What would happen to you if
you borrowed your company’s car and, thanks to built-in tracking technology,
were caught driving 113 mph? Or how
would your HR staff “dialogue” with you if the car’s mileage wasn’t properly
logged, you had apparently used it for personal trips, then left it sitting in
a garage and when you did return it to the motor pool it had $3500 in damage?
This isn’t a hypothetical
question. These are actual cases of
state employees, including former Chief of Staff to Governor Lamont, Jonathan
Dach.
All of this comes to light in
the latest
detailed report from the Auditors of Public Accounts, a
non-partisan, independent body appointed by the legislature. Their reports make
for interesting reading, but little else: they have no enforcement powers or ability to
penalize for wrong-doing.
Consider their report this
past week on how the Governor’s office is run:
· Of the
three cars assigned to the office, mileage logs were not kept.
· The
Governor’s Office had 92 laptop computers for their 30 employees.
· Time
sheets for staffers were approved by superiors who had no direct knowledge of
the employees’ work hours.
In response to the audit, the
Governor’s Office said they agreed with the findings
and would try to do a better job. End of
story.
Some of these matters require
mandatory referral to the Office of Ethics, but there seems to be little
enforcement happening there, the case of Jonathan Dach being a good example.
You’ll remember that Dach was
the Governor’s Chief of Staff, a $215,000 a year gig that was, as the
Governor’s Office said, “a round the clock job”. Dach apparently spent a lot of that time
driving including 2300
miles for personal trips visiting the beach,
restaurants, brew pubs and even a Dave Mathews concert, according to the audit.
Electronic
tracking in another state-owned Ford Escape showed somebody
once drove 113 mph on a trip from New London to Hartford. That’s illegal, even for a staffer in the
Governor’s office.
What did Ned Lamont have to
say about all this?
“The people of Connecticut
deserve transparency and accountability… we need to lead by example,” he said
last June. He added that he would seek
reimbursement from Dach for personal use of the state car. But there’s been no further word on what, if
any anything happened since Dach left his job in June.
As for the computers, $7423 worth
of laptops “could not be located”. But
the Governor’s staff added that as soon as a laptop is no longer under
warranty, it’s replaced and the old model is given to interns for their use.
Great. Blame the kids.
Regarding the time sheets for
the $3,746,724 annual payroll for the office’s couple dozen staffers, the audit
says “limited resources” in the office meant they had not adopted a formal
timesheet approval process.
In an era of tight finances,
it’s discouraging to read that the Executive branch of state government, which
claims that it wants to lead by example, has failed in its oversight of
equipment and staff. It makes one wonder
what’s happening in the other 88 agencies in our state, their 45,000+ employees
and 3300+ state vehicles.
And though they are lacking in
any real power, kudos to the Auditors of Public Accounts for making all of this
information public.
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