Howard County Republican Party

Published: May 01, 2009 11:42 pm           

Clements fired from county position

Representative accused of ‘unauthorized personal use’ of e-mail network

Already facing a tough primary challenge in 2010, State Rep. Jacque Clements, R-38th District, was fired this week from her part-time job in the Clinton County Auditor’s Office.

Clements was terminated Monday by Clinton County commissioners for “unauthorized personal use” of the county’s e-mail network.

Since 2004, the year she was elected Clinton County auditor, Clements sent or forwarded approximately 10,000 e-mails. Of those, some pertained to the county’s decision to switch software companies.

Clements is accused of violating the county’s electronic policy concerning e-mails authored or received by her and allegations of leaking information to Nikish Software Corp., which was contracted with the county to provide software services.

Clements could not be reached for comment.

The allegations say Clements leaked information about an investigation into the New York-based company by state and Clinton County officials.

In 2007, Nikish was awarded a two-year contract to provide software for Clinton County’s property tax preparation and assessment.

Nikish was awarded the contract at Clements’ recommendation, said county attorney Ted Johnson. Clements told county officials that Manatron, which was previously providing the software, wanted $231,000 to upgrade to the new state standard, but that Nikish would do the work for $99,000.

Johnson continued to say that Clements, while serving as county auditor, recommended in an almost campaign-like fashion that the county hire the company.

“The real focus is on the software,” Johnson said. “There are problems we’re facing with the conversion. They never delivered. There were problems from the beginning.”

County officials now want Nikish to transfer the data from their software to Manatron. According to Johnson, the company isn’t cooperating.

He said Nikish was willing to convert the data but wanted the county to pay for the services.

Nikish sent Clinton County a final proposal on April 2 seeking $23,000 for support services; and would provide Flat File extracts for $50,000.

In addition to getting the Clinton County contract for Nikish, Clements recommended the company for use by other counties at an auditor’s conference.

“Thank you for your endorsement at the Auditor’s Conference,” a company representative said in an e-mail sent to Clements in May 2007.

Between April 3 and April 5, Nikish paid for Clements to stay at a hotel in Commack, N.Y., where the company is headquartered.

A sampling of the e-mails obtained by the Kokomo Tribune through a Freedom of Information request also showed that as early as 2005, Clements maintained a personal, intimate relationship with a Nikish employee.

Craig Dunn, chairman of the Howard County Republican Party, said the relationship between Clements and the Nikish employee appears to be a conflict of interest.

“At the least it is a breach of a minimal code of ethics,” he said. “I’m disappointed this happened. I’m concerned.”

Dunn said it doesn’t look good for Clements, but he was not rushing to judgment on whether Clements should resign from the Indiana House.

“We need more details,” he said. “She was dismissed for violation of the Clinton County Electronics Use policy. I would guess this is the visible point of the iceberg. We need to know the complete story.”

It’s been a contentious road to the Indiana House chambers from the start.

When Sen. Jeff Drozda resigned from the District 21 seat, Rep. Jim Buck was elected to complete the term in a Republican Party caucus. Clements was opposed by Kokomo resident Heath VanNatter to complete Buck’s term in the House.

That caucus elected VanNatter to complete Buck’s term, but after what was described as “backdoor politicking” by Clinton County GOP chairman Beverley Bush, Clements was placed on the 2008 ballot. She defeated Democrat Bob Snow in the general election.

VanNatter has already announced his intention to oppose Clements in the 2010 primary election for the party’s nomination.

“I had questions about her judgment and past performance as auditor as the result of Indiana State Board of Accounts audits,” Dunn said. “I believe Heath is more qualified. This is a matter to be handled by Clinton County authorities.”

VanNatter said Friday he didn’t know what impact Clements’ firing would have on the campaign.

“If I’m elected I won’t abuse the public’s trust,” he said. “I was a little surprised and disappointed. You expect more from a public official.”