JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) - No money was paid to anyone for secrecy during the years Tom Vilsack was governor, the Democrat who is now U.S. Secretary of Agriculture said Friday.
Vilsack spoke to reporters after being interviewed for “Iowa Press,” an Iowa Public Television program.
“I’m very confident we weren’t paying people to be silent about whatever concerns that they may have had about state government and their treatment in state government,” he said.
Vilsack said he was not aware of secret agreements during his tenure, despite claims made Thursday by Iowa Department of Administrative Services Director Mike Carroll that they found five.
On Friday afternoon the attorney who was Vilsack’s legal adviser when he was governor said he reviewed the five agreements Carroll discussed.
“The agreements involved employee issues that went through the formal grievance process, and the confidentiality provisions were included to protect the grievant,” said Gary Dickey, a Des Moines lawyer. “None of the settlements were part of agency reorganization, nor was additional compensation in exchange for confidentiality.”
He said only one agreement included a payment and that agreement “expressly stated that state and federal law concerning disclosure of its terms would be followed.”
The issue has embroiled Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration in controversy for weeks.
More than 320 state workers have entered settlement agreements since the Republican governor took office in 2011, and more than two dozen were asked to sign confidentiality agreements. The total paid exceeded $500,000. Lawmakers have raised questions about where the money came from and why the workers were fired. Some former workers have alleged their firing was motivated by politics and some say they were asked by the state to accept cash in exchange for keeping the agreements quiet.
On Thursday, Carroll told state lawmakers on the joint Government Oversight Committee investigating the settlement agreements that no money was paid for silence.
His testimony contradicted that of several workers who spoke to the Senate Government Oversight Committee on Wednesday. They said they were offered specific amounts of money to remain quiet about the agreements.
Branstad said March 24 he learned by reading a Des Moines Register story that confidentiality clauses were used in some agreements and quickly signed an executive order banning the practice.
Carroll acknowledged he made a mistake to include confidentiality clauses because they were counter to Branstad’s policy of openness.
He said no workers were let go for political reasons but many were laid off as part of state government reorganization Branstad ordered to save money.
Vilsack, who was governor from 1999 to 2007, said he is certain no one in his administration would have fired workers because of their politics.
He said he kept high-profile Republicans on staff during his administration even though some Democrats were not happy with that decision.
“I wanted to send a message that this is about merit and it’s about doing the job. It’s not about your voter registration,” he said.
The Senate passed a Democratic-sponsored amendment to a state spending bill Thursday that would require the state auditor to look into confidential settlement agreements with fired state workers during Branstad’s current term. The amendment authorizes $10,000 for the auditor to conduct the reviews. Senate Republicans proposed to amend the measure to cover the Chet Culver and Vilsack administrations, claiming confidential settlements are nothing new. The proposal failed. Democratic Senate Leader Mike Gronstal accused Republicans of politicizing the issue.
Vilsack said looking back to even the score “is politics, and I don’t think that’s a particularly helpful exercise.” However, he said it was legitimate to try to determine under what circumstances agreements were offered.
The DAS earlier released eight agreements that included confidentiality clauses during the four years Culver, also a Democrat, was governor.
Culver said those agreements were signed as part of the state’s grievance process, strictly following state law.
“It’s dishonest and laughable for Terry Branstad to try and make any comparison whatsoever between 320 settlements, dozens of which were done in secret, costing Iowa taxpayers more than half a million dollars, and a handful of legal agreements, entered into strictly following the state’s formal grievance process,” Culver said in a statement.
Culver was defeated by Branstad in 2010, after one term as governor.
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