IOWA CITY (AP) — Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz spent $112,000 to pay appointees who did little or no work in the months after their jobs were eliminated, an audit report said Thursday.
State Auditor Mary Mosiman received $2,500 in excess pay when she was Schultz’s deputy because her vacation wasn’t properly recorded, the report found. Mosiman wrote a check to repay the money Thursday, which the report recommended.
Mosiman, a Republican seeking a four-year term as auditor, said she was “very surprised and disappointed” by the finding.
“That is not money that should be in my possession,” said Mosiman, calling the error “absolutely unintentional.” She recused herself from the audit since it covered her time as an appointee in the Secretary of State’s Office, which runs elections and manages business filings. The audit was conducted by Chief Deputy Auditor Warren Jenkins.
Sen. Liz Mathis requested the investigation after The Associated Press reported in April that Schultz allowed his top deputy, Jim Gibbons, to remain in his $126,000 per-year job for seven months after his position was eliminated. Two other appointees — assistant business services director Todd Henderson and communications director Stephanie Laudner — were given 60 days and 30 days of pay respectively after submitting their resignations.
The report found that those arrangements departed from the state’s normal practice, in which departing at-will employees receive a maximum two weeks’ pay. The office spent $90,738 to keep Gibbons on the payroll for nearly seven months in which he was only occasionally in the office and achieved no documented work product, the report found. Henderson and Laudner received an additional $21,317 in pay while working from home.
Three laid-off union workers were paid 22 days for not working, two more than what was required under their contract, at a cost of $1,700.
“It’s a gross violation of his office,” Mathis, a Robins Democrat, said of Schultz. “That is an insult to the taxpayers of Iowa. It’s a lot of money.”
The report didn’t recommend that Gibbons, Henderson and Laudner reimburse the state, like it did Mosiman. Jenkins said auditors couldn’t find any record of what those three “did or did not do,” and therefore couldn’t determine how much pay should be refunded.
Gibbons didn’t return a phone message for comment.
The report found Gibbons, like Mosiman, may have unintentionally received excess vacation pay because he wasn’t required to submit time sheets.
Schultz said he eliminated Gibbons’ job to save money in May 2012, but decided to keep him employed through the year. Gibbons wasn’t in the office in June 2012, but was directed by Schultz the following month to show up four days a week. Other than attending an insurance meeting, employees couldn’t cite any specific work he did.
Gibbons told auditors he often arrived before others “and would remain long enough to check messages, answer questions, and complete any other work assigned” before leaving. Attempts by auditors to verify how often he swiped his badge or logged into the state computer system were unsuccessful.
Schultz is leaving office after serving one four-year term.