O’Neill: ‘I will not be rushed’ off bench
Even as the Ohio Senate readied a plan to remove him from the Ohio Supreme Court, Justice William M. O’Neill said he will reveal Friday when he is stepping down to run for governor.
“I will not be rushed out the door by anyone and that includes the Ohio Senate,” the Democratic justice told The Dispatch.
wrongdoing in the state contracting process, including apparent violations uncovered earlier this year by The Dispatch.
Stuart Davis committed a “wrongful act” by soliciting $ 37,000 from a state contractor to sponsor his speech at an informationtechnology conference, according to the report by the office of Inspector General Randall J. Meyer.
Davis, the chief information officer at the Department of Administrative Services, solicited the sponsorship money from CGI in 2013 while “simultaneously engaged in approving contracts and contract amendments” for the Montreal-based company, according to the report.
The probe accuses Davis of misusing his office and having a conflict of interest. Meyer referred his report to the Ohio Ethics Commission and the Franklin County and Columbus city prosecutors’ offices for consideration of potential charges.
Davis used his state email account on Feb. 20, 2013, to ask a CGI vice president to “host” his speaking session at the 2013 CIO Executive Summit in Cincinnati on June 6 of that year, the report said.
CGI, which has been paid $ 240.5 million by the state for computer work since Davis became state chief information officer, subsequently paid the $37,000 to the event organizer to sponsor Davis’ remarks at the conference, the report said.
In a rare statement on one of his investigations, Meyer said: ““I believe that state employees in leadership positions should lead by example. Mr. Davis failed in that regard. In fact, Mr. Davis’ actions show a serious lapse of judgment at best, and crossed an ethical boundary” that will be reviewed by prosecutors and the Ethics Commission.
Davis told investigators that CGI had committed to sponsoring his speaking session at the conference before his solicitation of the payment, but the inspector general’s report said his emails with a company official “revealed otherwise.”
One CGI official wrote in an email of Davis’ request: “It give you any initial heartburn — a request from the state CIO ( on gov’t email account) for us to sponsor an event?” The CGI vice president with whom Davis was dealing replied: “It’s considered an honor to be the vendor asked to introduce the CIO. Turning this down would not be the politically correct thing to do.”
Administrative Services’ ethics policy forbids employees from soliciting money, gifts or favors “from your present or potential suppliers which might influence or appear to influence purchasing decisions.”
Davis was not available for comment Thursday, said Administrative Services spokesman Tom Hoyt. “We respect the inspector general’s role and work and will review the report carefully,” Hoyt said.
Davis, a 20-year Administrative Services employee, was named chief information officer in 2009 and an assistant agency director in 2011. He earned $135,406 last year.
The report also disclosed that the inspector general is “engaged in a series of investigations” of Administrative Services’ information technology office following the receipt of complaints and in the wake of stories that appeared in The Dispatch.
The Dispatch reported in April that Davis and other state officials disregarded employee warnings and state policy to award millions of dollars in no-bid contracts, often to a consulting company employing former Administrative Services IT officials. The agency denied wrongdoing.
The newspaper’s stories prompted the Ohio General Assembly to adopt a budget provision requiring Administrative Services to seek competitive bids on all technology contracts and to submit them for approval by the Controlling Board. Gov. John Kasich vetoed the measure.
Administrative Services officials then adopted a policy requiring that at least three price quotes be obtained from pre-qualified vendors before awarding contracts. Contracts that attracted two or fewer quotes or a sole-source provider are submitted for Controlling Board approval.
The office of Ohio Auditor Dave Yost also is reviewing state IT purchasing practices following The Dispatch’s stories. That inquiry still is pending.