Iowa Department of Administrative Services official resigns

DES MOINES - A top Iowa Department of Administrative Services official involved in a controversial agency reorganization that included secret settlements with paid confidentiality clauses has resigned from his state post, the department's interim director said Tuesday.

Janet Phipps, DAS interim director, said Doug Woodley stepped down as the department's general services enterprise chief operating officer.

'I have accepted Mr. Woodley's resignation from his position at the Department of Administrative Services,” Phipps said in a statement. 'I wish him well in his future endeavors. Two experienced leaders within the department will oversee the General Services Enterprise until a successor is identified.”

Last month Woodley was among the DAS officials who met with Government Oversight Committee members examining hiring practices, contractual arrangements and employee settlements paid to laid-off state employees - some including pay-for-silence confidentiality agreements that drew an executive order from Gov. Terry Branstad and resulted in the firing of former DAS Director Mike Carroll.

During his testimony, Woodley told legislators that federal money could have been used to pay settlements to laid-off DAS employees. That's because payments were drawn from annual management fees state agencies pay to DAS using sources that could have been co-mingled with federal dollars. Woodley said he was unaware that departing DAS workers were paid extra money to include confidentiality clauses in their settlement agreements.

Legislators also raised concerns at that time over DAS hiring changes that reclassified state merit jobs as at will so they could be filled without being advertised as higher-paying positions with new job titles.

Woodley's departure drew a respone from Iowa Democratic Party Communications Director Christina Freundlich.

'Another sudden resignation proves there is more going on behind the scenes in his administration than Gov. Branstad has ever been willing to admit,” she said.

'Terry Branstad has vehemently denied that his staff and administration had anything to do with the reprehensible hush money deals they have been accused of, but the governor's pattern of denial is finally catching up to him as his cronyism-fueled administration continues to fall apart,” according to Freundlich's statement.

'Every day we are learning of another scandal or another piece of the puzzle that is widening the scope of Branstad's culture of political retribution,” she added. 'While it may be a long time before we get the entire truth, there is one thing we do know - it's time to get someone new in Terrace Hill.”