" as undue favoritism and/or special treatment shown to a relative.

UCI Medical Center says it is investigating whether nepotism rules were violated when it hired three relatives of the hospital's interim chief executive. Maureen Zehntner told UC Irvine officials she had a brother, sister and cousin employed at the Orange hospital after The Times reported last week that children of other top medical administrators had been hired there, university spokeswoman Susan Menning said Wednesday.

An investigation into five cases of possible nepotism in hiring at UCI Medical Center found nothing improper, university officials said Wednesday. A sixth case is still being investigated. UC Irvine's Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity said it found no violations in the hiring of a sister and cousin of interim hospital Chief Executive Maureen Zehntner; the daughter of former hospital Chief Executive Dr. Ralph Cygan; and the son and daughter of medical school Dean Dr. Thomas Cesario.

Prime Minister Turgut Ozal reorganized his Cabinet on Friday, dismissing his brother and cousin in apparent response to charges of nepotism that may have helped defeat his party in municipal elections. He fired 10 other members of the 22-member Cabinet and took personal control of the economic portfolios. Inflation, which reached 75% last year, was considered a major factor in last Sunday's election setback.

A spokesman for the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control said this week that he knows of "nothing unusual" about the hiring of Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's goddaughter as a deputy director of the agency. The selection of Rita R. Henderson drew scrutiny after a report in the Charlottesville Daily Progress said she got the job at Wilder's insistence. A written offer to another applicant was withdrawn, the newspaper said. Thomas L.

There was no shortage of candidates to serve as traffic and planning commissioners in Garden Grove last March. More than 40 residents with university degrees and backgrounds in real estate, construction and traffic engineering applied for the 12 positions. Despite the number of volunteers and a city policy designed to limit nepotism, two people with family ties to the council — the son of the mayor and the husband of a councilwoman — were given seats. In May, Mayor William Dalton and the four council members arbitrarily named a planning commissioner to fill a vacant council seat, appearing to go against a voter-mandated advisory policy on how vacancies are to be filled.

Burbank officials are considering an anti-nepotism policy that would prohibit family members of City Council members and the city manager from being hired. The draft policy, which is being fine-tuned by the Burbank Civil Service Board, could also extend to department chiefs, although that provision has yet to find consensus. Commissioners plan to send the draft policy to the City Council this summer. The board's chairman, Nathan Schlossman, said there are familial employee relationships within every city department.

Discontented Compton residents announced Thursday that they have launched a recall campaign against their mayor and several other elected officials, citing allegations of misappropriation of public funds, nepotism and voter deception. Activists said Mayor Eric J. Perrodin, Councilwoman Lillie Dobson, City Atty. Craig J. Cornwell and City Clerk Alita Godwin have been served notices of intent to circulate a recall petition. "We have been watching and telling people what's going on," said Joyce Kelly, a recall organizer.

For many Chinese, he's a curious conundrum, an emerging national figure with some serious public relations issues. The only grandson of Mao Tse-tung, the Great Helmsman himself, Mao Xinyu's bloodlines ooze political royalty. Yet instead of praise, the 40-year-old faces ridicule as a pudgy underachiever shamelessly riding the coattails of the relative many consider this nation's greatest statesmen. When state media reported this week that the younger Mao had become the youngest officer to reach the rank of major general in the army his grandfather co-founded eight decades ago, critics unleashed another barrage of vitriol.

Los Angeles County's second-highest-ranking employee took numerous steps to secure a county job for her future son-in-law that paid nearly $1,000 more a month than the position called for, according to a confidential audit reviewed by The Times. County auditors said that Sharon Harper, the top deputy to the county's chief executive, had a "clear conflict of interest" in the hiring of Ed'Ward Rhone and that the chief executive "should consider appropriate disciplinary action." The Times had sought the audit for several weeks, submitting public information requests to supervisors' offices and the county auditor controller.

Everyone who does business in the city of Industry is required to sign up with Mayor David Perez's company. For years, a firm partly owned by the mayor has held an exclusive, multimillion-dollar franchise to pick up trash from the warehouses, manufacturing plants and other commercial enterprises packed into this oddly configured, avidly pro-business San Gabriel Valley city. And that is just one Perez investment thread that runs through town -- a place with fewer than 100 voters, tight-knit City Hall relationships and now a good chance of becoming home to an $800-million stadium complex and Los Angeles' next professional football team.

The largest Head Start provider in Los Angeles County has violated federal regulations governing the program for low-income preschoolers by engaging in nepotism, renting office space and vans from its own employees and over-enrolling children, according to a county report obtained by The Times. Prompted by complaints from parents and employees, an investigation conducted this summer by the county Office of Education turned up those and other alleged violations by the Latin American Civic Assn.

They were words on which a young man's fate would soon hinge: "Dad, you should check this out." Focus Features chief executive James Schamus was doing homework with his then-15-year-old daughter, Nona, one evening in 2007. As was their habit, when it came time for a break, the two began perusing YouTube videos. In particular, Nona wanted her father -- who heads the specialty studio known for making high-minded art-house fare such as "Atonement," "Lost in Translation" and "Brokeback Mountain" -- to watch a clip featuring a stand-up comedian Schamus had never heard of: Demetri Martin.