Ombudsman's Office - Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, House of Assembly and now the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
Corruption and Incompetence
We are governed by it - we live by it - and we are bring destroyed by it.
The latest Auditor General's report is out - and it does include a recap of the mess we have watched unfold regarding the House of Assembly over the past year.
If that does not sicken you enough - the Office of the Chief Electoral Office has now been exposed for violating provincial law.
This is not under the watch of the current Officer - Chuck Furey - no it's under the past Chief Electoral Officer Wayne Green. And what have we here? Well how about hiring your own relatives - not advertising the job and questionable purchasing practises.
Have a read everybody:
2.2 Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer is created under
the authority of the Elections Act, 1991. The duties of the
Chief Electoral Officer include exercising general direction
and supervision over the administrative conduct of
elections. The OCEO has 4 permanent staff and 4
temporary staff. Additional temporary staff are hired as
necessary during elections.
Expenditures which should have been charged to
allowances and assistance
(ii)
during the 2006 fiscal year
Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador
What We Found
Our review identified a number of significant concerns with
the management practices followed by the OCEO. We
found instances of conflict of interest and non-compliance
with the Public Tender Act. We also found significant
amounts of overtime paid to staff without any indication that
alternate arrangements had been considered, overtime not
approved in accordance with Government policy,
inaccurate accounting records and lack of internal controls.
(a) Conflict of interest over hiring
Contrary to the Conflict of Interest Act, 1995, 3 of the
individuals employed as temporary employees by the
Office of the Chief Electoral Officer were direct dependents
of 3 OCEO employees. In addition, while not direct
dependents of OCEO employees, 8 other temporary
employees were related to 6 OCEO employees.
Furthermore, contrary to sound management practices,
there were no advertisements, no competitions held and no
other objective process for the hiring of any temporary
employees.
(b) Conflict of interest over purchasing
In our opinion there was a conflict of interest regarding the
former Director of Financial Operations of the House of
Assembly and certain financial transactions with the
OCEO. The conflict of interest results because the former
Director of Financial Operations, whose company (either
owned by the former Director and/or the former Director's
spouse) did business with the OCEO, approved most of
the OCEO's expenditures. During the 2 year period from
1 April 2002 to 31 March 2004, the OCEO purchased
$13,829 worth of items from the former Director's
company. The items purchased included such things as
Newfoundland art and silver key chains.
Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador 5
(c) Excessive overtime and overtime without required
approval
Overtime payments totaling $295,384 were paid to the four
permanent staff in the last four years, representing 38.6% of
their regular annual salary. In addition, overtime payments
totaling $201,718 were also paid to temporary employees in
the last four years. Overtime was not approved in
accordance with Government policy and there was no
evidence that alternatives to the current staffing
arrangements had been considered.
(d) Expenditure issues and non-compliance with the
Public Tender Act
Our review identified an instance where an employee's
travel was not in accordance with the approved Journey
Authorization. We found excessive use of cellular
telephones and reimbursement from an employee for
personal use. Two employees were reimbursed 100%
instead of 50% for education expenditures, textbooks and
other costs. We also identified 6 instances totalling
$213,265 where the OCEO did not comply with the Public
Tender Act.
(e) Inaccurate accounting records and lack of internal
controls
I have highlighted a couple of points for emphasis...
Another mess - another demonstration where an Independent Office - remained unchecked - and those in the House of Assembly let us down.
Get rid of all that sat during that period - everybody from 2000 - 2004.
3 comments:
Too bad no one ever looked at hiring a "senior policy advisor" who lacked any credentials at all except for being able to talk on the phone to a radio host.
Surely to goodness none of these findings should surprise anyone in the province? We are constantly being given evidence of the mismanagement of government and the mismanagement of our money.
First comment sounds like some party hack sniping from it's desk at Confederation Bldg.
My only knowledge of Ms. Dyer is from her calls to radio hosts, but for damned sure she it seems she knows what she's talking about.
It's high time assholes in Gov't and public service put there through nepotism and party favors are finally exposed and bounced out. It is this network of back scratchers and brown nosers that allow this system of graft and corruption to flourish.
Take away the trough and let's see how these sycophants survive. Methinks Darwinism will do it's thing and that's what these petty, self-interested jerk-offs are afraid of.
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