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Monday, 19 August 2013

State Treasurer Flowers Uncouples From His Troubled Deputy, Erika Benner

Posted on 11:31 by Unknown
Update: The obviously missing puzzle piece was provided today's News Journal edition: In resigning as Deputy Treasurer, Benner had asked to "reclaim her sta­tus as a state merit-sys­tem employee" ~ 
In forfeiting her post, Benner also asked to reclaim her status as a state merit-system employee, which could make her eligible for placement in another state job in a different public agency, said Office of Management and Budget Director Ann Visalli. Benner took a leave of absence from the merit system in 2011 to join Flowers’s office as a political appointee. Prior to that she worked in the Office of the Controller General, the General Assembly’s nonpartisan budget staff.
Merit rules say employees seeking a reinstatement after a leave of absence are entitled to a position for which they are qualified and which pays at least as much as the position they previously held. 
.......Visalli said on Monday that Benner asked Flowers “to be returned to merit system employment following the end of her short-term disability.”Visalli said the Markell administration needed more information before allowing Benner to take another state job. Visalli cited unanswered questions about Benner’s conduct while with the Treasury, including the credit card purchases.
“[W]hile Ms. Benner may have indicated to the Treasurer that she wishes to return to the Merit System in an agency other than the State Treasurer’s Office, her conduct first needs to be addressed by her current employing agency,” Visalli said. “It would be important to us for that to be done and for all those facts to be made clear about how these charges happened before making any determination about whether Ms. Benner can return to the merit system.”
I don't know why this information was omitted from the Treasurer's carefully-worded presser or why the reporters had to dig so hard to get to it yesterday. 

The accompanying editorial, State should tighten rules on credit card uses, is focused on preventing this kind of abuse in the future.

Following the front pager the other day, State Treasurer Chip Flowers removes his deputy ~

Treasurer Flowers Accepts Benner’s Request for Removal from Treasury
DOVER, DEL. — State Treasurer Chip Flowers today announced that he has accepted the request of Erika Benner to be officially removed as deputy state treasurer and from the Delaware State Treasury.
Ms. Benner, who had served as deputy state treasurer since January 2011, submitted the request in a letter this morning. “I take full responsibility and apologize for the decisions I made during a very difficult time in my life and am grateful for the support you and your team provided me,” her letter to the state treasurer stated. “I do not wish to serve as a distraction to the integral work of the Treasury and the accomplishments of your administration in fighting for the principles that inspired me to public service – excellence, honor and ideas that can improve the lives of people.” 
Upon accepting the request, Flowers stated, “While I certainly do not condone and strongly condemn the actions that resulted in Ms. Benner’s request, I am grateful that she has accepted full responsibility for her actions during this difficult period in her personal life, including full repayment of the amounts improperly charged to her state credit card (including interest).  We areappreciative of her work in this office, which includes increasing the market value of the state’s $2 billion investment portfolio by over $30 million during her tenure.  Though the road will be difficult, I hope that she can one day redeem herself in the hearts of Delawareans.  I wish her well.” 
The state credit card program is not administered by the Delaware State Treasury.  However, in July, Treasurer Flowers directed a complete review of the policy and procedures regarding credit card use in the Treasury and ordered an immediate reduction in the number of outstanding credit cards in the agency. 
No decision has been made concerning the appointment of a new deputy state treasurer, Flowers said.   
For additional information, please visit the Treasury's website at treasury.delaware.gov. 
Jonathan Starkey has a follow-up story today. 

Some better internal controls seem warranted here. Benner never failed to repay the charges - this isn't a story of a thief caught red-handed. But it is a story of dishonorable behavior that should have been reported to Treasurer Flowers who claims to not to have known about the credit card lapses before his Deputy disclosed all in April ~


Finance and treasury officials say that Benner reimbursed the state for all of her charges. But Benner routinely took more than a month to reimburse the state for the inappropriate charges. In some instances, she took several months, state records show. “It was foolish and irresponsible for me to use the state credit card but I did pay it back,” she said.
........Knight said his office sent “constant communications” to the Treasury Department “and called to try to understand what was going on.” Knight’s office flagged Benner’s credit card use, asking for an explanation. Flowers maintains that he knew nothing about Benner’s abuse of the state credit card until April, when he had a discussion with Benner before she took medical leave. “The concerning part of this issue was it kept recurring,” Knight said. “We got to the point where after a certain amount of occurrences, we were uncomfortable with continuing in any circumstance. It was proven to us that we needed to stop it.”
~*~
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