Des Moines Register
07-14-07
IPERS refuses to release report on computer use
The agency says an analysis of a hard drive is confidential because it constitutes
personal data.
By CLARK KAUFFMAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
The Iowa Public Employees Retirement System is refusing to make public its
written reports on employees' inappropriate use of their office computers.
Charles Smithson, executive director of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign
Disclosure Board, said he intends to raise the issue of IPERS's computer use
with the board, which can then determine whether an investigation into the matter
is warranted.
Smithson said the board is legally required to deal with the state rules concerning
the misuse of state property. Those rules prohibit the use of public property to
knowingly and purposely send, receive or view obscene material.
IPERS recently paid $2,200 for a written analysis of the contents of one
employee's computer hard drive. The agency is now refusing to make public the
full 1,400-page analysis.
IPERS spokeswoman Julie Economaki said the report, as well as other studies of
computer use at IPERS that were requested by The Des Moines Register, are
confidential because they constitute "personal information" that is now contained
within the personnel files of individual workers.
Iowa's open records law gives government agencies the option of either
disclosing or keeping secret what they consider to be "personal information in
confidential personnel files." As a result, most government agencies in Iowa now
consider all information on the conduct and performance of employees to be
"personal" in nature, and thus confidential.
IPERS has also refused to say how many agency employees have been
disciplined this year for inappropriate use of their office computers. Economaki
has said the disclosure of that number "would allow people to figure out" who the
offenders were.
The Register reported earlier this month that one of IPERS's top computer
analysts, Thomas Rice, was fired in May for allegedly using his work computer to
download or view dozens, if not hundreds, of pornographic images. Part of Rice's
job at IPERS was policing the use of computers by other workers in the state
pension agency.
Newly disclosed records from Iowa Workforce Development show that another
IPERS employee, Michael Hopewell, also was fired in May. Records show that
on May 23, Hopewell received an e-mail from a retirement benefits officer within
IPERS.
The photos and text contained in that e-mail have circulated on various humorrelated Web sites. The photos are of a woman riding on a motorcycle with part of
her buttocks exposed. The photos are not sexual in nature.
Hopewell forwarded the message to four co-workers and was fired as a result.
State records indicate Hopewell had a history of discipline for unauthorized use
of unpaid leave and was given a "final warning" in February.
Hopewell said he used the unpaid leave because of a recurring illness. He said
he realizes that he should not have sent out an e-mail that had no IPERS-related
purpose, but he characterized his firing as an overreaction by IPERS managers.
IPERS has declined to comment on the dismissals of Rice and Hopewell or on
the alleged discipline given to other agency workers judged to have misused their
e-mail or Web-access privileges. The two firings became public only after IPERS
challenged the workers' requests for unemployment benefits. That led to public
hearings in both cases.
Rice was denied benefits, while Hopewell is still waiting for a decision in his case.
The computer analysis that IPERS purchased was generated by Iowa State
University Police Lt. Aaron DeLashmutt, who has been trained in computer
forensic investigations. In addition to working full-time for the ISU Police
Department, DeLashmutt does computer forensic investigations for a private
business run out of his home.
DeLashmutt's company charged IPERS $200 an hour for its report on Rice's
computer.
DeLashmutt said Friday that all of the work performed on the report was done on
his own time with software and equipment that he personally owns.
Reporter Clark Kauffman can be reached at (515) 284-8233 or
ckauffman@dmreg.com