You know that whole “Ignorance of the Law” thing?

Oct 10

jonpeltoEthics, Higher Education, Malloy, SEBAC, State Budget , , 10 Comments

Well, it turns out the concept is voluntary, at least for Robert Kennedy, the President of the Board of Regents, and his senior staff.

The CTMirror and Hartford Courant have now added a blockbuster piece of news to the controversy surrounding the $300,000 in raises that were given out to employees who work in the executive offices of the Board of Regents.

According to the news reports, Robert Kennedy, whose salary is $350,000, plus a performance bonus, authorized 21 raises, despite the fact that the Malloy-SEBAC deal eliminated pay raises for all (other) state employees.

In addition, Kennedy and his team are now admitting that they unilaterally gave out the raises, rather than have the full Board of Regents vote on them, as required by law.

As the CTMirror notes, Kennedy is telling reporters that he “mistakenly” authorized the raises, and claiming that he was unaware that the law creating his new agency only allows the full Board of Regents to “establish terms and conditions of employment of its staff, prescribe their duties and fix the compensation of its professional and technical personnel.”

Kennedy explained, “I approved them mistakenly thinking I had the authority to do so.”

But, apparently “bowing” to the legal requirement, the full Board of Regents will meet tomorrow to address the matter.  According to Kennedy, “If they felt they were inappropriate, they can rescind them.”

And in the meantime?

Kennedy says the raises will stay in place.

Wait, what?  The illegal raises will stay in place unless and until the Board of Regents rescinds them?

And here we thought illegal meant, well… illegal.

But in the world made up by the new Board of Regents, one would say to the police officer; “I think I’ll just hold on to these illegal drugs until a judge orders that they be taken away.  And in the meantime, I’ll just keep using them.”

Explaining how the mistake was made, the communication department of the agency in charge of Connecticut’s State Universities and State Colleges released a statement that read;

“In many cases, those duties are delegated to the chief executive officer. In this case, President Kennedy approved the salary adjustments and the Board of Regents … will review and determine the appropriateness of all personnel salary adjustments that were made on the basis of additional duties, responsibilities, and roles assigned resulting from the consolidation.”

The Governor’s Office also seemed to brush off the illegal action.  Governor Malloy’s spokesman was quoted by the CTMirror as saying, “It’s clear there is a process in place, and that process was not followed.  They are taking steps to address it.”

And the Governor himself was quoted, in the same article, as having said on WTIC radio, “The Regents’ system needs to run itself, but it needs to run itself well and be accountable to the public. And I think this thing is going to turn out OK,”

Apparently no one reminded the Governor that it was he who had appointed Robert Kennedy and that nine of the nine of the fifteen voting members of the Board of Regents were appointed by him to serve on that Board.

As to how illegal raises could possibly be allowed to stay in place until the Board of Regents votes one way or the other, the CTMirror also reported that, “State Attorney General George Jepsen declined to take sides. A statement from his office said it ‘has not been involved in this matter and there are insufficient facts at this time to offer any view on whether laws were violated.’”

So let the word go forth from this place that Ignorantia juris non excusat (sometimes known as “ignorance of the law does not excuse”) need not apply when it comes to the man Governor Malloy appointed to head Connecticut’s new Board of Regents system.

For the latest go to CTMirror: https://www.ctmirror.org/story/17687/higher-education-chief-mistakenly-ordered-22-executive-raises-without-board-approval

Hartford Courant: http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-regents-salaries-1010-20121009,0,3886105.story

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  • Querculus

    This is how it’s done. Million$ and million$ to these people while kids and potential college students languish. Some of Vallas’ Philly contract is online. There is a section where he was set up to get a yearly, steadily increasing “retention bonus” of $100k, then $150k, etc. On top of his $250k salary. Plus a huge forever pension and a huge life insurance policy. Suggest freedom of information act requests on all these reformer’s contracts. They can all see (and loudly complain about) mine! Turnabout is fair play.

  • buygoldandpropser

    Expect Dan to be working hard to change the subject…right now he is on the radio pumping more important issues,like energy policy. NOT ADDRESSING “ZONE PRICING”,mind you. Big picture stuff. The stuff the big boys deal with.Not the stuff that affect people on a daily basis.
    Speaking of business…who bought dinner at TheParkwayDiner last night.David Martin or Dan Malloy or was it comped and declared on taxes like the rest of us have to do?

  • buygoldandprosper

    Is Connecticut keeping up with the hiring? We know the taxes have gone up on the state and local level. Is the money being spent on teachers or administrators or consultants?
    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/teaching-jobs-come-back-four-092200807.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rich-White/100000066062155 Rich White

    Remember Bell Califronia?
    We need hard salary caps. $125,000 for C-Level and under $100,000 for everyone else. Better to hire youth than aged old men with so much experience all they see is the cookie jar.

  • buygoldandprosper

    Dan is reported as being angry about this whole thing…as though he had nothing to do with it…best friends brother!!!!
    Hey everybody! Look over there! My energy policy is really,really cool!

  • buygoldandprosper

    Oh! Dan had NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!! NOTHING AT ALL!!
    “The governor believes that when people make a mistake, they need to own up to them and then take responsibility for their action,” said Roy Occhiogrosso, senior advisor. “I think you will see action taken.”

  • buygoldandprosper

    Remember when/if YOU got laid off when your job was eliminated? You got a standard package,or nothing. CC Presidents get ONE YEAR of salary (possibly in a lump sum) to move on down the road…
    And Occhiogrosso must be sleeping on the job or was intentionally hiding the truth until the shit hit the fan. Makes me wonder what else Dan’s circus troop is up to in Hartford!
    “Occhiogrosso said that Malloy is also unhappy with the turmoil caused recently by what Kennedy has said was a “miscommunication” with community college presidents. At least two of the presidents thought that all 12 community college presidents were offered a buyout at a Sept. 24 meeting with Steven Weinberger, vice president of human resources for the board of regents.”

  • buygoldandprosper

    Not for nothing,but with all these Irish last names,one wonders if Dan did all his hiring at the Hibernian Hall instead of the unemployment office!
    Who is that person in charge of the GreaterHartfordArtsCouncil? She makes close,or over,$200K a year passing out state money and got the job in the worst economy the country has known…is she Irish as well? Went to college studying for a position in non-profits?
    Sheesh! Erin go bragh!

  • Apartheid First

    I am still trying to figure out why this wasn’t an issue when Elsa Nunez and the other VP got their huge raises in April or May. It was right at the time Nunez was emphasizing the achievement gap and the need for Malloy’s original ed reform bill and all the other cheerleading she did for him. I was pretty shocked by the raise, but the Hartford Courant, for example, while editorializing on greedy teachers, never made a peep.
    And, incidentally, I think that Adamowski is way overpaid, and was as Superintendent, and so is Kishimoto. I won’t even mention the insane money being poured into Vallas’s pockets.
    Be ready for an announcement on the next big award for Eastern, or how it’s first place in something no one ever realized was measured. Anytime an organization starts being showered with blue ribbons and awards, you can bet they are putting a lot of cash into PR.