9/10/2009
Administration’s Response to FOIA Request Raises More Questions

For Immediate Release:                    Thursday, September 10, 2009
For More Information, Contact:            Joe Fulgham (302) 744-4184
 

The Markell administration’s response to a request seeking information about the employment of a former cabinet secretary as a highly-paid state consultant raises more questions than it answers.  So says State Rep. Greg Lavelle (R-Sharpley), who has been seeking information on the double-dipping employment of former Department of Health & Social Services (DHSS) Sec. Vince Meconi for more than a month.

Rep. Lavelle filed a Freedom of Information Act request August 5th asking Gov. Jack Markell to provide:

• copies of the contract with Vince Meconi; 
• a description of Mr. Meconi’s duties as a consultant;
• performance measures being used to gauge the effectiveness of Mr. Meconi’s efforts in this role;
• the hours he is required to work;
• the vacation policy associated with Mr. Meconi’s consultant position; and
• any other papers and documents related to the hiring and employment of Mr. Meconi as a consultant.

“I was disappointed, but not surprised, with what little material they supplied,” Rep. Lavelle said.  “It was fragmented, edited, and was clearly just a perfunctory response to attempt to comply with the Freedom of Information Act without supplying any real information.” 

Rep. Lavelle said what he received was a series of oddly arranged e-mails exchanged between members of the executive branch talking about the superficial aspects to Mr. Meconi’s hiring.  “It appeared to be more of an exercise of cut, paste, duck, dodge and hide than providing genuine information to my request."

Despite the lack of detail, Rep. Lavelle said one undated e-mail from Office of Management and Budget Director Ann Shepard Visalli illustrates the loose tabs the administration is keeping on Meconi and a $75,000 position they have characterized as essential. 

That e-mail read:

“I had only approved the contract for Vince through June 30th. What exactly is he working on? Do we have any documentation of what he has done? Do we still need him on contract?”
Ann Shepard Visalli, Director, Office of Management and Budget

“Despite this e-mail, the governor’s legal counsel, Michael Barlow sent me a letter saying they have no contract with Mr. Meconi,” Rep. Lavelle said.  “Mr. Barlow also said they have not delineated Mr. Meconi’s job duties or formalized any performance measures to gauge his effectiveness.  Additionally, there were no time sheets provided or any indication they know how many hours Mr. Meconi is working at his task.”

Rep. Lavelle said he’s posted all of the material on his website: www.DelawareFOIAwatch.com, which he recently established to track the amount of time it took the Markell administration to comply with the FOIA request.  “The press and the public will have an opportunity to examine this material for themselves and form their own opinions.”
  
Mr. Meconi was secretary of the DHSS for seven years, including 2007 and 2008, when dozens of allegations of patient abuse at the Delaware Psychiatric Center (DPC) came to light.  The hospital is under DHSS jurisdiction.  Mr. Meconi resisted efforts by a bipartisan legislative committee to investigate the charges and then obstructed reforms when those allegations were proven valid. 

Despite Meconi’s record, the Markell administration hired him in March to consult with state agencies on the availability of federal stimulus money.  The lucrative $75,000-a-year consulting job came just weeks after Meconi retired from his DHSS post.   It’s been reported that Meconi’s current state compensation (retirement and salary) equates to $165,000 annually.

“This makes no sense to me,” Rep. Lavelle said.  “The State of Delaware employs more than 30,000 people.  According to the administration, not one of them was both qualified to perform this function and available to be re-assigned to what they have described as a temporary job.  I find it hard to believe that our best option was to re-hire a guy who retired under a cloud and then pay him a large salary on top of the generous state pension he’s already receiving.  Then to indicate they have no contract with Mr. Meconi and have no performance measures to gauge his effectiveness strains credibility to the breaking point.”

Now that the FOIA request has been superficially satisfied, Rep. Lavelle said www.DelawareFOIAwatch.com will be dedicated to serve a new purpose.  He said the site will be tweaked to become a place where any official or organization who has submitted a FOIA request to a state agency can post their request, when it was submitted, and when (or if) they received a response. 

“I think our FOIA law needs to be tightened,” Rep. Lavelle said.  “One thing this experience has taught me is that our state FOIA statute needs to be more like the federal FOIA, which sets firm limits on how long an agency has to respond to requests.”

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