David G. Carter Sr., retired chancellor of the Connecticut State University System has paid a $2,000 civil penalty for failure to alert trustees that his wife had been reappointed to a CSUS job amid a hiring freeze, authorities say.
Carter agreed to the consent order from the Office of State Ethics that declared he failed to inform the CSUS board of trustees about the conflict of interest involving wife Sandra C. Holley, a retired dean of graduate studies at Southern Connecticut State University.
In June 2009, Holley retired from Southern Connecticut State University. In July 2009, Carter’s office approved the rehiring her as a temporary retiree appointment. She no longer has the post, a CSUS spokesman said Thursday.
Neither the CSUS, nor the Office of State Ethics was notified of the conflict, a breach of state law, ethics authorities said Thursday.
According to ethics officials, Carter claimed he didn’t know about the reporting requirement. Moreover, he insisted that he kept any matters involving his office and his wife at arm’s length and was therefore unaware of the request or approval regarding his wife.
Carter, who retired March 1, could not be immediately reached for comment.
