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Two top DCF officials resign
A new report criticizes the technology officials for their close social ties to a computer business.
By CURTIS KRUEGER
Published July 16, 2004
Free massages for two top aides. A complimentary karaoke machine. A birthday party for the state Department of Children and Families' top official, hosted by a businessman who had obtained millions in DCF contracts.
Those revelations, contained in a stinging new report, led DCF chief Jerry Regier to accept the resignations of two key officials on Thursday, and to admit his own lapses of judgment in his social contacts.
"I made some mistakes that I regret, and some of those mistakes are outlined in this report," Regier said during a news conference Thursday.
He said he had spoken to Gov. Jeb Bush earlier, and "I sincerely apologized to the governor for my lapses in judgment. ... I was very sorry that I had let him down because I hold myself to a higher standard."
Regier said his error was not being more conscious of the appearance of conflicts of interests. He said he did not think those lapses were serious enough to merit resigning himself, and he did not offer to.
When asked about Regier's future at DCF, Bush said in an e-mail that, "He has my confidence."
The report, by the state's chief inspector general, is also critical of Ben Harris and Glenn Palmiere, the two top technology officials at DCF who resigned. The report says they had such close social ties with the computer company InterSystems that they "failed to safeguard their ability to make objective, fair and impartial decisions in conjunction with DCF contracting actions."
The report recommended reviewing the company's work with the department.
State Rep. Heather Fiorentino, R-New Port Richey, chairwoman of the House committee that deals with DCF, was reached late Thursday before she had finished reviewing the report. She said what she had read so far was troubling, and pointed to the need for strong ethical training for DCF officials.
Rep. Nan Rich, D-Weston, a member of the same committee, said, "My reaction is I'm very disturbed with these findings, because while we were fighting to find dollars for him, the department was really, I guess you'd say, not looking out for the best interest of our tax dollars."
The report raps Regier personally. It criticizes him for attending a birthday party for himself on March 1 that was hosted by James Bax, who at the time was listed as the "co-principal investigator" for 28 contracts with DCF totaling more than $4-million through a university institute. Regier's wife, however, paid for most of the party supplies.
Regier also was criticized for spending the night at Bax's home in Longboat Key in October 2003 without reimbursing him.
The report also criticized Harris, the deputy DCF secretary for operations and information technology, for receiving a karaoke machine from Bax; for accepting a "spa massage" paid for by the company Computerworld at a March conference in Palm Desert, Calif.; and for circumventing state purchasing requirements in hiring a consultant.
As the report notes, "massages are not an authorized form of honorarium."
The report also faulted Harris for making his administrative assistant perform such tasks as buying flowers for a female acquaintance, buying a bathing suit, purchasing steaks for friends and researching auto insurance rates.
Harris said in a written statement that he had "vigorously" complied with ethics laws. "Nevertheless," he wrote, "I do regret creating the appearance of inappropriate actions."
The report also faulted Palmiere, the acting chief information officer, for a complimentary night in a hotel. Palmiere wrote in an e-mail from a Palm Desert, Calif., hotel that "I am so glad that Clint is picking up my room charge today," and "the weather is great and we all get massages this afternoon." The e-mail referred to Clint Moon of InterSystems, a company doing business with DCF.
Palmiere and Harris were criticized for having friendships with representatives of InterSystems that "were unethical or gave the appearance of ethical impropriety." The report says Palmiere once e-mailed a DCF official to "make sure that all the potential roadblocks that once existed in getting a contract signed with InterSystems do not exist."
Regier said he arrived two years ago when DCF was "in chaos," and that he wanted to invigorate the department's effort to contract out most of its foster care and adoption services. So he established informal get-togethers with several agencies providing these services and various DCF officials.
"The whole idea was that we would have an opportunity to socialize with each other" and eventually "build trust," Regier said. But in some of these events, expenses were poorly documented.
Regier also acknowledged he had attended sporting events with a lobbyist with an interest in DCF business. He said he always reimbursed him.
As for his relationships with people who have had a business interest in DCF contracts, Regier said he had "pure motives." But he acknowledged needing to make sure he acted in such a way that he did not create the impression he was doing something unethical.
Asked whether he would attend a sporting event or go to dinner with a business representative wanting DCF business in the future, even if no business was to be discussed, Regier said, "I would be extremely careful and get all the necessary guidance first, but the general answer is probably no."
- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
[Last modified July 16, 2004, 01:20:28]
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