Steelman blocks effort to buy off former Agriculture Department employee

An apparent attempt to buy off Heather Elder, the woman who leveled sexual harassment complaints against former Agriculture Director Fred Ferrell, was blocked by State Treasurer Sarah Steelman.

After stopping payment on a $70,000 check from the Agriculture Department to Mrs. Elder, Mrs. Steelman has filed a Sunshine Law request for all documents relating to the payoff:

"There are serious issues that are very troublesome in this case," Steelman said. "The Office of Administration has subcontracted with the Department of Agriculture to certify that their own payments are proper, thereby eliminating all checks and balances on their spending. This system, in this case, has allowed the director of a department accused of sexual harassment to authorize payment of tax dollars to the victim in a secret agreement with no transparency to the taxpayers. That is just wrong."

Ferrell resigned earlier this week.