That darned appearance of impropriety is rearing its head once again in
Its administrators might not be hiding anything. But they sure aren’t going out of their way to avoid the appearance of a cover-up.
You might recall the release in May of an audit by the Legislative Finance Committee that found that the personnel office deviated from hiring practices for several months in 2005 and 2006, practiced nepotism and violated the state procurement code and travel rules. You might also recall Gov. Bill Richardson, Mr. I-want-to-clean-up-state-government, accusing the LFC of “nitpicking” and saying that the audit identified only “three minor problems” and was designed to “embarrass” him and his staff.
Right… Sounded then like a cover-up. Certainly not the sort of comments you’d expect from a leader who is conscious about avoiding the appearance of impropriety, and one who works hard to run an administration that has integrity.
Well, it gets worse. The Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday that the personnel office’s chief of staff, Dominic Garcia, flew to
In early June, an internal investigation suggested that the agency hire an expert to look into the situation of Garcia, his sister and a third employee “to determine whether favoritism had played a role in pay increases,” the Journal reported.
The LFC audit questioned why Garcia received a 36-percent raise over a 26-month period even though his duties didn’t change, and why his sister, Janna Reyes, got a 15-percent raise for a lateral transfer.
They’re the children of the state’s veteran affairs secretary, John Garcia, the Journal reported.
Instead of following the recommendation, the agency hired the firm to look at every pay action for every employee for the last four years. To help the consultant, the agency sent Garcia and another employee, with 1,000 documents in hand, to explain the agency’s operations.
What we have here is an investigation initiated because of allegations involving a certain employee, and the powers-that-be in the office, who apparently have the backing of the governor, letting that employee assist the investigation instead of keeping him as far away from it as possible to ensure the integrity of the probe.
The whole thing stinks. There might be problems with the LFC audit, or good explanations for what has happened in the personnel office, but letting one of those whose pay hike is under scrutiny assist in the investigation isn’t the way to reassure the public.