Auto dealer on Board of Regents didn’t report $869,000 in sales to state

State universities and colleges in 2007 paid at least $869,000 to companies owned by Ford dealer Allan Vigil, who is one of 18 University System regents overseeing Georgia’s universities and colleges.

But when he filed his most recent financial disclosure statement with the state, Vigil listed 2007 state payments to his businesses as “$0.00.”

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RICH ADDICKS/raddicks@ajc.com

Allan Vigil said the form he filed did not conceal his vehicle sales to the state but merely omitted the sums paid.

ALLAN VIGIL FILE
• Appointed in 2003 to the Board of Regents, which oversees all Georgia public universities and colleges (except technical colleges). Chairman from 2006 to 2008. His term expires in 2010.
• Trustee of the Clayton State University Foundation.
• Longtime political donor. He contributed $6,000 to the campaign of then-Gov. Roy Barnes in 2001 and 2002 and $10,000 to Gov. Sonny Perdue's campaign in 2004-2005.
• Member, board of directors of Southern Regional Hospital.
• President and owner of Allan Vigil Ford in Morrow and Allan Vigil Ford in Fayetteville.
• McDonough resident.
• U.S. Army service in Vietnam as a first lieutenant. He was awarded a Bronze Star.
• Graduate of the University of Florida.

HOW UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES BUY CARS
• Georgia's Department of Administrative Services' Office of Fleet Management handles bids to purchase vehicles for state agencies. Competitive bids are sent out, and the lowest bidders are awarded contracts to sell one or more vehicles.
• Colleges and universities make requests through the Board of Regents to the DOAS to buy vehicles. Because of budget shortfalls, vehicle purchases are expected to drop significantly.

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Vigil did note, in a short entry on the form, that he sells some cars to the state through sealed bids.

“Annual payment varies from year to year,” he wrote. Vigil has used the same language on his annual financial disclosure reports for all four years he has been a regent.

State law requires regents — and all state public officers — every year to report payments of more than $20,000 made by any state agency or department to them or to businesses they own.

Rick Thompson, executive secretary of the state Ethics Commission, said the goal of the law is to make Georgians aware of who is serving in state positions while making money off the state.

He said board members and politicians can be fined up to $1,000 per unreported entry.

“The entire point and purpose of the [state] Ethics-in-Government Act is transparency,” he said. “It is vital that everything that is supposed to be reported gets reported.”

The State Department of Administrative Services handles all vehicle purchases for the state. It issues specifications for bids for various types of vehicles every year.

The agency reviews the bids and awards contracts to the lowest bidders that meet specifications. A college or university that wants to buy a car or truck gets approval from the DOAS through the Board of Regents and buys the vehicle from the contractor at the set price. The Regents do not determine prices.

Vigil’s dealerships consistently win state contracts to provide vehicles ranging from police cruisers to trucks.

Interviewed last week, Vigil said, “Maybe I took a shortcut by just saying payments vary.” But he stressed that all his business with the state was conducted through sealed bids and is public record.

“I figured everyone could figure it out,” he said. Vigil said he would look into the matter.

The AJC gathered and analyzed data from the 35 colleges and universities in the state system on all payments they made to companies and individuals in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which covered the second half of 2007 and first half of 2008.

The AJC found Vigil’s dealerships in Morrow and Fayetteville sold cars and trucks to 18 state schools in that period.

The schools reported $869,473 in payments to Vigil’s companies for the second half of 2007 and $925,960 in payments in the first half of 2008. Another $678,261 in payments to Vigil’s companies were reported for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, but the date of payment was not listed.

If some of those payments were made in 2007, they also should have been covered by Vigil’s last disclosure report. His total sales for 2008 should be on his 2008 disclosure report due by July 1.

State financial disclosure forms cover calendar years; since the schools provided information on payments for the July-to-June fiscal year, the data did not include payments made in the first half of 2007. Vigil’s sales to the university system for all of 2007 may be higher.

According to colleges and university records, Vigil’s dealerships made hundreds of thousands of dollars from the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern University and Georgia Perimeter College during the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

Georgia State University, Bainbridge College, Augusta State University, the Medical College of Georgia and others each paid tens of thousands to Vigil dealerships for vehicles.

Clayton State University, where Vigil is a trustee of the Clayton State University Foundation, paid his companies $78,016.

Vigil reported none of these payments on his financial disclosure statement. The AJC analysis did not include any sales by Vigil’s companies to state agencies or departments outside the university system.

Three other regents did business with the state, the AJC found. But no other regents with state business of $20,000 or more failed to report it.

This summer, Regent Donald Leebern was fined $37,750 by the Ethics Commission for failing to file 2005 and 2006 reports disclosing that, over that two-year period, his Georgia Crown Distributing Co. sold $90,000 worth of bottled water to university system schools. In 2007, he filed a full disclosure report, listing $52,435 worth of water sales to system schools.

Regent William NeSmith Jr. did not report a little over $10,000 in business for his Community Newspapers and Glynn Press Inc. from university system schools and was not required to do so, since it was under the $20,000 threshold. He did report $29,375 in payments from Altamaha Technical College. Technical colleges are not governed by the university system.

Regent Hugh Carter did not report about $1,100 paid to his Darby Printing by university system schools, but he did report more than $85,000 in business with the General Assembly.

Vigil’s dealerships have sold individual cars and large fleets to governments across the South for years. Vigil said he checked with lawyers to make sure he did not have to give up that portion of his business when he took on the volunteer position on the Board of Regents in 2003.

Lawyers advised him that as long as the bids are sealed, meaning the lowest bidder automatically wins the contract, he was fine to continue the business, he said.

Vigil said he decided years ago not to disclose an amount on his state financial disclosure reports because he wasn’t sure each year how much he would sell to the state.

The money is substantial. In the last half of 2007, UGA paid more than any other university system institution to Vigil’s companies, purchasing vehicles costing a total of $540,919.

Thompson, of the Ethics Commission, said it’s perfectly legal for board members to do business with the state, but the law requires they tell the public what that business is and how much it is worth.

Thompson said the commission will look into the Vigil report if it receives a formal complaint. Because of its small staff, the agency typically doesn’t audit financial disclosure reports unless a complaint is filed.

Bill Bozarth, who heads the Georgia chapter of the government watchdog group Common Cause, said the financial reporting process is a critical way for the public to know how their government operates.

“Members of boards and authorities are expected to be looking out for the interests of the people when they serve on those boards,” he said. “Without full and accurate disclosure, the people have no assurance people in these key positions aren’t using these position to enrich themselves.”

Board of Regents spokesman John Millsaps said whatever issues are outstanding will be resolved.

“The regents take their responsibilities very seriously,” he said. “I am confident all issues will be satisfactorily addressed.”