My take: About the state's response to the 'conflated" jobless insurance matter

It came after a critical report from the State Auditor's office and was followed by news of a theft of funds by a former employee who tragically took his own life. The theft was kept quiet until WHYY received a news tip. 

The twin developments led to calls for an investigation from Republican legislators and the Delaware Coalition for Open Government. 

According to a story from DelawareOnline/News Journal, those involved at the state level are promising a full report next month.

Sadly, the usual “blame the media’ response emerged from a letter sent to legislators with the following sentence:  "News reports over the past few weeks have somewhat conflated these incidents and contributed to some confusion."

I had to look it up, but the dictionary says that "conflated" means combining two or more issues, sometimes unrelated, into one.

The letter outlines the issues in the unemployment insurance section and justifies the need for a low-key approach.

The confidentiality argument doesn't wash since the incident occurred last year and one would hope that at least temporary steps have been taken to ensure it did not happen again.

The only confusion one sees is the failure to adequately disclose the two issues in a manner understandable to the general public. The letter does a decent job of addressing those questions.

Delaware's government has its issues with transparency. This is yet another example and is another reason to pass legislation creating a state Inspector General's office. - Doug Rainey, publisher