Posted on 05/25/2005 10:05:43 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A high-ranking state official has resigned after an investigation showed she gave her sister's boyfriend a $72,000-a-year job he was unqualified for and then tried to fire him when the romance soured.
Jean DeVard-Kemp, an assistant commissioner at the Department of Technical and Adult Education, resigned May 17 after a three-month investigation of allegations of nepotism, mismanagement, improper hiring, abuse of position and falsification of records.
DeVard-Kemp's sister, Atlanta Technical College professor Audrey Fisher, was fired. So was her former boyfriend, Grailyn Wells, who told investigators he looked at the job as "Christmas in July."
The attorney general's office is reviewing the findings of the state inspector general's office to determine if there was criminal wrongdoing, spokesman Russ Willard said.
Stricter policies are being put in place at DTAE, which oversees the state's 34 technical colleges and adult literacy program, said department spokesman Mike Light. "The message has been sent: It's all by the book now," he said.
The inspector general's office said officials might never have found out about the improper hires and trumped-up résumés if not for Wells himself. He complained in his exit interview in January that he thought DeVard-Kemp fired him to get revenge for his breaking off his relationship with her sister a month earlier.
"It was like a soap opera within a soap opera," Deputy Inspector General Elizabeth Archer said Tuesday. "The more we kept looking into it, more things kept coming up."
DeVard-Kemp, who has been an assistant commissioner with the department since 1988, was reached Tuesday at her home in Decatur but declined comment.
According to the report, Wells was making $10 an hour as a security guard at Atlanta Tech when he became romantically involved with Fisher in February 2003. Three months later, after Wells told DeVard-Kemp he planned to marry Fisher, DeVard-Kemp offered him a job as manager of research and development in the department's Office of Adult Literacy, with a starting salary of $72,000.
The report said Wells had neither the academic nor managerial experience but wasn't about to turn down what seemed to him to be "Christmas in July."
Wells told investigators DeVard-Kemp told him not to interact with other staff in Adult Literacy because she feared they would find out "how little he knew." He also said she insisted he keep quiet about his relationship with Fisher.
In addition, Wells told investigators that Fisher asked him to pay $1,500 a month in rent after he got the management job and substantial raise. Fisher and Wells ultimately settled on $1,200 a month, the 23-page report states.
"The credible facts indicate that Fisher and DeVard-Kemp conspired to hire Wells and that Fisher benefited directly from his hire," the investigators concluded.
Wells claimed that after he moved out of Fisher's home in January 2004, DeVard-Kemp demoted him, transferred him to another office in DTAE, and cut his pay $20,000 a year. He said that after he broke off the relationship with Fisher for good in December 2004, DeVard-Kemp told personnel she "no longer needed his services."
Wells, who was put on paid leave during the investigation, also told investigators that Fisher hired an instructor at Atlanta Tech in 1999 who later became her son-in-law. He said Fisher never disclosed that relationship in the four years the son-in-law worked at the school.
The report said Fisher's son-in-law did not have the academic background required to teach. His file included a photocopy of an education specialist degree transcript that the investigators said turned out to be a fraud.
In Wells' case, investigators said they found a résumé in his file portraying him as having an extensive background in academics and adult literacy and an advanced degree in computer information, none of which was true. Wells claimed Fisher gave him the résumé in a sealed envelope to deliver to the department's personnel office. Asked why he never looked at the document, he is quoted as telling investigators: "Why, I already had the position."
The inspector general's office recommended that DeVard-Kemp, Fisher and Wells be fired. DeVard-Kemp was earning $128,273 a year, Fisher was drawing $70,670 a year, and Wells was making $53,040.
Archer said the inspector general's office lacks authority to pursue criminal charges, if they are warranted, and requested that the attorney general review the file.
"Some people may think it was [not a large] amount of money, but it was still money the taxpayers of Georgia paid out," she said.
Jean DeVard-Kemp
I love to point out these stores to liberals who think a govt solution is the answer to all problems. This is the type of people who run the govt.
Ten bucks says none of the people in this sordid little tale are qualified for their "jobs" as state bureaucrats. Oh, I take that back; they were gubmint jobs, after all....
I have no doubt there are thousands of stories like this across the country.
***Fisher hired an instructor at Atlanta Tech in 1999 who later became her son-in-law. He said Fisher never disclosed that relationship in the four years the son-in-law worked at the school.
The report said Fisher's son-in-law did not have the academic background required to teach. His file included a photocopy of an education specialist degree transcript that the investigators said turned out to be a fraud.
In Wells' case, investigators said they found a résumé in his file portraying him as having an extensive background in academics and adult literacy and an advanced degree in computer information, none of which was true.
Wells claimed Fisher gave him the résumé in a sealed envelope to deliver to the department's personnel office. Asked why he never looked at the document, he is quoted as telling investigators: "Why, I already had the position." ***
If you think this is bad, check out all of the nepotism and patronage going on at Hartsfield Airport. This is all just SOP for 'government' in Atlanta
Uh huh.
A liberal cesspool in the Heart of Dixie. Makes me physically ill.
Based on my experiences with Kommunity Kollege Edumakational Fiefdoms, and on what I read about the U.N., I suspect a similar dynamic is at work at Turtle Bay.
Does this mean the sister is single now and the job is open????
Cuz, well, I am married...but I could use some extra money...and..
Thanks for the info.
Sickening.
Hey, they don't seem fussy.
:^)
Bet she "retires" with a nice pension package.
No doubt.
Like you wouldn't date a woman for $72,000 a year. HA. just joshing
I know. Ha ha...
That's a "high-ranking state official"?????
DeVard-Kemp was earning $128,273 a year
So how many of these parasites are on payrolls across the country, drawing big money to produce assistant bullshit? And why aren't the voters firing them en masse?
"There's just no fat left to cut" Yeah, sure.
You can't cut fat by fireing people! That's just mean!
/sarcasm
From the 1/13/1999.... Emory Health Sciences press release....
"Exemplary State Government Award: "
"Dr. Jean DeVard-Kemp, assistant commissioner, Office of Literacy Programs Georgia Department of Technical & Adult Education."
"Under the leadership of Dr. DeVard-Kemp, this agency provides adult learning programs, testing and evaluation, and certifies those seeking adult basic education certification throughout Georgia. This organization has credentialled nearly 94,000 GED graduates in the last five years and has enhanced economic development and community empowerment by making citizens job-ready. "
"(Office of Literacy Programs, Georgia Department of Technical & Adult Education, 1800 Century Place, NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30345, 404-679-1642, http://www.dtae.org/)".
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