Report: Del. treasurer paid as a consultant

Published report says Jones-Potter is getting paid by Delaware and Wilmington. Her opponent in next month’s primary says more information is needed.

Delaware Treasurer Velda Jones-Potter has been paid more than $100,000 in consulting fees by the city of Wilmington since 2007, according to a story published in the News Journal Thursday and confirmed by Wilmington Communications Director, John Rago.

Rago also confirmed the paper’s report that Jones-Potter earned the fees by teaching leadership skills to 40 city employees through a $150-an-hour contract between the city and the treasurer’s consulting firm, Jones-Potter & Associates, Inc.

Rago says the job began in October 2007, before Jones-Potter was appointed treasurer.

Jones-Potter, whose husband Charles Potter serves as a Wilmington councilman, told the News Journal she did nothing wrong. She did not return WHYY phone calls in time for this report.

Chip Flowers, her opponent in the September 14 Democratic primary, told WHYY it’s too early to say whether Jones-Potter did anything wrong. That’s why he’s calling for an investigation.

“We have to have her release the records to find out if it’s possible that she might have over-billed the city of Wilmington or if she used time while she was state treasurer to perform the duties to fulfill that contract.”

Flowers also responded to Jones-Potter’s accusation in the News Journal story that someone “sympathetic” to Flowers leaked the news of the consulting contract.

“Absolutely not,” Flowers said. “Velda Jones-Potter has to understand that whenever you put yourself in this situation that when you hide things from the people of Delaware, these things are eventually going to come to light. And it’s quite unfortunate in her response that she opted to somehow imply that me and my team had anything to do with this.”