A state audit released Thursday shows taxpayers paid nearly $700,000 to cover confidential settlements to former state employees over a four-year period. The dollar figure is roughly $200,000 more than what had been previously reported.

On March 24, Governor Branstad signed an executive order ending the use of confidentiality provisions. At the time, his administration identified 24 former state employees who given settlements totaling  $468,000.

State Auditor Mary Mosiman has identified 18 more. “We identified at total of 37 who had confidentiality clauses and of ones that were settled through court proceedings, we had five, so a total of 42 confidentiality clauses,” Mosiman said.

The audit did not reveal any more evidence of so-called “hush money” payments to former state workers in exchange for their silence. Governor Branstad fired Mike Carroll, who was head of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, after a Des Moines Register investigation found his office had paid nearly $300,000 in settlements to a half dozen former workers to keep the details of their firings secret.

Mosiman noted in her report that the 42 confidentiality clauses did not violate public records laws. “None of them violated (section 22.13 of) the Iowa Code, which states these clauses are a matter of public record,” Mosiman said. “It seems the (confidentiality clauses) were intended to impact the behavior of the parties to the agreements, but it did not impact the ability of the public to have access to the document as a public record.”

 

Jack Hatch, the Democrat who is challenging Governor Branstad’s re-election bid, released the following statement:

“It’s exhausting trying to get answers out of this Governor. Iowa needs a fresh start with a government built on openness, honesty and transparency after these years of Terry Branstad dodging the truth and hiding the facts. Terry Branstad promised Iowans he would get the facts out, level with Iowans and open up the books.  None of it was true. He still hasn’t kept his promise. Branstad hasn’t been open, he isn’t being honest, and his administration shows no signs of being accountable. Branstad made a change in the leadership at the Department of  Administrative Services and pronounced everything okay. That clearly was not the case as the new Director did not reveal the information about the additional secret settlements. This Governor continues to mismanage state government and act as if he’s above the law, and re-electing him will only reward that behavior. Iowa can do better, and when I’m Governor, we will.”

 

Statement from Senator Janet Petersen, Democrat, Oversight Committee chair:       

“When the story broke earlier this year about former state employees being offered and paid hush money to keep quiet, few of us could imagine what else was going wrong in the Branstad Administration. Today’s report by the State Auditor is another wake-up call for Iowans concerned about secret settlements, hush money and misuse of our tax dollars.  We need a long-term solution — not Band-Aids — to fix this serious problem in the management of state government. While Governor Branstad and many legislative Republicans show no concern about all these problems, the Senate Oversight Committee is continuing to ask questions that Iowa taxpayers deserve to have answered. We remain disappointed that Governor Branstad and legislative Republicans turned their backs during the 2014 session on Senate File 2358. The report today by the State Auditor demonstrates the need for the Legislature and Governor to get behind legislation, which was designed to keep state government open, honest and accountable to taxpayers by:

– Banning secret settlements and hush money payments throughout state government.

– Expanding protections for those who blow the whistle on wrongful activity.

–  Requiring the State Auditor to investigate previous secret settlements.

– Preventing no-bid contracts on state jobs.

-Outlawing cronyism in hiring state employees.

-Mandating disclosure of state worker bonuses.

-Reforming use of the state “do-not-hire” database.