Electronic voting chief ed
Conflict concerns raised over his past job with computer system vendor for county.

By Mc Nelly Torres    South Florida Sun-Sentinel   July 6 2005

 
Miami-Dade County election officials have hired the head of a computer firm that served as a subcontractor for Election System & Software Inc., the vendor for the county's touch-screen voting system.

Michael Johnson, former president of M. Johnson & Associates, topped 65 other applicants to become Deputy Supervisor of Elections. His job: overseeing electronic voting.

Critics of the county's elections department worry Johnson's former role with ES&S could be a conflict of interest. His hiring comes as Miami-Dade officials are considering scrapping the county's $24.5 million electronic voting machines for paper ballots and optical scanners.

"The question is if this hire will increase their independence and decrease their reliance on what the vendors tells them," said Martha R. Mahoney, a member of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition.

Mahoney and other election reform advocates also wonder why Supervisor of Elections Lester Sola did not mention Johnson's four-year relationship with ES&S when he announced the appointment in a May 27 memo to County Manager George Burgess.

Sola said he mentioned Johnson's brief experience more than two decades ago as an electronics engineer with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center due to its prestigious reputation. But he said he thought Johnson's role with ES&S was irrelevant.

Johnson managed contractors supporting county elections since 2000, and trained county volunteers on iVotronic machines.

"Michael [Johnson] got the job based on his merits and talents," Sola said. "He provides a significant value to the department in training, management and logistics."

County officials say Johnson, 45, was the most qualified candidate but a handful of other applicants also had experience in electronic voting.

They included a project manager for Sequoia Voting Systems, an ES&S competitor.

"Are we going to handicap ourselves by not choosing the best guy?" asked Elections Department spokesman Seth Kaplan, who defended the decision to hire Johnson.

The new deputy supervisor joined the department May 23 after the county's Ethics Commission ruled Johnson could not participate in the decisions to extend or terminate the county's existing contract with ES&S.

Legal experts said it is not uncommon to see employees moving from the private sector into the public sector.

"The question is whether he would serve his job in the best interest of the county without providing any advantage to his former employer or disadvantage for its competitors," said Anthony Alfieri, a law professor and director of the Center for Ethics & Public Service at the University of Miami School of Law.

Johnson, who agreed to dissolve his company to take the county job, will earn $84,468 a year.

Besides his computer expertise, Johnson said he brings managerial and training skills to the department. He said his work for ES&S was a small portion of his business' revenues.

Johnson's duties include planning, directing, coordinating and supervising ballot creation and tabulation, in addition to analyzing voting equipment for 35 municipalities.

"I'm not a decision-maker," Johnson, said. "I'm here to help with the computer department."

According to the Ethics Commission opinion, Johnson may not participate in any department decisions concerning new contracts for the purchase, installation and maintenance of election equipment. He also may not approve work orders or invoices.

Despite those restrictions, some county observers expressed skepticism Johnson could avoid matters regarding ES&S.

"It's like they are deliberately looking for people who pose a conflict of interest so they [employees] won't be able to advocate for the people," community activist Max Rameau said.