*Correction: The Vice Chancellor for Communications for the University System of Georgia Charlie Sutlive said that the USG sent Mr. Perry the documents in question on February 2. Mr. Perry submitted his requests on January 13 and January 21.
The facts surrounding the former Executive Director of the UGA Alumni Association are difficult to ignore. Falsified travel reports (65 violations in a two-year period), skipping work (at least 28 days in one 13-month period), improper guests in the alumni association football SkySuite suite and a litany of issues regarding management and treatment of subordinate employees have all basically been confirmed by UGA officials.
The UGA employee that brought all these facts to light? Hailed as a hero? Promoted? No. Sallyanne Barrow, working in the UGA alumni relations office, was fired later that year in 2014.
The subject of all those allegations? Fired? Suspended? No. Deborah Dietzler was transferred to a different department with no loss in pay and was allowed to look for a new job outside of UGA (without doing much real work at the existing UGA job). Dietzler eventually found a new job as Vice President for Alumni Relations and Annual Giving at the University of Louisville.
Lawyers InsiderAdvantage talked with say Dietzler should have been fired immediately and perhaps prosecuted for fraud by the state Attorney General’s office or the local district attorney. Instead, there are allegations that some UGA officials (except President Jere Morehead, who was out of the loop of events) bungled the handling of Dietzler’s behavior and quietly moved her to a different department as she sought a new position.
Dietzler’s assistant, Scott Kinney, has backed up much of the allegations from Mrs. Barrow. Oftentimes, Dietzler, an avid marathon runner, would book a trip for a marathon she was participating in and then task Kinney to find some way to justify the trip. “It could certainly be drinks at a hotel lobby, it could be having breakfast with someone. We simply had to find people for her to meet with,” Kinney said. “Anyone to justify the reason why she’s staying in these cities for so many days.”
Barrow remains shocked about her dismissal and has sued the Board of Regents under the Georgia Whistleblower Statute to correct what she sees as an injustice.
Barrow is the sole breadwinner for her family. Her husband, Jim Barrow, stays home and takes care of their autistic son, Sam, full-time. From Sallyanne’s blog cataloging the ordeal of her firing: “Sam is a handsome 22-year old severely autistic young man who also has fully insulin dependent Type 1 diabetes. He lives at home and requires full-time care, an unpaid job my husband has been doing for the last 21 years. To give you a scope of the severity of Sam’s autism, he communicates entirely by quoting the Thomas the Tank Engine video series.”
Without Sallyanne’s salary from UGA, caring for Sam is taking its toll on the Barrow’s overall finances. They have had to use their savings and retirement, as well as sell an inherited house in Augusta, to help cover costs while the lawsuit with the Board of Regents unfolds. And unfolds. As of now, no outcome has been reached. The Regents attorney is claiming the suit is unconstitutional, it should have been filed in Atlanta, Barrow’s firing was justified– an array of defenses for a troubling case.
William Perry, President of Georgia Ethics Watchdogs, is troubled by the case as well. “I am pleased that the Attorney General’s office is taking a hard stand with the University and the Board of Regents in calling for an investigation into Dietzler’s travel expenses and leave reports, however, I want to see the investigation expanded to include anyone who may have assisted Dietzler with the fraud a University auditor found she committed, as well as those who violated state policy in early 2014 by not properly sharing the information found by the audit,” said Perry. He called for an expanded investigation in November.
The status of the criminal investigation remains unclear. Last month, Perry filed an Open Records Request to attempt to find documents related to the Human Resources office of the new Executive Director, who may have been a Dietzler ally, as well as the Senior Director of Alumni Relations. Perry also filed a request for all email communications related to “any request of any University System of Georgia employee, including ‘internal auditors,’ by the University of Georgia’s Executive Director of Legal Affairs, Mr. Michael Raeber or other University staff working with Mr. Raeber concerning allegations of criminal conduct by former UGA Alumni Director Deborah Dietzler.”
Currently, despite the law requiring a response within a three-day limit, Perry has received no response from the University System.
Read more at Sallyanne’s blog here: https://whatsapoorwhistleblowertodo.wordpress.com/
