EastGirlsWest

Her departure from the city of Chula Vista sounds like a pretty sweet deal. And it does seem as if Laurie Madigan and her husband have a history of borderline professional ethics issues. But despite all that, I do have some sympathy for the woman.

Madigan is a (now former) assistant city manager of Chula Vista. Her recent sick leave and resignation have been well chronicled by The San Diego Union-Tribune over the past week. Why? Well, turns out that in addition to a golden parachute, Madigan also had an extremely generous sick leave policy while still employed. She began an extended sick leave in early February, but since then has continued to teach one class at UCSD in partnership with her husband.

Madigan was able to take her sick leave with full pay, you see. And the UT is cheesed off that she was “double dipping” and earning money from her teaching job while taking advantage of a boffo benefits plan with the city. This was all reported before Madigan revealed exactly what precipitated her sick leave. She has since confirmed that she has rheumatoid arthritis.

As someone with RA, I can definitely support the idea that there is a HUGE difference between working a stressful, full-time job and co-teaching a class once a week.

When I was first diagnosed, I worked at home, part-time, which was all I could handle. Luckily, I was (and remain) in a stable financial situation, with an employed partner and enough breathing room in our budget to allow me to take it a bit easier than usual for a couple of months. Unable to remain in any seated position for more than ten minutes, in chronic pain, and frankly rather depressed - going into an office five days a week would have killed me.

I can definitely sympathize with the idea that Madigan may have found going into an office every day, to throw herself into what sounds like a fast-paced and stressful job, to be detrimental to her health during an arthritic flare up. But leaving the house for three hours once a week to co-teach a class with a supportive partner? Come on. Let’s assume that teaching this class is something she enjoys. That sharing her knowledge with eager, smart students is a relaxing and rewarding break from the Blackberry wielding bureaucrats she’s dealing with on a daily basis. Oh, and the pay for teaching this class? $1,447.00 - compared to her city salary of $184,000.00. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that she’s not doing it for the money.

I think the UT was too zealous in covering kind of a non-story. The real story here? Someone in this country (and one could assume, her coworkers) has a kick ass sick leave plan! And probably good health insurance! Must be one of those “gold plated” health plans Bush keeps referring to. To be fair, this might be expected due to her income bracket and lifestyle. But the way health care and worker benefits are headed these days, I don’t think that’s safe to assume anymore.

Message to the UT: how about more stories on the prevalence of auto-immune diseases and the growing legions of the uninsured. Want something to investigate? Look into why my HMO makes it nearly impossible for one to receive actual health care. Now that’s a story.

UPDATE: Kelly Davis at CityBeat has also weighed in - read here.

Listen to Weekend Preview on These Days on KPBS in about an hour. I’ll be, well, previewing the weekend. Both ‘Attention Eileen Myles‘ at Voz Alta and the Citybeat ‘Bordering Beauty‘ soiree sound like desirable options for Friday night. If you’re feeling Irish, why not go to ShamRock on St. Patrick’s Day?

Tamara has introduced us to this non-word, and it’s become the preferred adjective/Proper Noun for our estrogen-centric blogger weekend. EXCELANDO. Note the tags on everyone’s Flickr photos.

It’s half past midnight, and we’ve got five laptops out. We’re maxing out our access to stolen WiFi from the neighbor. Flickr is S.L.O.W. By the fifth bottle of red wine, there was mutual love being declared. Someone, and I’m not naming any names (Leah), suggested a blood oath against plastic surgery except for boobs.

Leah is writing her first blog post about the weekend.

“You mean, we only get one lousy mention? I think we each deserve our own paragraph.”

“Yeah, maybe later when I’m not drunk.”

My mom came for a visit. We went to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art.

We also saw the movie Notes on a Scandal. Dench and Blanchett are sublime.

Also, hiked at Torrey Pines State Reserve. And went to The Getty Museum in LA.

Shopped at the Hillcrest Farmers Market (San Diego I Feel Good About).

Me and The Betrothed went to see the French Kicks at The Casbah. Wore my new t-shirt from Mighty Girl, which was a big hit.

Oh, and I went to Chicago and ate here, worked here, and saw much missed old friends.

I’m reading What is the What.

Went to see Blowup at MoPA. After, had my favorite roasted duck and white bean soup at The Tractor Room.

P.S. I’m on the teevee tomorrow night. Tune in at 8:20(ish)!

It’s 90 degrees out here in the desert, people. Palm Desert, to be specific. And truthfully, hot feels pretty good right now - especially after my flirtation with the low 20s in Chicago earlier this week.

I’m here for a mini-mini Blogger/BlogHer gathering, generously hosted by Susan. We’re joined by four, fabulous other women: Katie, Tamara, Leah and Aaryn. So far it’s been wonderful, with a quiet morning at Susan’s a leisurely walk and lunch along The Paseo this afternoon. And art. We saw lots of photogenic art. There were two rides in a bright yellow golf cart.

Everyone’s got a big, fancy camera except me. I feel like I’m being followed by the paparazzi.

We’re all blogging and uploading photos and laptopping. We’re all taking pictures of each other taking pictures. I just commented on one of Angela’s Flickr photos while sitting three feet away from Aaryn who was looking at it. It’s all very meta.