Saturday, May 25, 2013
 

What the college president was reimbursed for...

Officials at the Board of Regents for Higher Education are asking Robert A. Kennedy to reimburse the system for $2,264 he received for business expenses while he was the president.

Officials say the $25,000 provided to him each year should not have covered the cost of items such as $111 for satellite radio, a $250 coffee machine and gas purchased in other states, like Wisconsin and Indiana. He also was inappropriately reimbursed for some dinners, such as one he and his wife had with the governor's chief of staff at the time, Tim Bannon. The receipts provided to the Mirror earlier this week show that Bannon paid separately for his and his wife's meal.

The $2,264 that is being sought from Kennedy comes after the regents reviewed everything he was reimbursed for during his 13-month tenure.

"Those expenses should have been charged to his personal account," Colleen Flanagan Johnson, a spokeswoman for the system,- said during an interview.

The documents provided to the Mirror also outline what moving expenses he was reimbursed for, as allowed for in his contract.

Here are links to the materials: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Flanagan Johnson called the overpayment of $2,264 to Kennedy a "serious failure" resulting from not having an appropriate accounting system in place to monitor what is reimbursed.

Here is her full statement:

"The Board of Regents, through its newly-formed Administration Committee, is currently conducting an analysis of the compensation for Board of Regents employees in a thoughtful and objective way. Reviewing presidential compensation packages as a whole, including accommodation accounts, is a critical undertaking. The Board of Regents understands that it must be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, while at the same time, attract top-notch presidents to lead our institutions and further the success of our students.

"Dr. Kennedy's expenses were handled in the midst of the consolidation of central office departments and functions, and, admittedly, there was a serious failure in not having clear financial systems in place to properly account for these expenses in the appropriate manner. Dr. Kennedy's expenses have been reviewed, he has been charged for any non-business related expenses incurred, and we are in a position to immediately recover that money on behalf of Connecticut taxpayers. The Board of Regents is committed to a clearer approach to ensure there is an understanding of the processes necessary to best protect our state's taxpayers and our system's students."

Comments

Submitted by 999wakeupct on 12/07/2012 09:12 am

Ms. Flanagan Johnson would like for us believe that in the midst of consolidation “there was a serious failure in not having clear financial systems in place to properly account for these expenses in the appropriate manner”? Really? So she wants us to believe that the clear financial systems that were in place prior to the consolidation mysteriously disappeared when the Board of Regents assumed responsibility for the seventeen college system? Really? If we believe the BOR spokesperson, it sure sounds like an admission that the new leadership team of Kennedy, Meotti, Weinberger, Bowes et al, didn’t bother to learn what the standard business practices were. At best, they assumed they knew it all. At worst, it was gross misconduct. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Submitted by realkook on 12/09/2012 05:12 am

When these guys like Kennedy, et al were in the saddle, no one, but no one in the systems office had the guts to tell him/(them) that (t)he(y) was/were not entitled to be reimbursed of certain personal costs. So, if they were already paid, treat such costs as extra remuneration and reflect them in the W-2 or 1099 filings, so that he/they could pay taxes on such non-reimbursable costs. It seems that the amount recovered is too small, but the amount of time and energy spent in such a recovery is too much. Penny wise and pound foolish.

Submitted by CTMother on 12/09/2012 03:12 pm

UGHHHH - Why were we paying for $200 dinners he had with his employees? Why did Toby authorize payments for meals where bottles of wine were ordered? Am I miussing something or were these expenses on top of the $25,000 in unvouchered expenses? Do you think he is the first/only person in state government doing this? This state is broke for wasteful spending like this. If you watch the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves....

Submitted by legalstatutewatch on 12/11/2012 01:12 am

When will it all end? The cover-ups are worse than the crimes. Remember Watergate? Well this is Regentgate! The Board and the Meotti loyalists are still thinking "how do we protect the Governor" insted of "how do we fix this mess and do our fiduciary duty"? If the Governor allows the Regents to remain and the Meotti loyalists to control the message, well then ultimately the Gov. will take the fall. Face the facts Governor, these people are inefficient at best and most likely just downright dumb. They will never do the right thing because they believe they are always correct...so long as they protect you. That kind of protection will cause you more pain than the doing what is needed. Change the Board members to people who know what they are doing AND stop the control of the fact finding by those who are named in the "Unauthorized Raises scandal". If the control remains in the hands of those who caused the issues [Bates, Flannagan, Weinberger] then Regentgate will be the undoing of the Governor. Advice from those involved just adds fuel to the cover-up. Clean up this mess!