Tom Wagner: First the Coverup. Now the Whitewash.

State Auditor Tom Wagner‘s successful coverup of possible, OK, likely, criminal behavior, on the part of former House Majority Leader Dick Cathcart is almost complete. But only if you let him and Cathcart  get away with it.

Just in time for Super Bowl weekend, Wagner ‘dumped’ the long-awaited report that told us what we already knew. It actually told us less than we already knew, and the  name missing from the report is ‘Cathcart’.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the beginning.

Our esteemed contributor Unstable Isotope provides the back story, in a post from April 24, 2011. Quoting from a News-Journal article:

The state auditor of accounts has delayed for nearly a year the release of a report critical of a Delaware State University department managed by a powerful former legislator and longtime political friend.

The investigation focuses on DSU using state funds to award nearly $1.5 million in no-bid contracts to a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning company, according to a draft of the report obtained by The News Journal. Many of the contract awards violated state bidding law and the work was performed without the necessary city permits, DSU and state officials acknowledge.

DSU’s purchasing and contract procurement is overseen by Richard C. Cathcart, a veteran Republican lawmaker who also served as House majority leader and chaired influential appropriations committees. Cathcart is DSU’s associate vice president of administration in charge of campus facilities.

So, employing the most advanced math techniques (square root of 17=…um, pi?), I calculate that this report was ‘in the mill’ in the early part of 2010. The ‘miller’, in this case, was one Robert Hicks, a real auditor, not merely a suspendered buffoon who plays one in Delaware politics. We now know that Hicks had the story exactly right.

Waitaminnit! Did I say ‘the early part of 2010’? It actually started in 2009, according to this rare ‘right-on!’ News-Journal editorial from April 26, 2011:

More serious, however, is the appearance that Auditor Wagner was withholding the results of the audit — now close to 18 months old — to protect fellow Republican and then-House Minority Leader Richard Cathcart. Auditor Wagner insists he did no such thing, even doubting whether Mr. Cathcart even voted for him in last year’s election.

Auditor Wagner says the quality control review of the audit conducted by former Deputy Auditor Robert Hicks will show “significant problems” with the audit that will explain the reason for the delay.

“Anytime you do an investigation, it can be blown out of proportion, as [Mr. Hicks] is obviously attempting to do in this case,” Auditor Wagner told News Journal reporter Wade Malcolm.

So, in April of 2011, Auditor Tom Wagner says that they are doing a ‘quality control review’ of the audit that prevents the release of the audit until…right before the 2012 Super Bowl?

I just gotta take a look at this audit.  So can you. Right here. It’s a PDF link, but you can read this ‘work product’ for yourself.

The work product stinks. First paragraph is a whitewash, and doesn’t even list the charges before it seeks to exonerate. Second graf contains a typo that any high school student could have corrected. Allow me to quote:

Of the nine allegations, five were simply unsubstantiated, two were inconclusive, one was partially substantiated, and one was substantiated.

The most predominate (sic) theme was with DSU’s non-compliance with state procurement requirements for state funds, which include no formal bidding, improper use of emergency contracts, and multiple purchase orders issued with the same vendor, purpose and date.

At this point, I beg you to read this, pardon the expression, investigative report. Don’t worry, it won’t take long. The very idea that this final work product took 2 1/2 years to complete is absurd on its face. I make no claims to be an ‘auditor’ in the professional sense of the word. However, I was the Research Analyst for the Joint Sunset Committee for close to two years. I wrote performance reviews, or ‘audits’, of several state agencies, boards and commissions. Had I brought something like this to, say, Steve Amick, he would have told me to rewrite the report so that it made sense.

The bottom line: While studiously failing to name (any) names, the report found that indeed dozens of purchase orders were awarded to the same contractor on the same date for the same purpose. To demonstrate just what a whitewash this report is, this substantiated violation was buried in the body of what the Auditor claims was an ‘unsubstantiated’ allegation–that DSU employees got kickbacks for the contracts. It is not even listed as a violation, although the summary of the report admits that it is.

Again, I beg you to read this report. Even if you are the most partisan of Republicans, including those non-partisan types at the CRI, read this report and explain how this isn’t just a political cover-up.

Here are several points I just have to make:

1. There is neither proof, nor even a hint of verification, that the work performed by Robert Hicks was lacking in ‘quality control’. Certainly none that would justify the delay in releasing the report. State Auditor Tom Wagner promised that the “quality control review of the audit conducted by former Deputy Auditor Robert Hicks will show “significant problems” with the audit that will explain the reason for the delay. There is no such evidence.

2. Based on this report, neither Wagner nor his auditor pal Kathleen O’Donnell have any room to criticize Hicks, or any other professional, for shoddy work. Although they know shoddy work, because that is what they have produced here.

3. There is no denying the fact that DSU awarded dozens of ‘no-bid’ contracts to Absolute HVACR in violation of Delaware bid procedures. Neither the Auditor nor Delaware State University even try to make that case. The Auditor simply tries to bury this admission in a section on kickbacks.

4. There is no denying the fact that then-House Majority Leader Dick Cathcart was directly responsible for procurement and purchasing at DSU, and that these contracts fell under his authority. The State Auditor does not even mention his name in the report, nor any individual’s name in this report. Hello-o-o-o. These no-bid contracts weren’t awarded at random by some anonymous computer program, they were awarded by, and/or with the full knowledge of, the person responsible for awarding them–Dick Cathcart.

5. The Auditor’s report does not refute a single one of the nine allegations that were made. The auditors were simply unwilling or unable to unearth the facts. In one case, allegations  concerning prevailing wage violations by the no-bid contractors, the Auditor’s Office kicked the allegation to, wait for it, Delaware’s Department of Labor. Wonder which one of the three moonlighting legislators ‘working’ there will look into that one….

6. The State Auditor used his office for political purposes on behalf of Dick Cathcart. Even if you could forgive Wagner’s early statement on the investigation, which was, and I quote, “Dick’s not going to look too good in this, is he?”, one cannot forget what happened next. First, Wagner fires auditor Hicks for ‘quality control’ issues. Cathcart then announces he will not seek reelection in 2010. Cathcart suddenly ‘retires’ from his job at DSU in 2011, and then, and then, within a week, Cathcart fortuitously finds himself as the finalist for an $80K job as the Delaware City Town Manager. At least one Delaware City Councilman worries about the unresolved charges from Delaware State University. Tom Wagner to Dick Cathcart’s rescue. From the News-Journal:

“While investigating an office run by fellow Republican Richard C. Cathcart, state Auditor R. Thomas Wagner helped Cathcart secure a job as town manager of Delaware City.At Cathcart’s request, Wagner contacted a wavering councilman looking for reassurance that the unfinished audit would find no wrong-doing by Cathcart.

…Wagner contacted Delaware City Councilman Paul Johnson on June 8, moments before council was to vote on whether to hire Cathcart for the manager job that pays $80,000 per year. The call left Johnson with the impression that Cathcart was in the clear, despite the investigation being incomplete. Johnson reported Wagner’s remarks to the full council before it voted unanimously to hire Cathcart.”

Wagner made the phone calls back in June of 2011. What passes for his ‘Special Investigative Report’ was not completed until December of 2011, and not released until right before the 2012 Super Bowl. Wagner had no way of knowing that the report would exonerate Cathcart unless, unless,  he knew he would make damn sure that the report would not implicate Cathcart. Contrary to all the facts in this investigation, that’s exactly what he did.

Do you realize that this article is now longer, and more coherent, than the Auditor’s Special Investigative Report? It’s taken me three hours, not 2 1/2 years.

I’m almost done, but not before opening yet another window into the ‘thinking’ of our State Auditor, as well as certain members of the Delaware General Assembly.

We would not even have known about this had Robert Hicks, the initial auditor working this investigation, not come forward. He was assailed as a ‘disgruntled employee’ when in fact, he was doing his job and objected to the initial cover-up. Tom Wagner is determined to never let this happen again. With the collaboration of some of the ‘Honorables’ in the Delaware General Assembly, he has helped prepare one of the worst bills in recent memory. This ‘excrement in bill form’ would “provide that the work papers of an investigation or investigatory audit conducted by the Auditor of Accounts shall not be deemed public records.”

Got that? Had this law been in place before the Cathcart coverup started, Hicks would likely have been sued and/or the information never would have seen the light of day. Quite inappropriate when you realize that Hicks was the only public servant who believed that the public had a right to know about this institutional corruption and cover-up. The sponsors of this public censorship legislation are Rep. Scott and Sen. Venables; Reps. Hocker and Keeley; and Sen. Ennis. Contact them and your state legislators to oppose this travesty of a bill. Why? Go back and reread this article. You’ll know why.