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Phil Formicola is a parole agent in Philadelphia. He
claims to be the president of an AFSCME local and to work inside
a halfway house. It's safe there. He also claims to have
discovered our nefarious scheme to publish information to inform
you about how much these guys cost the taxpayers.
The www.prisoners.com website bought a copy of the official list that the State prepares every month pursuant to law, The Administrative Code of 1929, Section 614, 71 PS 234. The list contains information about every state employee, such things are their names, the county they're from and, most importantly, what they get paid. It's a kings ransom!. Formicola claims that he got scared. He didn't want you taxpayers to know the information that was in the official list. It seems strange since it's been published for over 80 years and is available for the asking in the State Library, but parole agents aren't renown for their intellect (or their honesty, for that matter). Phil promptly spread the word, or his version of it. He supposedly asserted that we were going to publish home addresses. That really terrified Phil, but like so much of what he asserts, it wasn't true. He asserted that we were going to charge for this cunning information and that we were going to circulate it to folks who "didn't like" parole agents. Of course, the truth is that damn few people like parole agents, but otherwise, the gossip was untrue. In fact, the list was so enormous (over 24,000 names) that we quickly realized that there was no way we could possibly republish it. Reality didn't much matter. With several others, mostly prison guards who were no smarter that Mr. Formicola, he and his union brought suit against us. They wanted our Constitutional rights of free speech and free press censored. The most amazing thing is that a judge who should have known better, issued an injunction. As time went on Mr. Formicola's suit got into trouble. He lost most of his fellow plaintiffs. An amended complaint had to be cooked up. Now there were only two parole agents who were complaining, Formicola and his fellow Philadelphian, Philip Carroll. This guy is one of those fellows who likes to dress up and look tough. He came to a hearing shrouded in black Nazi SS type clothes looking both silly and self-important, but he wasn't quite as obnoxious or aggressive as Formicola. Two prison guards had joined with the two parole agents to try to censor and bully us. One, Bruce Facer, is a guard at the Frackville state prison. The other was a much more reasonable man employed at the Camp Hill prison, LeRoy Robinson. Like the parole agents, these guards are afraid you'll find out about them. Apparently they have guilty consciences. My wife, the website's publisher, Sandra Feigley, came away from a hearing with Mr. Formicola describing him as ungracefully aging, graying, a typical labor leader type, nasty to her when she interviewed him and aggressive. I suppose he felt safe being disrespectful to my wife, she's 57 years old and a tiny 5 feet tall. It seems that some persons are simply bullies. But my little wife was a lot less scared that Phil Formicola. In fact, she's pretty amazing! She realizes that you have to stand up to bullies. You are welcome to use or republish
any of our material.
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