Dshs Official Advised To Get Ethics Training Auditor Clears Welfare Supervisor Of Most Serious Charges
A welfare supervisor who took home a state computer should take ethics training, according to the state auditor.
But more serious charges against Robert Absolor, former head of the north Spokane welfare office, were not verified during a seven-month whistleblower investigation.
The report, released Tuesday, said Absolor kept a U.S. Micron computer at home for three months without approval.
He’s likely guilty of violating state law prohibiting personal use of state equipment, the auditor’s report said.
But accusations that he used his $58,000-a-year post to ensure a supply of inexpensive labor for his side business, J & B Unlimited, fell flat.
Those allegations were made in a pair of anonymous whistleblower complaints filed last April.
“It was something that couldn’t be substantiated,” said state Auditor Brian Sontag. “It doesn’t mean things are true or untrue.”
The Spokesman-Review reported in September that at least nine welfare recipients - most of them recent immigrants with limited English - were hired as janitors by Absolor from welfare rolls he oversaw.
During a September interview, Absolor said he had done nothing wrong and that his hiring practices complied with state ethics laws.
Absolor is on vacation now and couldn’t be reached for comment.
The report said he denied using the computer for J & B business. He acknowledged, though, using his office phone to conduct personal business.
Neither the auditor nor the Washington State Patrol, which also investigated Absolor’s conduct, recommended criminal charges be pressed.
Ethics training was recommended, a suggestion Department of Social and Health Services supervisors accepted.
The report faulted the Department of Social and Health Services for lax oversight of state-owned equipment.
The investigation - and media reports on the whistleblower allegations - prompted DSHS regional administrator Bernie Nelson to review and “tighten” oversight of outside employment and state equipment.
Side businesses must now be approved by Nelson, administrator for Northeast Washington, his supervisors and a state attorney.
“Unfortunately, it takes this kind of circumstance to have this review,” said Nelson.
“Anyone in position of authority has to be markedly sensitive to abuse and perceptions of abuse. The perception of abuse can be just as strong as abuse itself.”
But he continued to support Absolor, a 25-year DSHS employee. “I just never felt for one moment the man is a criminal,” said Nelson.
Absolor, who spent three weeks on paid administrative leave during the investigation, now supervises the Central Spokane DSHS office.