GOVERNMENT CONFLICTS, CORRUPTION AND INDICTMENTS

- IOWA -

Date	Individual / State Agency	Who, What, Where?
03/01/05	State Transportation Director	“Inside Deal” Possibility Spurs Legislator’s Criticism Lawmakers are questioning the State Transportation Director, Mark Wandro, over his authorization to purchase land in Ankeny for a new Des Moines driver’s license station. One legislator said it looked like an “inside deal.” There were some dubious questions arising from his relationship with the land developer, especially when citizens have complained about a longer drive as opposed to the existing station, which will be shut down.
05/01/06	Iowa Workforce Development	Trample the Whistleblowers Even in the relatively politically honest and unscathed state of Iowa, it appears that the politicians are infected with the fever of scandal and corruption that plagues the east coast states. Just days before a March 31 state audit validated James Quinn's and Kelly Taylor's allegations of excessive executive pay at a controversial job training agency, Des Moines City Councilman Archie Brooks apparently sent a memo calling the men's claims "baseless" and characterizing them as troublemakers. Brooks was chairman of the agency's board. "I want to give him a chance to explain why he'd vilify honest people," said Quinn, the former Iowa Workforce Development chief financial officer, who retired in March. Quinn and Taylor, a budget analyst for Iowa Workforce Development, took their concerns about irregularities at CIETC to the state auditor's office last year. The state auditor's report, released four days after the memo was sent, found that CIETC's top three executives had been given $1.8 million over a 2 year period, largely in bonuses authorized by Brooks. The audit said the pay was excessive, pointing out that Cunningham was given almost $800,000 in 30 months, more than half of which came in bonuses signed by Brooks. Brooks later acknowledged at a hearing before state lawmakers that he had dated Cunningham on at least one occasion. The findings have resulted in the resignations of the two highest-ranking officials at Workforce Development, which is charged with overseeing CIETC. Seven of CIETC's 15 board members, including Brooks, also have resigned. The U.S. attorney's office, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Polk County attorney's office launched investigations after the report was released. Federal investigators are also taking a nationwide look at salaries paid at job training programs.
08/01/06	Central Iowa Employment and Training Corporation	Job Training Program Scandal Iowa, a state where the people are very proud to be self-sufficient (and ironically not a Democratically controlled state) rarely have any corruption or waste cases even worthy of a mention in the northeastern states occurred. For one, it rarely happens, and secondly, the dollar amount of the corruption would hardly cause citizens of the northeast to bat an eye. The scandal-plagued Central Iowa Employment and Training Corporation (CIETC) is fighting with the state over a number of their “expenses.” The agency refuses to repay an estimated $1.2 million in federal grants that have been misspent by CIETC. Why that wouldn’t even amount to pocket change for the former mayor of Newark, Sharpe James. But it does illustrate the difference in the level of waste and corruption between fiscally responsible societies and the corrupt states of the northeast. State auditors reported that top CIETC executives were collecting $360,000 EACH in annual compensation. The state auditors also reported that administrators facilitated these payments by discouraging their own staff ffrom investigating the matter. The accounting firm for CIETC said, “We recommend that CIETC be careful when purchasing items such as gold-plated scissors and watch salary levels as bonuses paid to make sure that these items are justified expenses.” The assistant attorney general said, “I would say that, conservatively, it’s going to take 24 to 48 months for any civil or criminal investigation to be completed.”