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Friday, August 13, 2010
County Releases Full Report on Nepotism
By Jeff Proctor
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
Bernalillo County officials late Thursday finally released the long-awaited full version of an investigative report that looked into nepotism and mismanagement at the county's drug and alcohol detox center.
After numerous open records requests and a call from a county commissioner to release the report, county officials did so by posting the document online shortly after 4 p.m. — nearly two months after County Manager Thaddeus Lucero first received the report.
The document was heavily redacted; large swaths of text, including the entirety of the report's conclusion, were blacked out with a marker.
Lucero and County Attorney Jeff Landers refused to explain the redactions.
Instead, Lucero wrote in an e-mail that corresponded with the release of the report that: "The county is closing this unfortunate chapter in its history and is moving forward with revisions to county policies and procedures. We will work hard to rebuild the public trust and to prevent this type of unfortunate incident from happening again."
Sarah Welsh, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said officials should explain clearly when they choose to keep information secret.
"Whenever government wants to withhold information, they need to justify the interest in secrecy," Welsh said. "They need to explain the specific exception under which they are withholding; the exceptions are rather narrow. It's always a red flag when you see huge sections blacked out.
"It's understandable when an agency wants to move on from a scandal. But the public might not want to move on, and government is still obligated to provide information the public needs to protect the county treasury and county facilities."
The report details an investigation conducted by attorney Agnes Fuentevilla Padilla of the Butt, Thornton and Baehr law firm. The county paid Padilla $20,000 for her work.
Its findings essentially mirrored three months of Journal stories about nepotism and other problems involving former Deputy County Manager John Dantis and his son, Jamie Dantis, at the county's detox center known as MATS.
A summary of the investigation released June 28 found that John Dantis intervened in his son's hiring process in violation of the county's nepotism policy and that co-workers raised numerous concerns, which were ignored by supervisors.
Jaime Dantis was never disciplined despite coworkers reports that he repeatedly came to work obviously impaired; brought a pellet gun to work; crashed a county van and was not required to take a drug test; had a personal relationship with a female client; and misused sick and vacation time that his father donated to him.
But there were some details that have not been reported. Among them:
• It was clear to a MATS staffer who interviewed Jamie Dantis for the job that John Dantis "wanted and expected (his son) to be hired." The MATS facility manager "felt pressure from John Dantis" to hire the younger Dantis. John Dantis denied to investigators any involvement in his son's hiring.
• The county Human Resources Department approved Jamie Dantis for participation in the interview process for his job at MATS, despite his lack of qualifications. The employee who made that decision is no longer with the county and was not interviewed during the investigation.
However, the HR director told investigators that a recent review of his application showed he would have passed the screening process because the county errs on the side of qualifying an applicant and letting individual departments decide on employment.
• Many witnesses said Dantis would often remind co-workers at MATS who his father is by inquiring "Do you value your job?" or "Do you know who my father is?"
• Several MATS employees claimed that Jamie Dantis was stealing medication from a locker at the facility. Although the allegations couldn't be proved, the younger Dantis' access to the locker was revoked, a camera was installed in the medication dispensing area and other procedures were changed. "After the changes, missing medication was no longer an issue."
• Jamie Dantis not only brought a pellet gun to work, but he shot himself with the gun and lifted his shirt to show several co-workers the "hole in his chest." His supervisor told her boss, Dwight Dias, that Dantis would be off for a few days.
• The report alluded to another possible "personal relationship" and how it affected his handling of a client's case. A woman called Padilla to say Jamie Dantis had "acted unprofessionally" when she called to check on her son, who had been a client at MATS. The younger Dantis "asked about her daughter and discussed his personal relationship with her daughter." The woman "disagreed with Dantis' recommendation to her son regarding treatment out of state where he would have little or no support."
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