Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer
from: San Franciso Chronicle
Monday, February 9, 2009
Linda Williams started a new job at UC Berkeley one day a...
(02-08) 18:25 PST -- UC Berkeley officials have acknowledged misleading the public in the controversial case of a high-paid executive aide who left her job at the university's headquarters and the next day began a new job on the Cal campus - qualifying for a $100,202 severance check along the way.
In November, when the severance payment became public, The Chronicle asked for an explanation of how Linda Morris Williams could get a buyout for leaving her $200,400-a-year headquarters job in Oakland and starting her new job paying the same salary in the office of UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.
Williams and UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof released a statement suggesting that the Berkeley job opportunity had developed coincidentally after she had applied for the buyout.
"At the time of my Voluntary Separation Program application, the associate chancellor position on the Berkeley campus was not open and therefore played no role whatsoever in my decision making," Williams said at the time.
In their latest statement, Williams and Mogulof apologized "for our initial statement that unintentionally created an impression" that Williams was unaware of the possibility of future employment at the Berkeley campus.
"We sacrificed clarity and detail for the sake of brevity," Mogulof said in an interview. "We had no reason to be intentionally misleading."
A review of documents and e-mails obtained under the state Public Records Act showed Williams was well aware of the UC Berkeley job when she filed for the buyout on Jan. 22, 2008 - including talks with Birgeneau.
E-mails show she had been virtually assured by Birgeneau's close aides that the job was hers and was even placed on a UC Berkeley organizational chart five days before she applied for the buyout. read the full article Read more »
