DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Gov. Terry Branstad held firm Monday to his support of his appointed Iowa Department of Administrative Services director, who says no money was offered to former workers for silence about their dismissals - a direct contradiction to employees who say there were offered cash for silence.
Four workers laid off in 2011 spoke to the Senate Government Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Two workers say after they reached settlements with the state through a mediator, an attorney for the DAS called their attorneys and offered additional money to remain quiet about those agreements.
DAS Director Mike Carroll, testifying before a joint House-Senate Government Oversight Committee meeting on Thursday, said the statements of the workers and their attorneys were untrue.
Branstad, at his weekly news conference Monday, said he believes Carroll and not the former workers he referred to as disgruntled.
“What you’re doing is assuming as fact the attorney for the dismissed employee. That is just one person’s opinion,” he said. “I specifically asked director Carroll about this matter and he assured me that was not true. He also went before the committee and said the same thing and I believe him.”
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 out in the confidential agreements exceeded $500,000.
Documents from state agencies show the money came from various funds in the departments. The DAS, for example, says it used money from a utilities fund, prompting some lawmakers to allege misappropriation of state funds. Lawmakers also have raised questions about why so many workers were dismissed since some former workers have alleged their firing was motivated by politics.
Branstad says he needed to reorganize the state government to cut costs and improve efficiency.
Oversight committees are still investigating and more hearings may be held, with additional state department heads and human resources officials asked to testify.
Democratic Sen. Jack Hatch of Des Moines, who is running against Branstad for governor, said if he were governor he’d fire agency directors who orchestrated the settlement agreements.
“I believe somebody’s hiding something. Somebody’s not telling the truth,” Hatch said at a news conference organized by his campaign.
“From what I hear I believe these things were badly done and they may have been illegal. I would ask for the resignation of the people who conducted these,” he said. “This is a cancer on the integrity of government. It has to be dealt with swiftly.”
Hatch has called for an independent audit of the payments to determine where the money came from and whether it was improperly used.
Iowa Code Chapter 8.38 says no state department or director shall “expend funds for any purpose other than that for which the money was appropriated, except as otherwise provided by law.” The law says any person violating that provision is liable to the state for the money with interests and costs and the money may be recovered by the attorney general in a legal action.
Branstad said if he were to learn that money was paid for employee silence he would take disciplinary action, but he’s confident in what he’s been told.
The House was scheduled Monday to consider a bill supported by Branstad that would open state employee records so the public would know what a worker did wrong to get fired or disciplined. It’s retroactive 10 years to 2004. It would also put into law Branstad’s executive order signed March 24 that makes confidential clauses in settlement agreements unlawful.
Some Democrats argue that it is an attempt to deflect attention from the issues of Branstad administrators offering payments for employee silence and put the focus on workers. Critics also say publicizing worker employment records violates the state collective bargaining law.
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