Virginia attorney general: IT boss can’t hold 2 jobs

The Kaine administration's quick fix for guiding the troubled Virginia information technology agency - allowing the secretary of technology to simultaneously serve as interim computer czar - is illegal, the attorney general ruled yesterday.

William C. Mims, the state's top lawyer, said the dual roles for Leonard M. "Len" Pomata violate a law that separates the jobs of technology secretary and chief information officer in order to shield the CIO from politics.

The ruling carries the weight of law unless disrupted by legislation or a court decision. It potentially complicates Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's efforts to stabilize the stormy relationship between the Virginia Information Technologies Agency and Northrop Grumman, which is being paid $2.3 billion over 10 years to manage the state's information technology systems.

The chief information officer is hired and fired by the board that governs VITA. Because Pomata is a member of that panel, he cannot - without creating a conflict of interest - have a hand in his selection as acting CIO, said Mims.

In an opinion for Del. Samuel A. Nixon Jr., R-Chesterfield, who had criticized the installation of Pomata as computer boss after the firing of Lemuel C. "Lem" Stewart Jr. in a dispute with Northrop Grumman over spotty service, Mims said:

"The tension between the board's duty to supervise the CIO, the secretary's duty to serve as a board member, and a state officer's duty to disqualify himself from participating in matters in which he has a personal interest underscores that a single individual is unable to perform fully the regular duties of all these positions.

"Thus, such dual service cannot be seen as consistent with the legislative intent for the CIO position."

Mims, a Republican, was chief deputy to then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell, now the Republican nominee for governor. Mims succeeded McDonnell this year.

Pomata could not be reached last night for comment, but Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said, "We're aware that there's an opinion, and we're going to take the weekend to digest it."

Nixon, who sponsored legislation to create the IT agency board and to separate the roles of technology secretary and CIO, objected two months ago to Pomata's multiple jobs.

"It confirms what I said 60 days ago when the board first appointed the secretary of technology to be CIO," he said. "I said then it was not in keeping within legislative intent and now the attorney general says not only intent was broken but so is the letter of law."

Nixon said he hopes Pomata will relinquish one of the positions. But, in his opinion, Mims wrote that Pomata, in effect, had surrendered his secretariat because Pomata has no legal authority to hold both jobs.

The VITA oversight board is winding down its search for Stewart's permanent replacement. Pomata said this week that a new CIO could be announced by the end of the month.

Government and industry sources monitoring the search say there are at least three finalists for the job: Steven I. Cooper, former chief information officer of the American Red Cross and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Art Gonzalez, CIO of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service; and David L. Zeppieri, top supervisor of computer operations for the Overseas Private Investment Corp., a federal agency that promotes economic development in emerging markets.

Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6061 or .

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or .