It has been over a month since Delaware Auditor Kathy McGuiness was found guilty of three misdemeanor charges of misconduct. She was found not guilty on two felony charges of theft and witness intimidation. It was the latest, but perhaps not the final chapter of a process that began in 2021 with the state's Department of Justice investigated her actions and later getting an indictment.
"I was stunned," McGuiness recalled during an exclusive interview with WRDE. "September 10 I get this document that I am supposed to appear on Monday (Sept. 13). This was a Friday afternoon. I called friends of mine who are attorneys and asked what is this about." McGuiness thought she may be a witness in a case but she said the attorney friends told her that it was in fact about her.
One of the charges McGuiness was found guilty of was a violation of state procurement laws. This centered around the no-bid contract of a public policy communications group My Campaign. The amount McGuiness agreed to pay My Campaign was just under the threshold of $50,000. Any amount over that number would require a bidding process. It was in her failed bid in the 2016 Democrat Primary that McGuiness utilized My Campaign in her run for Lt. Governor.
"I did work with the owner in 2016 but we are not friends," McGuiness said. "He did not do anything for me since then. He is very talented with communications and policy they do not just work on campaigns." As of this writing on My Campaigns home page is a promotion of their work in getting Delaware's Fertility Care and Preservation Bill signed into law including a picture of the signing ceremony with Governor John Carney.
Two of the misdemeanors involved the employment of McGuiness' daughter as a seasonal worker at the State Auditor's office. The Department of Justice alleged that allowing her to use state vehicles and work remotely while away at college were "special privileges" not offered to other seasonal workers.
"Everyone gets to drive the car it is standard. She (her daughter) did not have any privileges and benefits, McGuiness said. "I profess my innocence maybe other folks should do the same."
Senate President Pro Temp (D) David Sokola, whose daughter has also done work for the state government, has been a critic of McGuiness and helped lead a vote that passed in the Senate to remove her from office. Sen. Sokola made this statement to WRDE about any comparison between his situation and McGuiness'
"Her indictment also was not based on the mere fact of her daughter's employment. Rather, she was accused of bypassing standard hiring practices, violating standard HR rules to directly oversee her daughter, directing paychecks to an account the Auditor controlled and providing benefits to her daughter not available to other employees.
While my daughter, who is a qualified paralegal, has from time to time been employed on a per diem basis by the state Senate, I at no point had direct supervision over her, had no influence in her being hired and did not have access to her paychecks.
This is a clear and brazen attempt to create public confusion over something very cut and dry.."
McGuiness is running for re-election and is opposed in next month's primary by Lydia York. McGuiness' defense team has also filed motions for a retrial and for an acquittal.