Governor Tom Vilsack has directed his staff to release a report from his Department of Administrative Services that reviewed the actions of state workers caught up in the scandal over a central Iowa job training agency. The Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium is at the center of state and federal investigations after revelations that its top managers were paid exorbitant salaries.
Vilsack had his top personnel managers review the actions of state employees in the Iowa Workforce Development agency who were connected to CIETC and a report was delivered to the governor a few weeks ago. Vilsack denies he had a hand in denying access to the document when reporters from the Des Moines Register requested it yesterday. “I was out of the office yesterday,” Vilsack told reporters this (Thursday) morning during a brief question-and-answer session. “I was out on the road and I was not aware of the press inquiry.”
Vilsack’s communications director told the Register on Wednesday that the report would not be made public, citing an exception to Iowa’s open records law when documents contain personnel information. Vilsack has overridden that. “It’s important for people to know and so it’s going to be released by the end of the day,” Vilsack said.
While Vilsack’s staff has had a copy of the report for a couple of weeks, Vilsack himself has not read it. “I’ve seen it on the sense that I’ve seen it on a table, but I’ve not read it,” Vilsack said. “It was an investigation that was conducted and actually disciplinary action has been taken as a result of the investigation.”
On May 18th, the interim head of the Iowa Workforce Development agency fired an administrator who he says should have known about the executive pay scandal at a central Iowa job training agency. Iowa Workforce Development interim director Dave Neil decided two other workers who were placed on administrative leave earlier this spring had done nothing wrong — including the secretary caught tossing documents in the wee morning hours — and the two workers returned to their jobs.