Gov. Mike Leavitt's 10 years in office have been, politically speaking, smooth — no scandals, no indictments of major appointees, high job approval ratings, easy re-elections.
With such a record of tackling potential political problems early, some on Capitol Hill are wondering why it appears the GOP governor has turned a blind eye to what could be a growing scandal — the apparently illegal hirings in the state Division of Information Technology Services.
Some lawmakers say it appears Leavitt is doing little to fix the problem that has caused growing discontent and fear among ITS employees, and the governor may be throwing fuel on the fire by pushing ahead now with his goal to reorganize the state's technology structure.
There's even talk among legislators, sources say, of cutting the ITS budgets unless Leavitt cleans house — a move the governor calls "petty politics."
Leavitt says he and top aides "have spent considerable time and effort" in dealing with ITS personnel concerns. Employee complaints, now joined by some from legislators, are a symptom of what he says is a larger concern: revamping the state's whole technology network.
Leavitt wants Utahns to be able to access government service online at anytime as well as electronically link all state departments so they can communicate and work together.
But some state agency employees, longtime technology policymakers and skeptical lawmakers wonder if the governor's passion for transforming ITS at all costs will end up crossing legislative and ethical boundaries.
Since the ITS personnel affair broke in September, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has started an investigation; the Legislature has ordered a quick, thorough follow-up audit by Legislative Auditor General Wayne Welsh; and the Utah Public Employees Association, the main state employee union, has threatened a lawsuit.
The ultimate legislative action — cutting the ITS budget — "would not be easy to do because the governor has line-item veto authority (in the budget bills) and certainly would veto any attempt to cut back ITS. But some people are looking for a way" around that, said one Republican legislator.
Leavitt confirmed the rumors of legislators cutting ITS budgets. But he called that "vindictive" and not a solution. "It's petty politics, not good policy," he said.
Such a move harkens back to the 2002 Legislature, when several Republicans tried to pass a law that would have allowed lawmakers to trim up to 50 percent of a state agency's administrative budget if the agency continued to flaunt adherence to state law. That bill, nicknamed the "bash Bernie bill," was specifically aimed at University of Utah President Bernie Machen and his ongoing refusal to repeal a long-standing U. policy banning all guns from campus. The bill failed and the U. gun issue is now in federal court.
And the ITS matter may end up in court some day, some GOP legislators warn, if things are not put right soon.
A small beginning
The ITS problem surfaced this summer, but it started back in March 2001 when Leavitt appointed Phil Windley as the state's chief information officer.
After a little more than a year in that position, an anonymous letter made its way to a legislator alleging Windley, a former senior corporate officer with Excite@home, helped hire nine other former Excite@home employees under questionable circumstances.
Welsh's office conducted what's called a "letter audit" of the situation, a brief look at the problems, and found that "financial controls" had been violated and state procurement practices circumvented. Excite employees were hired by Windley at inflated salaries, Welsh found. One former Windley colleague was hired after a luncheon meeting where the job's title was changed and the new employee's salary demand of $80,000 a year — much higher than the position's previous salary — was met.
Welsh's audit also concluded contracts were paid without formal documents in place and many of the nine were swept into their positions without following proper hiring practices.
While some legislators said Welsh's short audit was enough — with Leavitt promising such problems won't happen again — others aren't satisfied.
The unease brought further action by the Legislative Audit Committee, made up of the House and Senate leaders from both parties. The bipartisan group ordered Welsh to conduct a full audit, and put that audit at the top of Welsh's to-do list.
Legislative staff sources say the new audit has brought a flood of information by current and former ITS employees, including tape-recorded conversations where supposedly improper hiring and promotions discussions took place. Rumors are rampant with allegations of document shredding and hints of more favoritism unfolding even now.
Undercurrents of doubt
Internal Republican politics is keeping the pot boiling. But, not wanting to challenge Leavitt directly, much of the activity is behind the scenes — like the talk of cutting ITS budgets.
Leavitt's third four-year term ends in 2004. He has not announced if he'll seek a record-setting fourth term. But even if he does, it's likely he'll be challenged from within the Republican Party. Some of those challengers now sit in the Legislature and no doubt would like to see Leavitt retire.
But Shurtleff and Leavitt are Republicans, and the Legislature has two-thirds GOP majorities. GOP officeholders don't like to criticize their own in public. It would be a different picture for ITS if Leavitt were a Democrat or Utah had a Democratic attorney general, several lawmakers say. It's a touchy situation investigating or criticizing the Leavitt administration, they argue.
That's one reason why the Legislative Audit Committee told Welsh to conduct a complete audit of ITS, and do it now. That will allow a relatively independent staff arm of the Legislature to list violations of state hiring law and other problems, and shield at least some from Leavitt's displeasure.
Asked what he thinks of the attorney general's investigation and new, enlarged legislative audit, Leavitt said: "They are disruptive, take time and energy. But I understand that is the process we have to go through." No substantial wrongdoing will be found, he believes.
"In the end, we will solve this problem and bring ITS all together. We, legislators and the public have to look at this in the larger context — saving millions of dollars" in ITS renovation, he said. "The politics of this will settle down."
But the audit may be used to convince rank-and-file lawmakers that the expanding ITS budget — and what appear to be some funny games in moving ITS specialists around within departments — should be examined.
Change is tough
Leavitt said he and state managers faced a similar problem in 1993-94, although it wasn't as public then. The state was moving from main-frame computers to PCs, he said, and a number of ITS employees were upset. Of course, back then he didn't start the change-over process with a personnel scandal and a proposed complete overhaul that has employees worried about their jobs.
What has to be realized here, the governor said, is that reorganizing ITS now will save the state millions of dollars in these tax-revenue-starved times. "But there will be some costs upfront."
"There are people who don't understand technology, don't understand the complexity of what must be done. How difficult it is. Today, Corrections (officials) can't talk (through computers) with Human Services, who can't talk to Environmental Quality. In reality we have 17 technology kingdoms. And each kingdom likes it that way," Leavitt said. Some lawmakers don't like Leavitt's centralizing ITS power in his office. But Leavitt says putting a new deputy technology officer in each department and having those deputies report directly to his office "is the only way to bring this all together." The move, however, causes some to question how an agency employee can comfortably serve two masters — and when the conflicts hit — how they will be resolved.
Still others see it as a move to extend Windley's power over agencies and their IT employees who have not been historically cooperative.
For his part, Leavitt admits some mistakes were made in ITS personnel decisions. He's asked Palmer DePaulis, the former Democratic Salt Lake City mayor who is now a Leavitt-appointed state tax commissioner, to act as an informal ombudsman to field, in private, ITS staffers' complaints.
While confidentiality agreements won't allow DePaulis to discuss specific complaints, he said he'll make a final report to the governor at some point. "I'm not an investigator." The attorney general and legislative audits will do that. "Rather, I'm a listening ear" to let ITS employees spout off and pass along concerns to Leavitt's office, where perhaps they can be dealt with.
"I've met twice with all the ITS employees," said Leavitt. His chief of staff, Rich McKeown, "has held dozens of meetings" on the issue, Leavitt added.
But DePaulis, who has talked to about 40 people about ITS issues since he began a month ago, said he is still getting complaints, and emotions run high. "I can say this issue has not abated. Not at all."
And some legislators are saying ITS issues will be dealt with one way or another in the 2003 Legislature.
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; amijoi@desnews.com