Monday, Dec. 25, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.
When Richard Carpenter took over the Community College of Southern Nevada in August 2004, one of his first acts as president was to attack what he said was rampant nepotism, cronyism and excessive bureaucracy at the college.
Carpenter ordered a four-month hiring freeze while he overhauled the human resources department, developing a 104-page manual that was to bring integrity to the hiring process by creating new checks against improper hiring and favoritism.
But the man who put cronyism on his hit list as president is being accused of breaking his own rules - creating high-level jobs specifically for his former co-workers in Wisconsin and Alabama. The allegations are part of Nevada Equal Opportunity and whistle-blower complaints filed by the college's former diversity officer, Debra K. Lopez, and supported by other college employees.
Lopez alleges that Carpenter and Rand Key, vice president for planning and development, circumvented the hiring process to bring in friends by stacking the hiring committees to favor their candidates and coaching at least one candidate by giving her interview questions in advance.
Carpenter was similarly accused of cronyism in August 2004, when he hired Key without a search. Key was Carpenter's executive vice president overseeing the Wisconsin Technical College System and worked under him at Calhoun Community College in Alabama.
There are no federal or state laws banning cronyism - hiring someone on the basis of friendship instead of qualifications - but Carpenter's own hiring policy restricts people from serving on search committees if they have a personal relationship with a job candidate. Key said this guideline is intended to avoid biased recommendations .
The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents' policy requires national searches for most jobs, and in cases of emergency hires, reasons for the waiver must be documented.
Regents' policy also has strict rules on nepotism, restricting relatives from having any decision that may affect another relative's employment.
But Lopez and ethicists interviewed by the Sun said the real danger of cronyism is that it discriminates against job candidates who may be more qualified than the friend. And if other candidates are from an underrepresented group - be it a minority, a woman, a disabled person or a veteran - that exposes the college to litigation.
The two hires now in question - Vice President of Administration Jeffery Foshee and Dean of Workforce Development Kay Moormann - previously worked for Carpenter and were recruited to fill positions Carpenter created .
Foshee, an attorney Carpenter had worked with as president of the Calhoun Community College in Tanner, Ala., was hired in October 2005. He earns $163,862 a year.
Moormann started as dean of workforce and development in March, having worked in a similar position over 16 technical colleges in Wisconsin. She makes $111,280 a year.
Carpenter said he actively recruited both but denied giving them preferential treatment. They were selected by diversely composed hiring committees after national searches. Foshee was one of three finalists for his job, and Moormann was one of four.
With more than 25 years as a college president, Carpenter said he would be "hard-pressed" to find high-level job candidates he didn't know. Whenever there is an opening, he says, he usually invites a few people to apply.
Presidents typically have leeway in picking their staff, especially within the first few months of taking the job, and university system Chancellor Jim Rogers said he had no problems with people Carpenter had hired because Rogers believes they are competent.
Both Lopez and Lonnie Wright, a tenured professor who works under Moormann to set up employee training programs for companies, base their complaints on the testimony of job candidate Sterling Saddler.
Saddler, who has a doctorate and headed UNLV's workforce development division, told Lopez and Wright that Moormann had told him a year earlier that Carpenter was creating a job for her.
Saddler declined to comment when reached by the Sun .
Lopez said she believes Key may have given Moormann the questions in advance because she was able to answer a question the others stumbled on.
Moormann and Key both denied that .
Carlos Campo, dean of arts and letters who was chairman of the committee, said Lopez never made her complaints known to him .
"I can tell you that as chairman of the committee I would not have tolerated any compromise of any hiring rules," Campo said.
Key said one of the first things Carpenter did in overhauling human resources was to set up a nomination process so that several people would select who was on a committee.
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