CIETC billed the taxpayers over a quarter-million dollars in legal fees for 2006: the fast and loose management continues with the help of Democrat activist and lawyer Jonathan Wilson

CIETC, or more recently the Regional Workforce Investment Alliance, is once again in the news regarding questionable expenditures for Jonathan Wilson’s broadly defined legal services.  Wilson’s $267, 655 legal fees were made public over the holidays in a series of articles and editorials in the Des Moines Register and other Iowa newspapers. 

The media interest was spurred by Wilson’s efforts to limit legislation passed in the wake of the CIETC scandal that requires joint government entities working under 28 E agreements to publish financial data, including salaries, in newspapers. Mr. Wilson doesn’t believe that the taxpayers have any right to know what CIETC and other types of joint government agencies do with our tax dollars.

And he’s not alone; there are some concerns among Democrat legislators that this new sunshine law may negatively impact the work of local governments by demanding too much public notice.  I happen to disagree, and I will take this issue to our Republican Caucus for further discussion.  We must support taxpayers who want to act as independent oversight to governments that choose to spend taxpayer dollars irresponsibly.

The legal fees Mr. Wilson billed to CIETC are not surprising; Mr. Wilson’s agenda for the woefully mismanaged CIETC is to seamlessly combine public relations with legal strategy, blaming the state of Iowa for CIETC failures and dragging out a legal fight worth thousands of billable hours – billed to Iowa taxpayers.  Yes, Jonathon Wilson believes CIETC is the victim of the Iowa Department of Workforce Development and, as such, not responsible for reimbursing the 1.5 million dollars and counting of misspent federal money.  Mr. Wilson wants us to believe that individuals legally charged with overseeing an intergovernmental organization are not responsible for the potentially criminal mismanagement of that organization.

I don’t buy it. We all know what playing the victim on stage means. The taxpayers of Iowa deserve better. As Republicans we will work hard this session to make sure that creative lawyers, such as Mr. Wilson, cannot stick the Iowa taxpayers with a bill they shouldn’t have to pay.