Emails raise questions about Napolitano's testimony on audit
Last edited Thu May 4, 2017, 01:41 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: SF Chronicle
The office of University of California President Janet Napolitano directed administrators at UC campuses to reveal their confidential responses to a state auditor’s survey, according to emails obtained Wednesday by The Chronicle that call into question the accuracy of Napolitano’s testimony to state lawmakers about why her office interfered with the probe.
Napolitano testified Tuesday that her staff reviewed responses only after campuses asked for help in understanding complicated survey questions from state Auditor Elaine Howle as part of her audit of the UC president’s office. That audit concluded that Napolitano’s office had accumulated $175 million in secret funds, including $32 million that could have been spent on students.
One email shows that a UCSF administrator suggested after receiving the audit survey in October that Napolitano’s office convene a systemwide conference call “to make sure that we are consistent in terms of info we are providing.” Nothing in the email asked Napolitano’s office to review the responses — and the letter from the state auditor explicitly told campus officials to keep their responses confidential and not to share “with others outside of your campus.”
But numerous emails between Napolitano’s staff and officials at several of UC’s 10 campuses show that the president’s office did far more than provide initial guidance. The emails show that campus officials arranged to show their responses to Napolitano’s staff “as requested.” They show her staff “checking in” with campuses to see when they could see their responses. And they show campus officials apologizing in cases where they sent their responses to the auditor before showing them to Napolitano’s staff. In one such case, UC Santa Cruz pulled its responses back from the auditor — apparently at Napolitano’s request.
Read more: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Emails-show-Napolitano-directed-campuses-to-11119483.php
