Deeply in the red, the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights voted yesterday to conduct an audit of how it has spent
its $9 million annual budget over the past several years. The meeting
came a day after commission Staff Director Kenneth L. Marcus told a
congressional subcommittee that the agency had failed to pay $75,000 in
rent last year and that employees who won an equal opportunity
complaint against the agency had not received the $188,000 partial
payment owed them. Marcus had more bad news yesterday, saying that the
commission was more than likely underfunding its employee benefits
package, and that budget shortfalls would force the board to consider a
significant number of layoffs as it undertakes reforms recommended by
the Government Accountability Office. Commissioners said they had been
kept in the dark on financial problems by former staff director Les Jin
and the panel's former chairwoman, Mary Frances Berry. [more]
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