Idaho art board under scrutiny after audit
State questions trip in 2004 made by commissioner
By JOHN MILLER
Associated Press
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 1:42 PM PST
BOISE — State auditors have rebuked the Idaho Commission on the Arts for an illegal gift of a golfing trip provided as a ‘‘thank you’’ for volunteer work a commissioner did in 2004.
The gift was paid for, in part, from a state fund and was among several accounting inconsistencies discovered by Legislative Services during a financial audit of Idaho’s culture agency for fiscal years 2005 and 2006. The report was released Monday.
Harry Lawless, who was a commissioner at the time, received the $550 trip to the Coeur d’Alene Resort, plus $200 in spending money, for his role in organizing the Governor’s Awards for the Arts in October 2004. Lawless had helped Dan Harpole, former commission executive director, raise between $10,000 and $20,000 to pay for a video produced at the event, arts commission members say.
Idaho law prohibits public officials, including appointees to the 12-member commission board, from receiving gifts worth more than $50 in exchange for their services.
Though commission staff members donated $280 of their own money to help pay for the gift, their cash was improperly mixed with $470 from a state fund that covered the rest of the golf outing, auditors wrote.
‘‘We recommend that the commission strengthen controls and the review process to ensure that all expenditures are in compliance with Idaho Code,’’ the auditors said in their 14-page report.
In addition to the gift, which Lawless hasn’t been required to repay, other problems discovered during the audit included accounting system concerns and coding errors for financial transactions that indicate sloppy oversight and errors made when accessing federal funds.
Despite the findings, state auditors said the arts commission’s accounting still substantially complies with the law.
Mark Hofflund, commission chairman as well as managing director of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, described the gift as a simple mistake on the part of Harpole, who died in December 2006.
Hofflund, who wasn’t aware of the payment before the audit was released, said he later learned that Harpole and other staff members wanted to reward Lawless’s ‘‘yeoman’s efforts’’ in helping organize the biennial awards program where then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and first lady Patricia Kempthorne recognized Idaho’s outstanding artists and cultural leaders.
‘‘The staff felt terribly grateful to Harry and wanted to do something for him,’’ Hofflund said. ‘‘It was an impulse of generosity on their part. They obviously didn’t take care of it.’’
Phone calls to Lawless seeking comment weren’t immediately returned.
Arts Commission employees say they have taken auditors’ recommendations to heart and plan to remedy the shortcomings.
Michael Faison, who succeeded Harpole last June as the culture agency’s executive director, met with both Lawless and Hofflund after learning of the audit’s findings. At that meeting, Lawless expressed disappointment upon learning that the gift he received violated state law, Faison said.
‘‘He was really very contrite. He didn’t want to cause any problems,’’ Faison said.
‘‘Fortunately, it was out of pure innocence.’’
