The director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission abused his position in an attempt to benefit labor unions, according to a report released yesterday by the office of Inspector General Thomas P. Charles.
From meeting with school officials with an allegedly profane union official in tow to reassigning a manager to address union complaints, Richard Murray wrongfully sought to land construction work for organized labor, the report says. "Murray conferred upon unions a favored status, at the expense of non-union competitors, local school districts and the (state's) own guidelines," it states.
While overseeing $2.8million in daily state spending, Murray "abused his authority by repeatedly acting as a go-between for union representatives and participating in arm-twisting sessions with local school districts," according to the report, which was written after a five-month investigation.
The administration of Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland stood by Murray yesterday, saying that the inspector general reached inaccurate conclusions and did not produce any evidence that school districts were improperly swayed to choose union labor.
The report also says that Murray, a former union official hired last fall, should not have negotiated and signed a project-labor agreement to use union labor to build schools for the deaf and blind in Columbus - a $34 million project. The agreement will result in payments that could exceed $145,000 to a union local to which Murray belongs and to the Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, a group that Murray directed for 12 years.
The report criticized Murray for creating the appearance of impropriety