LINCOLN, Neb.—Legislative auditors say the executive director of the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board may have broken laws when she helped arrange a campaign event during Tom Osborne’s run for governor in 2006.
The report from the Legislative Performance Audit Committee, released on Wednesday, says Carol Stitt may have asked a staff member to send, during work hours, invitations to the campaign event. The Foster Care Review Board has about 25 employees and is funded with state dollars as a watchdog group to look out for kids in foster care.
A former staff member of the review board told auditors she was asked, while at work, to send invitations to the Osborne fundraiser to members of the Nebraska Foster and Adoptive Parent Association and other groups.
“By asking an employee to mail invitations to a campaign fundraiser while that employee was being paid by the state, the executive director clearly used state resources—personnel—which may be a violation of the statutory provision in question,” said the auditors’ report.
Public employees are barred by state law from using public resources to campaign for a candidate. Also, federal law bars state agencies such as the Foster Care Review Board that receive federal dollars from using their authority to influence an election.
Stitt says she did not have staffers send invitations during work hours. She criticized auditors for dredging up what she described as a dead issue.
Last year, the state Ombudsman’s Office concluded that Stitt didn’t break any laws in relation to the fundraiser and other issues but that she took actions that warrant “very serious examination.”
“It is puzzling why there appears to be a continuing pursuit of this issue, given that the Ombudsman … fully cleared me of any law violation in this regard more than one year ago,” Stitt said in a written response to the auditors.
Stitt said she suggested that staffers consider inviting foster parents to meet Osborne, but not in an effort to bolster his campaign. Instead, she said she saw it as an opportunity for them to meet with a public official—Osborne was U.S. representative for Nebraska’s 3rd District at the time—and a “football legend” who had an interest in foster care issues and was a role model for kids.
The report also says Stitt may have posted invitations to the campaign event in the review board’s Lincoln and Omaha offices. State law doesn’t specifically bar posting such invitations in state offices, but the state Accountability and Disclosure Commission said it could violate state law.
Stitt denies that she posted invitations.
The audit committee recommended that the board that oversees Stitt’s agency instruct Stitt that no personnel, time or other state resources be used for political activities. It also said the board should consider a training session on appropriate use of state resources.
The 2006 campaign event was a small piece of the audit that mainly focused on management practices at the Foster Care Review Board and whether board members who oversee the group have conflicts of interest.
The audit found that during seven out of the last 10 years staff turnover at the agency was much higher than the average among other state agencies. In 2006, the average agency turnover was about 13 percent, compared with more than 34 percent at the Foster Care Review Board. In 2007, turnover was 8 percentage points higher.
Stitt attributed some of the turnover to budget cuts that have scared off employees.
The audit reported that almost half the agency’s employees believed staff are treated unfairly by Stitt and are afraid of retaliation if they disagree with her. Stitt said questions posed by auditors had a negative bias that skewed the answers, and that the report failed to point out that more than half of staffers thought they were treated fairly.
The audit did not analyze the performance of the Foster Care Review Board.
Stitt has alleged that some of the 11 board members may have a conflict of interest because of their ties to the state Department of Health and Human Services. If true, that could compromise the agency’s status as a watchdog group that is sometimes critical of state actions related to foster care.
The audit committee concluded that the members do not have a conflict of interest because they have not benefited financially from the votes they have taken.
“None of the state board members have encountered a conflict of interest as defined by the Accountability and Disclosure Act,” says the audit report.
But auditors pointed out that the act does not limit the amount of money board members can receive from Health and Human Services, which could create a perception that they have a conflict of interest.
“We believe a reasonable person might question whether an individual whose employer receives a substantial amount of funding from DHHS would be able to be critical of DHHS if necessary,” the audit report says.
The audit committee intends to propose legislation to establish such a limit.
Four of the 11 board members have ties to the Department of Health and Human Services.
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