Montgomery Didn't Follow The Law: Accenture Redux
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Categories: Corporate Accountability / Workers' Rights, Economic Fairness and Security, Honest and Ethical Government
Categories: Corporate Accountability / Workers' Rights, Economic Fairness and Security, Honest and Ethical Government
Betty Montgomery didn't follow the law when she was the attorney general.
We didn't reach that conclusion. It comes from Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge John Kessler. Kessler is hearing a taxpayer lawsuit that challenges a settlement in which the state allowed Accenture to keep more than 90 percent of the $63 million it received to design and build Ohio Works, a statewide, internet-based system that would match employers with the unemployed and underemployed.
Even though Ohio Works never worked properly, Montgomery's office signed the settlement agreement but signed it "to form,'' rather than "form and substance" or "form and content.'' It's a technical point but an important one. The judge explains:
"When a party approves as to 'form' only, that party is stipulating to the 'composition and organization of the particular legal document…' In the instant case, the Settlement Agreement was signed only as to form. Therefore, the Ohio Attorney General did not approve the terms of the Settlement Agreement as required by O.R.C. 117.33.''
Kessler's comments are contained in his ruling which denied Accenture's motion to dismiss the case.
The case was brought by Dayton tax attorney Lance Gildner and it seeks to recover the wasted money. Gildner, a Republican, told the Plain Dealer he's "made a career out of defending taxpayers" and thought they had been ripped off in this case.
"The state spends a lot of time and money trying to collect extremely small sums of money from taxpayers. Here seemed to be one huge pot of money that maybe could have been collected that we shouldn't be overlooking."
So this all begs the question: Was this track covering by an AG that knew she was letting Accenture (then Anderson Consulting) walk away with over $50 million? She is pretty good at this plausible deniability game.
We didn't reach that conclusion. It comes from Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge John Kessler. Kessler is hearing a taxpayer lawsuit that challenges a settlement in which the state allowed Accenture to keep more than 90 percent of the $63 million it received to design and build Ohio Works, a statewide, internet-based system that would match employers with the unemployed and underemployed.
Even though Ohio Works never worked properly, Montgomery's office signed the settlement agreement but signed it "to form,'' rather than "form and substance" or "form and content.'' It's a technical point but an important one. The judge explains:
"When a party approves as to 'form' only, that party is stipulating to the 'composition and organization of the particular legal document…' In the instant case, the Settlement Agreement was signed only as to form. Therefore, the Ohio Attorney General did not approve the terms of the Settlement Agreement as required by O.R.C. 117.33.''
Kessler's comments are contained in his ruling which denied Accenture's motion to dismiss the case.
The case was brought by Dayton tax attorney Lance Gildner and it seeks to recover the wasted money. Gildner, a Republican, told the Plain Dealer he's "made a career out of defending taxpayers" and thought they had been ripped off in this case.
"The state spends a lot of time and money trying to collect extremely small sums of money from taxpayers. Here seemed to be one huge pot of money that maybe could have been collected that we shouldn't be overlooking."
So this all begs the question: Was this track covering by an AG that knew she was letting Accenture (then Anderson Consulting) walk away with over $50 million? She is pretty good at this plausible deniability game.
