The Delaware Public Integrity Commission this week determined Scuse violated the State Code of Conduct by giving state employees non-bid contracts to board seized farm animals.
The commission found Scuse paid an Ag Department employee over $90,000 to care for seized chickens – violating state code, which says no state employee may represent a private interest in any matter involving that employee’s state agency.
Scuse was also found to have violated code that orders state officials to pursue a course of conduct which will not raise suspicion among the public that such state employee is engaging in acts which are in violation of the public trust.
Because of these findings, GOP lawmakers are asking Gov. John Carney to remove Scuse as Secretary, saying in a letter to Carney, “We urge you to take immediate action and remove Secretary Scuse from his position. Only then will trust in the DDA and the Delaware government begin to be restored.”
Senator Dave Lawson is among the lawmakers calling for Scuse's removal, citing his disappointment with the misuse of taxpayer dollars and the nepotism involved.
“I have no ax to grind with Mike Scuse – the Secretary – at all, but this is wrong, and I don’t care who it was, this is wrong.”
During the hearing, Scuse denied knowing that paying DDA employees would violate the State Code of Conduct and said emergency powers gave him the ability to waive Delaware Code and award the contracts to DDA employees.
In a statement released Monday, Scuse says the decrease in rescues able to assist in large-scale seizures created a need to contract with DDA staff who met the requirement for caring for the animals, who were paid a flat per-animal rate.
