GRILL MASTER
03-01-2009, 02:06 PM
Like a lot of township trustees in rural Indiana, Mike Dohoney didn't need job postings or interviews to hire his two employees.
Dohoney, the Posey Township trustee in Washington County, chose his wife to be first deputy and secretary. And his second deputy? His son.
When David King Baird, the trustee of urban Wayne Township in Marion County, needed a chief of staff, he went outside the township. But he kept it in the family. He chose his brother, Hershell, for the position that pays $78,744 a year -- not including the new Ford Crown Victoria.
DATA CENTRAL: How much money does your township have socked away? (http://www.indystar.com/data/government/township_spending.shtml)
Urban or rural, large or small -- whether the job pays a pittance or a pretty penny -- nepotism is a tie that binds Indiana's disparate 1,008 townships.
A continuing examination of township government by The Indianapolis Star shows that, based on a sample of 617 townships, two-thirds of trustees had a relative on the payroll.
In addition, those relatives received more than $1.4 million in taxpayer money -- a conservative estimate of the overall picture that, like other aspects of township government, is nearly impossible to ascertain because of the autonomy of trustees, lax oversight and inconsistent record-keeping.
More than 300 townships didn't file the payroll disclosure form required by the state and used by The Star to help determine family relationships in township government.
Numerous other examples of nepotism go uncounted because only spouses and dependents are required to be reported on conflict of interest forms -- a process that excludes parents, siblings, grandchildren and other extended family members from the overall tally.
In many townships, often in rural areas, nepotism is taken for granted as innocuous and even essential to running a low-budget, hyper-local operation.
But no matter how quaint the operation, when the family business (http://www.indystar.com/article/20090301/NEWS05/903010400#) is local government, it raises ethical issues, real and perceived: Is the trustee or board lining the pockets of friends and family? Are there other deserving applicants being shut out of the process? Is your son-in-law really the most competent person for the job? And, if not, are you willing to fire the father of your grandchildren?
Peggy Kerns, director of the Center for Ethics in Government, said family hires sometimes can make sense, but added, "Generally, when public money is involved, there should be a lot of effort to make (hiring) an open process."
The issue is front and center in the legislature. Senate Bill 512, which originally called for the elimination of township government, was amended and now includes a provision that ends nepotism in township government.
"Anytime you use taxpayers' dollars you have to have standards for employees and contracts," said Sen. Connie Lawson, R-Danville, the bill's author.
"It's for the protection of taxpayers."
Rules tougher for state employees
When it comes to state employees, Indiana is considered tougher than most states on nepotism, according to a study by the Center for Ethics in Government. That's because Indiana has restrictions written into law, not just ethical guidelines.
State law prohibits the hiring of relatives to work for agencies, boards and commissions headed by a family member. The definition of family member includes father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, husband or wife, son or daughter, son-in-law or daughter-in-law, niece or nephew.
It also states: No person may be placed in a direct supervisory-subordinate relationship with a relative.
But that doesn't apply to township government, where the situation is more rampant -- and doesn't stop with the trustee. Relatives of township board members show up on many payrolls and lists of contractors. Businesses (http://www.indystar.com/article/20090301/NEWS05/903010400#) owned by township officials are sometimes recipients of public funds.
Bulletins distributed to townships by the State Board of Accounts point to the real potential for fraud: "We have been advised that isolated situations in some townships where clerks and other employees have not been assigned any duties and/or do not perform any work," the agency reported in a 2006 bulletin. "Other situations have come to our attention of individuals being assigned duties but documentation of work performed is not presented for audit."
"The problem is that at the small city local level -- and particularly at the township level --there are often no rules at all," said Vincent R. Johnson, a visiting professor of law at the University of Notre Dame and author of a law review article titled "Ethics in Government at the Local Level."
Johnson said uniform, statewide standards for all public agencies would be "a great step forward for the cause of ethics in government."
"This is particularly true," he explained, "because in small communities, where everyone knows everyone and family members may live in close proximity, nepotism can be a serious problem."
Common problem
The Star found examples of nepotism in township operations of all sizes, from Indiana's largest township to some of its smallest. And although the practice appears to be more common in smaller, rural townships, the stakes are significantly higher in larger, urban townships.
In Wayne Township, where the trustee's brother is chief of staff, there also is a deputy trustee. Lynn McWhirter makes $58,493 a year and is the daughter of a former trustee and the wife of a current battalion chief on the township fire department. But why, Baird was asked, does he need both a chief of staff and a deputy?
Dohoney, the Posey Township trustee in Washington County, chose his wife to be first deputy and secretary. And his second deputy? His son.
When David King Baird, the trustee of urban Wayne Township in Marion County, needed a chief of staff, he went outside the township. But he kept it in the family. He chose his brother, Hershell, for the position that pays $78,744 a year -- not including the new Ford Crown Victoria.
DATA CENTRAL: How much money does your township have socked away? (http://www.indystar.com/data/government/township_spending.shtml)
Urban or rural, large or small -- whether the job pays a pittance or a pretty penny -- nepotism is a tie that binds Indiana's disparate 1,008 townships.
A continuing examination of township government by The Indianapolis Star shows that, based on a sample of 617 townships, two-thirds of trustees had a relative on the payroll.
In addition, those relatives received more than $1.4 million in taxpayer money -- a conservative estimate of the overall picture that, like other aspects of township government, is nearly impossible to ascertain because of the autonomy of trustees, lax oversight and inconsistent record-keeping.
More than 300 townships didn't file the payroll disclosure form required by the state and used by The Star to help determine family relationships in township government.
Numerous other examples of nepotism go uncounted because only spouses and dependents are required to be reported on conflict of interest forms -- a process that excludes parents, siblings, grandchildren and other extended family members from the overall tally.
In many townships, often in rural areas, nepotism is taken for granted as innocuous and even essential to running a low-budget, hyper-local operation.
But no matter how quaint the operation, when the family business (http://www.indystar.com/article/20090301/NEWS05/903010400#) is local government, it raises ethical issues, real and perceived: Is the trustee or board lining the pockets of friends and family? Are there other deserving applicants being shut out of the process? Is your son-in-law really the most competent person for the job? And, if not, are you willing to fire the father of your grandchildren?
Peggy Kerns, director of the Center for Ethics in Government, said family hires sometimes can make sense, but added, "Generally, when public money is involved, there should be a lot of effort to make (hiring) an open process."
The issue is front and center in the legislature. Senate Bill 512, which originally called for the elimination of township government, was amended and now includes a provision that ends nepotism in township government.
"Anytime you use taxpayers' dollars you have to have standards for employees and contracts," said Sen. Connie Lawson, R-Danville, the bill's author.
"It's for the protection of taxpayers."
Rules tougher for state employees
When it comes to state employees, Indiana is considered tougher than most states on nepotism, according to a study by the Center for Ethics in Government. That's because Indiana has restrictions written into law, not just ethical guidelines.
State law prohibits the hiring of relatives to work for agencies, boards and commissions headed by a family member. The definition of family member includes father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, husband or wife, son or daughter, son-in-law or daughter-in-law, niece or nephew.
It also states: No person may be placed in a direct supervisory-subordinate relationship with a relative.
But that doesn't apply to township government, where the situation is more rampant -- and doesn't stop with the trustee. Relatives of township board members show up on many payrolls and lists of contractors. Businesses (http://www.indystar.com/article/20090301/NEWS05/903010400#) owned by township officials are sometimes recipients of public funds.
Bulletins distributed to townships by the State Board of Accounts point to the real potential for fraud: "We have been advised that isolated situations in some townships where clerks and other employees have not been assigned any duties and/or do not perform any work," the agency reported in a 2006 bulletin. "Other situations have come to our attention of individuals being assigned duties but documentation of work performed is not presented for audit."
"The problem is that at the small city local level -- and particularly at the township level --there are often no rules at all," said Vincent R. Johnson, a visiting professor of law at the University of Notre Dame and author of a law review article titled "Ethics in Government at the Local Level."
Johnson said uniform, statewide standards for all public agencies would be "a great step forward for the cause of ethics in government."
"This is particularly true," he explained, "because in small communities, where everyone knows everyone and family members may live in close proximity, nepotism can be a serious problem."
Common problem
The Star found examples of nepotism in township operations of all sizes, from Indiana's largest township to some of its smallest. And although the practice appears to be more common in smaller, rural townships, the stakes are significantly higher in larger, urban townships.
In Wayne Township, where the trustee's brother is chief of staff, there also is a deputy trustee. Lynn McWhirter makes $58,493 a year and is the daughter of a former trustee and the wife of a current battalion chief on the township fire department. But why, Baird was asked, does he need both a chief of staff and a deputy?