Staff Reports
A Washington, D.C. official has officially exited stage left after her not-so-secret double life was exposed. Caroline Lian, the deputy director of the District of Columbia Department of Buildings, was recently ousted when it was found that she had been juggling a full-time gig at Freddie Mac while pretending to be a dedicated public servant in D.C. Now, that’s some impressive multitasking, but apparently the ethics board wasn’t impressed.
Lian raked in an impressive $175,000 annually from her D.C. government job while simultaneously raking in a hefty paycheck from Freddie Mac, where she was also pulling in six figures. This wasn’t just a side hustle; it was like having two full-time jobs without the hassle of actually being present for either one. She compromised her duties in a dazzling display of time management, only reporting to her D.C. office two days a week and playing the Freddie Mac game on the other days.
Washington Examiner: DC employee fined $25,000 for working second full-time job on government time https://t.co/DJ3TMK57F8
— Ian’s Newsfeed 🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@IanHNewsFeed) August 8, 2024
The art of deception can be tricky, and Lian apparently wasn’t good at keeping all of her many balls in the air. She neglected to disclose her Freddie Mac employment in her financial reports for 2022 and 2023, a misstep that led to the ethics board giving her the heave-ho. To top it off, Lian was moonlighting as a city councilwoman in Falls Church, Virginia. She informed her D.C. employer about this gig but managed to waltz into council meetings while still being compensated by the D.C. government for a full day’s “work” on more than ten occasions. It seems someone may have mistaken the public service for a sitcom where they don’t actually have to show up.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, clearly not pleased with being the laughingstock of local governance, had previously mandated that employees should limit their remote work to just one day a week. In a noble attempt at reforming D.C. government practices, Bowser emphasized the need for local officials to actually show up and serve their constituents, instead of serving themselves.
With her resignation, Lian now faces a $25,000 fine and a forced attendance at ethics training, likely something she should have considered before playing the government gig as a second job. Meanwhile, officials at the Department of Buildings are scrambling to bolster their oversight protocols to ensure all employees adhere to necessary standards. It’s a tall order, but if they can’t trust their own staff to come to work, what hope is there for the residents of D.C.?
