November 15, 2010
John
Halvorson has worked for WSI since 1994, and haas held a variety of postions
including Research Analyst, Chief of Employee Services, Interim Director
(twice) and is currently the COO.
Defense
attorney Mitch Armstrong asked about the 4% pay raise issue, Halvorson said that WSI had its own pay
system and that when the legislature passed a 4% pay raise for all ND
employees, it was an oversight that WSI was not included. He said that WSI had an opinion from the AG
about the pay raises, and they worked with the AG to implement them. He said that many WSI employees got double
pay raises as a result.
When
asked about the issue of Dave Spencer getting contact information from his
computer which aided him in a new grant writing business, Halvorson said that
he took over Spencer's position and forwarded his emails to him. He testified that beyond the 11 or twelve
names supplied to Spencer by Bunt and Long, there was no other issue. he said it was illegal for employer
informmation to be given, and that he did, on Blunt's request call Spencer to
ask whether he had employer information. Spencer said he did not.
Halvorson
acknowledged that after Blunt was charged with felonies, he was named interim
CEO. He said he was not paid extra for
the position, as he advised the chair he did not want to bring more scrutiny to
the agency.
As to the
issue of nepotism, Halvorson said that legal vetted the issue and the Board
determined it to be a non-issue.
He said
as interim CEO, he had daily discussions with Board Chair Indvik to keep him in
the loop as to day to day and stories which could hit the media.
As to the
issue of Long and Peltz, he had notes dated May 4 2007 that there was a
wdiespread perception of an innappropriate relationship between them. He took advice of General Counsel Jodi
Bjornson and advised Indvikof his plan of action. He met with Long, with Forward as a witness,
advised Long of the perception, and told him if it continued, he would have to
move HR out of Long's supervision. He
saw some immediate corrective action, but said there was slippage over a few
months. This he said casued concerns,
especially given the State Audit's report of perceptions of favoritism.
He said
he made notes of this and put them into a Critical Incident File, which did not
go into Long's personnel file. He said
when he conducted Long's mid year review, he cited there was more time spent
with some "direct reports" than others, and this referred to Peltz.
In June
2007 an ICF report was issued on the agency.
It said there were perceptions of favoritism in Support Services, the
area Long oversaw. It said 3/5 of
support services employees do not think management understands employee issues
and do not think unprofessional behavior was disciplined.
Halvorson
talked at length about Long's tape recording of Nallie and Hutchings, both of
whom lodged complaints of being the only two people who were recorded and the
only two African Americans at WSI. He
said he talked with Denise ?Hallson? at the Village about her take on it. He
said she said she was appalled.
Halvorson says he talked to Long, who sid he was intimidated and had
recorded on the advice of Rob Forward, but Halvorson still told him it was poor
judgement and said there would be no more tape recording allowed at WSI. He said Nallie withdrew her complaint, but
Hutchings did not. He said he told Long
he was trying to break down barriers at WSI, not build them.
Regarding
the tape recording Long made of his conversation with Peltz, Halvorson said
Long's remarks made him angry and that he felt Long's name calling was
insubordinate conduct.
Halvorson
talked about the ITTP project, saying he thought Doug Hintz would be a good
member of the team. He said he did not
feel Long kept him in the loop on the project, and said he was the executive
sponsor of the project, so the buck stopped with him. He wrote Long a letter responding to his
request for more autonomy, saying that Long's "judgment and decisions have
been in question in recent months," and he was not inclined to give Long
more authority.
He then
said that Long sent an email to the board, attaching the Justin Data email
which had expressed concerns about management of the ITTP project. He was not copied on that email, and Long had
not sent the Data email to him personally.
Halvorson
then talked about Long's personnel file, saying that his annual and mid year
reviews were included, but that the "critical Incident" file
Halvorson had created was not.
With
regard to the Chamber of Commerce meeting, Halvorson said it was to get
positive things out to the press about WSI.
He denied that George Keiser had said "WSI is the Crown Jewel of
the Republican Party."
He said
he had the ICF report, the issue with Peltz, the ITTP project problem, and the
tape recording issue, a series of events which led him to write a critical
incident report, which he shared with general Counsel Jodi Bjornson. He decided to contact an outside Human
Resources specialist Hunter Lott about terminating Long. Armstrong established the Halvorson emailed
Lott October 3, 2007, and had a phone consultation with him October 4.
Armstrong
established that Halvorson had a meeting with AG's employment expert Tag
Anderson on October 11, 2007 to discuss terminating Long. Anderson
advised him to put down on paper an outline of Halvorson's reasons for firing
Long. He did so, and delivered the
document to Anderson
on October 17. (Long filed his
whistleblower protection request October 20.)
The
Critical Incident document included reports of innappropriate touching, the
inability to accept direction, that Long was undermining Halvorson's authority,
and other items. Halvorson concluded that "for the good of the
organization, the working relationship has to end."
Halvorson
said after charges against Blunt had been dropped, Long filed his whistleblower
protection request, and Blunt returned to WSI, he was forced to take a step
back and put Long on paid administrative leave.
When
asked whether the agency had investigated Long's allegations, Halvorson said
that to the extent they knew law enforcement was investigating, they stayed
away.
Armstrong
went through Long's specific allegations.
The first was on the Spencer sick leave issue; it was established that
issue had been dealt with prior to Long's complaint. The second was about the 4% pay increases;
that issue also had been resolved. The
third was the nepotism issue, which Halvorson said had been resolved.
The
fourth and fifth were a conspiracy to oust prosecutor Richard Riha, and
circumvention of open records laws.
These two dealt with the Armstrong journal, and Halvorson testified that
neither Long nor Grinsteinner asked his permission to conduct a search.
Halvorson
talked about the Connaly and Marsh reports, saying WSI's board selected those
groups in conjunction with Governor Hoeven's office. He said they were announced before Long was
put on paid leave.
He said
three weeks after being put on leave, Long began contacting the media, and that
WSI received Long's 30 page manifesto through Dave Wetzel of Associated Press,
which he had been provided by Long's attorney Tuntland. He said it ignited a media firestorm.
Halvorson
referred to a letter sent to Long , as advised by counsel, to try to provide a
way for Long to return to WSI, but at that point, he said it would have taken a
lot of convincing to bring him back. he
said Long wrote back an 18 page defiant response where he mentioned injured
workers claims; Halvorson said Long never worked with claims. The document also said that, as far as Long
knew, he had a good relationship with management until he went to law
enforcement. This letter was copied to
legislators, including Senators Dorgan and Conrad, and the media.
Halvorson
said he wrote another letter to Long, detailing several problems he'd had with
Long.
He said
that he then met with his executive team to determine whether Long could
return. He said the team unanimously
said no.
Armstrong
then presented the Connally report, which said to restore leadership and trust
to the HR function. Long supervised
HR. It also called out CEO Blunt for
failure of judgment in senior management selections. The report was dated March 5, 2008.
Long was
terminated March 12, 2008. Halvorson
said Long's position was eliminated after that.
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