The state Board of Fingerprinting on June 5 reprimanded its executive director for a MySpace.com page in which he described himself as a “wild debaucher” who volunteered to help children only to indoctrinate them in lawlessness.
The five-member board consisting of officials drawn from other state agencies voted unanimously to reprimand Executive Director Dennis Seavers “for conduct detrimental to the mission of the agency.”
Board Chairman Mike LeHew declined to comment after the meeting, saying the reprimand was a personnel matter.
Seavers said the reprimand was “understandable” though he repeated his previous explanation that the statements he made on the MySpace.com page were jokes intended only for friends.
Gov. Janet Napolitano’s office had urged the board to “take appropriate action” concerning Seavers.
Statements made on Seavers’ former Web page may have been made in jest but “remain inappropriate for a state government official,” particularly one involved with public safety, Napolitano Co-Chief of Staff Alan Stephens wrote in a May 23 letter to the board’s chairman.
What the board does
The Board of Fingerprinting oversees a small executive-branch agency that considers appeals from prospective teachers, child day care workers and others required to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks.
Seavers told The Associated Press in a May 21 interview that the page’s contents were “exactly the opposite of me as a person” and were a joke intended for viewing only by friends.
“If I had known that the public would see it, I never would have done it,” Seavers said.
The MySpace.com page also had drawn expressions of concern from legislators.
Seavers’ former Web page said he lived “a quiet daytime life as a state employee” but that his friends knew him “as wild debauchery, interested in self-promotion and enrichment. And by enrichment, I mean money. None of this self-esteem crap. Though afflicted by dipsomania, I stroll through crowds under the guise of sobriety. I volunteer as a Big Brother, only to indoctrinate children in the gothic splendors of lawlessness.”
Seavers said in the May interview that he rarely drinks, was not a Big Brothers volunteer and had never committed a crime.
“I have no issues with any drugs and alcohol,” he said.
Brian Hassett, president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona, on June 5 said Seavers had not been a volunteer for the mentoring group.
Hassett said he was glad that Seavers had publicly retracted his statement about having been a volunteer and that he’d “hate to see anybody lose their job over a mistake.”
However, Hassett added: “It’s disappointing and one of the messages is you can’t kid around about stuff like this,” Hassett said.
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