Delaware Director of Finance Rick Geisenberger said his department and the Department of Labor still plan to fulfill their promise to update state lawmakers this month on their investigation into a former DOL employee’s theft of taxpayer funds.
To make good on that vow, the agencies must submit their report to the General Assembly within the next week.
Lawmakers received letters in June from the DOL, the finance department and the auditor of accounts promising to give lawmakers an accounting of the embezzlement last month. Those letters came after groups like the Delaware Coalition for Open Government (DelCOG) began calling for investigations and hearings into what happened and why it was not made public until it was uncovered in WHYY News’ reporting. WHYY News obtained a copy of the letters, which were not made public by the agencies themselves.
In the June letters to lawmakers, DOL Secretary Karryl Hubbard and Geisenberger argued that not disclosing embezzlement of taxpayer funds was the right move while acknowledging state lawmakers’ supervisory role.
Hubbard and Geisenberger promised the General Assembly it would get “a full accounting of findings and actions to date and our recommended path forward.”
However, Geisenberger told WHYY News the report would only go to the legislative leadership, which consists of five Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and five in the House. He did not respond to a question about why it would not go to all lawmakers if he and Hubbard were committed to making sure all lawmakers had accurate information.
The state had not disclosed the theft to the public until WHYY News contacted the Department of Labor about the funding.
Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Valerie Longhurst and Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokola, said in June that they would read the July report before evaluating whether more action was needed. Majority Leader Sen. Bryan Townsend said he would distribute the report to his fellow senators and make sure it is available to the public.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.