FINALLY: The Auditor’s Report
Here are the quick takeaways. The audit covered the years 2019-2022. The University Of Delaware was singularly uncooperative. Yes, Bethany Hall-Long collected ‘coincident pay’ to which she was not entitled. We don’t know how much due to UD’s willing non-compliance. We do know, however, that then-State Senator Ernie Lopez reduced his pay at the time to reflect time he was in Dover. We know that BHL did not. Well, gee, we know that BHL spent at least as much time in Dover as Lopez. She’ll tell you she’s a victim of something or other. She’s not, it was just corrupt business-as-usual for her.
There are several other legislators in similar situations:
Then State Rep. Andria Bennett double-dipped with that made-just-for-her job with the City of Dover. A lot. There’s solid substantiation of this.
State Rep. Melissa Minor Brown apparently double-dipped with both Del-Tech and UD in addition to her state rep job. She no longer works at Del-Tech, but is still working at UD. Hmmm, perhaps the Caucus will take this into consideration when deciding on new leadership.
I’m shocked, shocked to see that former State Rep. Larry Mitchell received ‘coincident pay’. You know, as Del-Tech’s Director of Security. He’s no longer employed at Del-Tech. Still got those at least three pensions, though.
State Rep. Rae Moore received ‘coincident pay’ from the Eastside Charter School.
When you read through the report, you can’t shake the deliberately half-assed way many of these employers looked the other way while overpaying people who could, and did, do favors for them in Dover.
But, the sheer arrogance of the University of Delaware places them on a whole ‘nother level. It’s long past time for the General Assembly to rein them in.
I’m sure I’ll have more, but this should be enough for you to chew on for now.
Here is the report:
https://auditor.delaware.gov/2024/09/17/dual-employment-performance-audit-fy20-fy22/
OMG, enough of this hocus pocus Harry Potter shit, being two places at once. Fire them all !
UD: doesn’t pay taxes but pays *with* taxes. Unacceptable. This is a start, but it’s BS they’re saying the GA doesn’t have attendance records. Every committee hearing has an attendance roll call, and archive maintains legislative histories including recorded hearings (at least since they went video in COVID you can usually find). And I want to see the report about GIA funded officials…
It looks to me that the Auditor’s office was able to access those records, at least in the case of Andria Bennett. As I read the report, they were able to confirm that she attended various legislative activities when she was also claiming to be working at her City of Dover job.
Kudos to State Auditor Lydia York. This audit covers only a limited time period, and one might assume that many more discrepancies would have been identified if previous audits had been successfully conducted. Some current state elected officials have held their positions for over 20 years and may have been incorrectly receiving double pay for years. This could amount to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in total for all involved. It will be interesting to see how our government responds!
Correct. Kathy McGuiness discontinued the practice of looking at state employees working two jobs.
This absolutely must be ongoing.
And it’s long past time that the University of Delaware be forced to comply with the law.
You wanna be a private institution? Fine. Stop backing up the Brinks truck every June 30 to Legislative Hall.
If not, open up your goddamn books and comply with the law.
I didn’t like the foot-dragging about its release, but Lydia York deserves credit for the report.
From the Auditor’s report – this audit is required by state code. Since 2011 it has not been completed with the basic excuse being it’s too hard to do because the state doesn’t have access to the information.
I agree that York is to be commended for getting it done and equally for pointing out the obvious – it shouldn’t be this hard to do an audit like this.
Let’s just note that as soon as being defeated at the ballot box was no longer a threat, Democrats in Dover stuffed their pockets just as fast as Republicans would have stuffed theirs.
If elected officials work concurrently in the private sector is that a violation as well?
It’s up to the private employer to determine that. There was a time when, for example, the DuPont Company WANTED their employees to run for the General Assembly. You know, to protect their interests. That was a long time ago.
This report examines whether people being paid through state funds for two jobs are actually working the hours they claim to have worked.
Because the Auditor’s role is to examine how to ensure that the state is not overpaying, the recommendations center on how specific institutions can tighten their procedures. The University of Delaware, though, doesn’t seem to give a shit. Betcha they would if they got less funding. Just a thought.
And, yes, specific employees were gaming the system. BHL, Andria Bennett, Larry Mitchell, and apparently Melissa Minor-Brown, most notably.
El Som is correct about how the former DuPont Company encouraged and compensated their employees to run for and hold office. Looks like U of D and Deltech have adopted that model. An effective but somewhat corrupt lobbying tool.
What is the solution?
To El Som’s point; unlike working for DuPont, U of D and Del Tech employees’ salaries are paid for by the state, making them in essence state employees. Therefore, they are double-dipping in taxpayer’s money.
Exactly… notice Rep. Romer’s bill to force UD to pay some, any, a small amount of the taxes they would otherwise be paying never made it through the House Administration Committee CHAIRED by Minor-Brown, and has no such dual employees co-sponsoring….
There is gonna be a powerhouse group of legislators representing the Greater Newark area come November.
Perhaps they can assist UD in becoming less arrogant. BTW, more on UD’s arrogance coming in tomorrow’s Open Thread.
That would be a question for the people who pay their private sector salaries to ask them. Since the people in this report are paid by tax dollars in their non-legislative jobs, it’s a relevant question for taxpayers to ask
It used to be a part time job, and having other employment was pretty normal.
Still IS a part-time job, especially if you’re not bothering to attend meetings and remain active in your district. No more than 50 legislative days a year, session is out by June 30, and you have a 6-week Joint Finance Committee break, plus several weeks of holiday breaks as well.
*Liked
Theoretically it’s part time.
But what employer will allow someone to miss 50+ days of work per year for a second job?
This is why small business owners (which includes farmers, doctors and lawyers) are over-represented in legislatures everywhere. Very few hourly employees can even run for office let alone serve.
Not seeing that in Delaware General Assembly.
Who are the small business owners that are farmers, doctors, and lawyers currently in the DE General Assembly?
Yes, hourly employees are underrepreseted. So are small business owners.
What seems to be overrepresented is people working for non-profits or employment from a non-profit that is funded by tax dollars.
Honey, have you met anybody here yet? I appreciate the point you think you’re making, but you’re talking about a select few. So select that after this primary ChristianaCare will be better represented than those you think are in the majority.
Lawyers – Bush, Lynn, Paradee, Townsend, Gay . I think Griffith is barred and I believed received primary income through law for most of her legislative career until recently, and Hansen is a retired attorney I believe.
Small business owners I think are Lawson, Hocker, Ramone, Short, Shupe, Gray, Richardson. Mantzavinos I believe had one but may have retired.
Hilofsky is/was a Doctor and had his own practice I think, so small business there.
Collins, Postles, Wilson, and Vanderwede are both farmers and small business owners. Dukes is a pastor, which, well anyway…
So roughly 21/62.
TLDR a lot of them fall into these boxes, but certainly the Democratic side could use some more average folks. And no, I’m not including lawyers in that.
Also left out of the discussion so far: The retired, especially those ex-cops on state pensions. At one point IIRC seven of 61 GA members were retired cops. Talk about over-representation. Also, the people who are technically union members are never people from the shop floor; they’re almost always coming from jobs with the union.
Anyway, I’m not talking about just the current crop of legislators, I’m talking historically. And I’m not just talking about the Delaware General Assembly. Even at the rate you cite, small business people are over-represented – what’s the percentage of them in the GA vs. the general population?
I don’t have an issue with people working two jobs. How do you expect people to support their families on a part time legislator salary. I think you are only reinforcing you want only old dudes on pensions in Dover with this philosophy. I get that insiders get worked up about this but it’s a non issue for most voters.
Nobody is mad that they’re working two jobs. People are mad that they’re “”working”” two jobs on the taxpayer’s dime.
I am firmly in the camp that we should have a full-time legislature that pays a living wage so that second jobs are not needed.
DE Legislators work part-time. El Som explained that well. Having said that, I support raising the salaries of legislators to attract better candidates.
What are you correcting? I know how long the legislature is in session.
Here’s what I said: “I am firmly in the camp that we should have a full-time legislature that pays a living wage so that second jobs are not needed.”
I *want* a full-time legislature. Please note that I did not say “We *have* a full-time legislature.”
Some of us would prefer we not. They create enough problems in the little time they’re there.
Texas, a much bigger operation than Delaware, manages with a part-time legislature. They meet every other year, and have the same number of senators Delaware does.
Let me make it clear–stealing money, taxpayers’ money, SHOULD be an issue for voters. That’s what BHL did, that’s what Andria Bennett did, that’s what Larry Mitchell did.
They pocketed money for hours that they did not work.
What an odd way to think about compensating lawmakers, who are supposed to represent the constituents of their districts but all too often wind up representing their own interests – farmers on the ag committee, etc. Yes, they bring knowledge of the field, but they also operate as, essentially, elected lobbyists for those interests. It’s the same problem presented by all these lawmakers serving on boards of non-profit agencies that then get rewarded at budget time.
If it’s a non-issue for most voters, then most voters are good examples of why democracy often doesn’t work very well.
Isn’t the point, not that they’re working two jobs, but that they’re being paid to work two jobs at the same time, on the state’s dollar?
Yes, that’s the point. For example, a legislator that also works for the Dept of Labor can’t be in Dover and Fox Valley at the same time. DE statute only allows for a few exceptions such as using annual time for State employment while working the polls.
Seems the more we wish for the end of the “The Delaware Way” the more it finds another way to live on, and on. And everyone in the state government knows it.
With the current work practices of flex time/working remote taking place in today’s work environment auditing and tracking will be extremely difficult to accomplish. In my opinion full time pay would be too expensive for taxpayer’s.
Besides, even with full-time pay, whatever that is, they could STILL work a second job.
State employee here. Respectfully, flexing time and working remotely neither impact an individual’s pay, nor make it any more challenging to audit.
Most merit employees work 37.5 hours a week and it doesn’t change anything regarding pay if they flex their time from 8:00 – 4:30 (1 hour lunch) to 8:00 – 4:00 (1/2-hour lunch) or 9:00 – 5:00 (1/2 -hour lunch), etc; remotely or in office.
It’s the managers’ jobs to track time and hold the employee accountable to it. And it’s all the same to the fiscal office.
The thing is most of the managers who are “tracking” this are the actual legislators. The legislature may be “part time” but when it is in session it is full time hours. Obviously, private industry would love to have legislators on the payroll. But since tax payer funds are paying them to do both jobs and directly affecting how they full time employment can benefit from they part time employment there in lies the rub. Also, remember the base salary of a PT legislator is roughly the same as a FT teacher.
Actually, it’s really not full-time hours. While there may be some committee meetings before the General Assembly convenes for the day, they generally go in around 2, break for Party caucus on Tuesdays before working an agenda around 4, hold most committee meetings (in the House) on Wednesdays and don’t run an agenda, then do something similar to Tuesday on Thursday.
Plus, they’re not in on Mondays or Fridays.
The managers I referenced are State agency management. However, when I worked in Leg Hall, I believe it was Gerald Brady’s brother, Valerie McCartan, or maybe even Sean Finnegan who tracked our time, but it wasn’t a legislator.
Some open questions:
-Are new legislators provided with a comprehensive briefing on their ethical and compliance obligations under current laws? Who is responsible for conducting this briefing, and is it mandatory?
-Do the House and Senate ethics committees have a special code of conduct for legislators, similar to the one that governs executive branch employees?
-Are legislators given an annual refresher on the expectations for conduct and compliance?
-Does our state’s Public Integrity Commission oversee only the financial disclosures of legislators, or does it also address misconduct?
-The auditor’s report indicates that some laws have been broken. How will this be addressed?
-Is it possible to recover the overpaid money?
Good questions, Bill. All I can say is that, since 2010, the House has been run by two people for whom ethical standards never entered the equation.
They’ll both be gone in November, so things might change.
Speaking of which, the House Ethics Committee membership has precisely mirrored that of House leadership, at least since 2010. So, ethical miscreants like Val Longhurst were the ones who decided if someone had violated House Ethics rules. Yes, a bad joke.
I don’t believe that the Auditor has any enforcement powers, however I suspect the AG’s office could pursue seeking to recover the funds. Not sure about that, though.
BTW, almost certainly the worst offenders were Tiny Tony DeLuca and his then paramour, who were supposedly working at the Department of Labor in addition to working in the Senate. DOL refused to provide their time cards, citing personnel confidentiality.
Are new legislators provided with a comprehensive briefing on their ethical and compliance obligations under current laws? Who is responsible for conducting this briefing, and is it mandatory?
Yes. Bob Byrd runs that.
That can’t be real. Is that real?
You obviously have not encountered Jason…
Delaware’s Public Integrity Commission issued an ethics bullletin in March of 2022 to make clear what the rules for dual employment are for elected officials, remedies for those in violation, and need to refer to attorney general when not paid back in a timely manner.
The path forward looks pretty clear. Title 29 Chapter 58 is also instructive.
https://depic.delaware.gov/code-of-conduct/ethics-bulletins/ethics-bulletin-009/
https://delcode.delaware.gov/title29/c058/sc01/index.html
2002 not 2022
Pretty sure that the Delaware Public Integrity Commission has no enforcement powers, either.
I’m curious why Sen Laura Sturgeon wasn’t listed. She’s a teacher, right, or am I incorrect? She was in office during this time but I didn’t see her listed but I did see Sean Matthews.
Didn’t she step down as a teacher after she was elected?
She retired about a year after she won her seat. https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/22/delaware-sen-laura-sturgeon-retires-teacher-citing-demands-legislature/4062431002/
Thanks I’ve just seen her on zoom for meetings so often I thought she was still teaching and couldn’t make it to Dover without missing class time.