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LINCOLN -- A federal agency has recommended that the head of the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board be fired for allegedly engaging in political activity while at work.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel filed a complaint last week seeking the firing of Carol Stitt, who has led the review agency since 1983.
The board receives federal funds and must abide by federal rules.
The complaint was filed with the federal Merit Systems Protection Board, alleging that Stitt violated the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits agencies that accept federal funds from certain political activities.
Specifically, Stitt is accused of using subordinates in her office, during work hours, to send out invitations to a fund-raiser for Tom Osborne during the ex-football coach's unsuccessful bid for Republican nomination for governor in 2006. Stitt also allegedly urged foster families to attend an Osborne fund-raiser.
The Foster Care Review Board, in 2007, declined to take disciplinary action against Stitt following an investigation by the State Ombudsman's Office and a private internal review done by Allen Curtis, a former Lincoln police chief.
Stitt could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday afternoon, but her attorney, Steve Grasz, called the allegation "much ado about very little."
He said that Stitt had invited the employees and foster families to an Osborne event in which the candidate would be talking about reforming the foster care system.
Stitt's intent, the attorney said, was informational not political, and he predicted that the federal board will refuse to take action on the complaint.
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