Bismarck Tribune

By CRYSTAL R. RBy CRYSTAL R. REID

A Workforce Safety and Insurance employee who filed for whistleblower protection was put on paid administrative leave effective Friday morning.

James Long, chief of support services at WSI, was informed of the leave in an e-mail sent at approximately 8:45 p.m. Thursday, said Long's attorney, Tom Tuntland.

Long said WSI did not detail specific reasons for the leave, beyond that WSImanagment felt recent events rendered him incapable to effectively do his job.

Executive Director Sandy Blunt said the decision to put Long on leave stemmed from recent events and reports; Blunt added such a decision was ultimately left up to him, but was made with input from other management.

Tim Wahlin, staff counsel with WSI, sent the e-mail to Long; he said he could not comment on why Long was put on leave, or whether Long had been informed as to why he was put on leave.

Mark Armstrong, communications executive director, said Long is not allowed in the building, which is typical of employees who have been put on leave.

Tuntland, Long's attorney, believes the reasons behind Long's administrative leave may be a retaliation for Long's part in an investigation into a journal kept by Armstrong. The attorney had previously asked Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to investigate whether board members at a WSIclosed meeting Tuesday inappropriately discussed retaliation against employees who had asked for whistleblower protection.

The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation had executed a search warrant on Oct. 19 for a journal kept by Armstrong. According to court documents, Long had been interviewed by BCI special agent Mike Quinn on Oct. 18 as part of a follow-up investigation into the allegation of misuse of sick leave by an employee at WSI.

At the end of the interview, Long said he provided copies of pages from a notebook, which Long said he acquired from Kay Grinsteinner, WSI internal auditor.

Armstrong had requested an internal investigation into who had searched his office; the investigation included interviews of both Grinsteinner and Long, who both agreed with and signed what was reported.

The report said Grinsteinner, who has also filed for whistleblower protection, had found the journal in Armstrong's desk. Grinsteinner said in the report that she had searched Armstrong's office on Oct. 15 or 16, looking for open records requests. She was concerned that requests were being improperly handled and that audit information she'd given to former board member Evan Mandigo was "leaking back"to WSIemployees, according to the internal report, which she signed.

She found the journal, reviewed it and was concerned about its contents, according to the report. While she was making copies, Long had entered the building after teaching a class nearby; Long read the copied pages, obtained a copy of the journal and Grinsteinner returned the journal to Armstrong's office.

Long said he found the journal troublesome, and reported it to Quinn during his interview.

"Long story short, WSI responded (to the journal)by investigating me, not the wrongdoers,"Long said.

Armstrong had detailed day to day activity at WSI in the journal from April 18 to May 2, after two executives at WSi were charged with felonies; Sandy Blunt, executive director, was charged with two counts of misapplication of public funds and one conspiracy charge. Romi Leingang, head of the agency's special investigations unit, also was charged with conspiracy. Those charges were dismissed and dropped.

Parts of the journal referred to "secret documents,"and a plan to oust Burleigh County State's Attorney Richard Riha. Armstrong later noted that the "secret documents" was a joking reference to anonymous documents Blunt had wanted to get to the press; he also said the plan to oust Riha never took place.Armstrong has released a copy of the journal to the public.

"I read it, and Ireviewed that copy of the spiral notebook,"Long said. "I was concerned about the 'documents.'"

He said he does not believe Grinsteinner was acting beyond what her job entailed.

Bob Indvik, chairman for the board of directors of WSI, said he did not anticipate Grinsteinner being put on leave, but added that was up to the WSI board of directors audit committee, to which Grinsteinner reports.

He said he didn't think there had been any determination as to whether the board's audit committee, headed by board member Mark Gjovig, would be meeting to discuss Grinsteinner. The other members of the committee are Roberta Riplinger, Mark Jackson and Brad Ballweber.

Armstrong could not comment on whether Grinsteinner would be put on administrative leave, saying that is up to the board of directors; Grinsteinner reports directly to the board.

He did add that he believed she acted beyond the scope of her job.

Blunt also said it was up to the board to make the decision as to whether Grinsteinner was not acting within her job parameters.

"An auditor has unfettered access when they have a declared audit with a scope,"Blunt said. "But not even the police have a right to go wherever they want."

He went on to say that, in his opinion, an auditor does not always have unfettered access. If there is a declared audit, scope and objective, Blunt said "Then everything in relation to that is open to complete access. There are very clear guidelines."

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or crystal.reid@;bismarcktribune.com.)