November 16, 2010
Long's attorney Tom Tuntland asked Halvorson about his
appointment to the new WSI position of COO (Chief Operating Officer.) He established that position had not been
advertised outside of WSI.
Tuntland then turned to a section of the Connally Report
which said that WSI's board should replace the Interim CEO in an effort to
restore a sense of trust in management and staff. Tuntland pointed out that Halvorson was the
interim CEO the report referred to.
Halvorson said that WSI was moving forward on those reccommendations,
that the report suggested a new internal audit manager, and other
recommendations which they had followed.
Tuntland also pointed to sections of the Connally report
which said "A History of management decisions led to low
morale." Also, "We've been
told by stakeholders and two WSI Senior Executives they heard or believed there
was a practice to restrict the way WSI handles claims with the intent to deny
legitimate coverage." Halvorson
said he thought Long was one of the two executives cited in the report.
Tuntland established that Connally was an attorney; Halvorson added that he'd been the CEO of NY
State's Worker's Compensation Insurance Fund.
He turned to sections of the report saying the HR function
at WSI was "missing in action" for the past five years, and that
Billi Peltz had only been at WSI for just over two years. He established that
Dave Spencer's reorganization of HR functions were to blame. It further stated that the "former CEO's
failure of judgment on senior management positions rendered HR
ineffective," and pointed out the report was referring to Sandy Blunt.
Tuntland turned next to the State Auditor's report, which
stated that WSI was circumventing the procurement office in making
procurements, and that Long supervised the procurement department , which fell
under Financial. It cited a $26,000
procurement of books that had not gone through proper channels.
With regard to the alleged politicization of the report,
Halvorson said that Democrat Joel Heitkamp, who has a Fargo based radio show,
went after WSI day in and day out after the state auditor's report came
out. But Tuntland established that Mr.
Peterson, who was in charge of the State Auditor's office was a Republican.
As to the Nallie and Hutchings complaints of Long's having
tape recorded them, Halvorson said their investigation had found no evidence of
intent of racial discrimination , but rather poor judgment on Long's part.
Halvorson said that Rob Forward had told Long to tape record
Hutchings, but did not say to tape record the only two African Americans at
WSI.
Next topic was the ITTP Project. When asked about a September 24 email from
Long expressing concern that a staff member was leaving the project, Halvorson
said that's why he wanted Doug Hintz on the job.
Tuntland established that any project costing more than
$250,000 would automatically become a State project. Tuntland referred to the state's Justin Data
email expressing concern about decision making as they were moving into the
implementation phase of the project.
Halvorson said he had not been copied on that email, and thought Data
was referring to the reporting structure.
Tuntland asked about Data's reference to having expressed his concerns
at executive committee meetings, but Halvorson said he could not recall such
discussions.
Tuntland: Do you
agree that Jim's concern was to bring the project in on time and under budget?
Halvorson: That was
all of our concern.
Tuntland asked about Halvorson's previous testimony that Kay
Grinsteinner shoud have had no interest in ITTP. He then produced a document, Grinsteinner's
Internal Audit Work Schedule, which specifically said she was tasked with
"ITTP Risk Assessment."
Tuntland turned to the ICF Report. It noted that the morale problems at WSI
increased after "a significant event regarding the CEO took place,"
which was a reference to Sandy Blunt's having been put on paid administrative
leave.
Tuntland asked whether Blunt's "side file" on Long
would be public record. Halvorson
thought yes, subject to redacting of sensitive information.
He asked about Halvorson's testimony that Long had never
reported anything illegal to him, and asked whether he recalled Long telling
him of his concerns of violations of the Hatch Act after the Chamber of
Commerce letter writing requests.
Halvorson sid he did not recall that discussion.
Tuntland established that Tim Wahlin, who was not Long's
superior, sent out the letter to Long suspending him, and that Halvorson sent a
letter to the entire staff notifying them of Long's suspension, and questioned
the chain of command being used there.
In the letter, it stated that WSI would go through a process
of reintegration with Long. Tuntland
asked about that process, Halvorson said there was nothing formal.
Halvorson said he's been made aware that Long wrote Wahlin
wanting his job back, and that he told Wahlin to reply, but said they didn’t
want to bring Long back, and when asked if he told Long why, he said,
"No. He knew."
Tuntland established that WSI had conducted internal
investigations of two of Long's six whistleblower allegations. He said WSI had asked HRMS and the Village
for outside help in the investigations, but they could not assist. The other claims went uninvestigated.
Tuntland then questioned why, after Long had been put on
leave, Billi Peltz in HR was put under a peer for supervision, instead of the
executive team.
Next to the 4% pay raise issue. Tuntland asked whether Long had told
Halvorson his formula for doing the pay raises would not pass muster. Halvorson said he didn't recall that. Tuntland asked whether the AG had laid down
the law regarding implementing the pay raise;
Halvorson said no, that they'd been told to piece the puzzle together to
make it happen.
Tuntland moved into the search of Armstrong's office, and
established that Grinsteinner reported to the Board, not the CEO. When asked if he were concerned that private
audit information had been leaked to Armstrong, Halvorson said he'd heard that
somewhere but couldn't say where.
Tuntland then turned to the journal itself. It read, "Spent several hours on the
phone with Sandy
at his house with Tim, Sonja, and Halvorson." Halvorson said he could have been there. The journal went on talking about a flood of
information WSI, and Tuntland established that Armstrong was talking about
using his position as a Burleigh County Supervisor to derail the
investigation. He specifically asked
Halvorson whether this passage in Armstrong's journal concerned him: "Got the secret documents out. Lengenfelder did the deed. But ran into Dave Thompson in the press
room." Halvorson said it talked
about persons who were not employees of WSI, so he had little to add.
Tuntland further established that the journal noted that
Board chair Indvik and Communications Director Mark Armstrong wanted to take an
aggressive stance against the media to support Blunt.
Tuntland then turned to Long's suspension and established
that first time Long was given reasons for his suspension was 75 days after
being suspended.
He asked Halvorson whether his Jan 30 2008 letter to Long
was drafted to get a hostile response.
Halvorson said no, he'd been advised by the AG's Tag Anderson to write
it. He said he was looking for an
apology from Long.
Tuntland: Say, I am
sorry, boss.
Halvorson: Yes.
Tuntland: I was wrong
to tape record?
Halvorson: Poor judgment, yes.
Tuntland: Even though no wrong conduct was found. I never hit on Billi, but I apologize?
Halvorson: There were lots of issues with Billi, morale…
Tuntland: I tried to keep WSI from spending millions of
dollars, I apologize?
Halvorson: Yes, that's a reasonable response. If he didn't like Hintz…
Tuntland: There's
nothing to show he didn’t like Hintz.
Halvorson: There was a lot of politics.
Tuntland: You wanted him to apologize because you indicate
he had hostility to Hintz?
Halvorson: Your
words, not mine.
Tuntland: Even though
I think it's WSI's policy to deny claims, I apologize?
Halvorson: that didn’t come up until Jim was out of the
building.
Tuntland: If a WSI employee finds evidence that an employer
is getting an illegal preference, what course of action is he to take?
Halvorson: Bring it to the CEO, the board chair to the
extent he's not involved, then to the Board audit committee.
Tuntland: You haven't mentioned law enforcement.
Halvorson: No.
Tuntland established that Halvorson knew his letter
detailing reasons Long was suspended would be made public in the media.
Tuntland asked whether there were any investigations of
Long's allegations other than the narrow ones conducted by Forward and
Wahlin. Halvorson siad their attorneys
were also in contact with BCI's Mike Quinn.
He asked specifically about Communications Director Mark Armstrong's
official statement, which read, "Our focus is to move forward. We are confident that the remaining outside
investigations and reviews will sort out the fact from the fiction."
Tuntland: What
outside investigations?
Halvorson: We were waiting for the Connally and Marsh
Reports.
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