ALL Government Officials Should Be Checked, Even Those Who Aren't Being Paid

Phelicia Williams, 26, was interned at the mayor's office in Oakland, CA for 10 months and was blatantly not screened prior to starting.

The mayor's office did not check Williams' criminal record prior to bringing her on as an unpaid intern. Mayor of Oakland, Ron Dellums' spokesperson said in an official statement that the mayor has no plans to change its policy of not running background checks on intern applicants and volunteers.

The citizens of Oakland should be outraged. A simple screen could of alerted Dellums' office of Williams multiple counts of identity fraud before she stole some 100 personal checks from last year's Mayor's Holiday Toy Drive.

Williams was arrested on October 12 for suspicion of charging over $10,000 on the company card of a former employer. She was on probation for forgery at the time of her arrest.

On her job application for the Mayor, Williams claimed to have no prior convictions. The Mayor's office defended their stance, stating the interns go through a vetting process similar to what the candidate's themselves go through.

Hopefully, the elected officials are better behaved than Ms. Phelicia Williams.