Regina B. Schofield

Regina B. Schofield (born Regina Ann Brown on January 14, 1962) is a former United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs.

Personal

Schofield was born and raised in Bude, Mississippi. She received her bachelor's degree in business administration from Mississippi College and an M.B.A. from Jackson State University.

Career

Government

Schofiled served the Bush Administration first as director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and White House liaison to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Schofield was confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs on June 8, 2005. She was the AMBER Alert coordinator and oversaw initiatives including Project Safe Neighborhoods, Project Safe Childhood, the President's DNA Initiative, the Prisoner Reentry Initiative, and Helping America's Youth. She announced her resignation on September 13, 2007—just one day prior to the release of an internal DOJ audit revealing extravagant travel and banquet expenses—effective September 28, 2007.^[1]

An internal Justice Department audit, released one day after her resignation, on September 14, 2007, revealed that the department had sent employees to 10 conferences over the last two years, with unusually high expenses, including $4.04 per serving of Swedish meatballs at a dinner. Six of the 10 conferences were approved by Schofield's department. It is not known whether her departure from the Department is related to this investigation. The department spent more than $13,000 on cookies and brownies for 1,542 attendees of a four-day conference in 2005. A networking session that offered butterfly shrimp, coconut lobster skewers and Swedish meatballs for a Community Oriented Policing Services conference in July 2006 cost more than $60,000. (source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296838,00.html)

Speculation exists regarding a link between Schofield's departure date and the report release date one day later. In the aftermath of her departure, she was described as "someone who 'takes care of herself' and is 'perfectly coiffed.'" She was also tight.(source: http://abovethelaw.com/2007/09/musical-chairs-crickets-chirping-at-the-doj/)

Exposed Problems Within OJJDP

In steering attention from her own role, Schofield provided information "that J. Robert Flores, administrator of the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), 'misrepresented the rating scores' of bidders for the National Juvenile Justice Programs last year, hiding the fact that most of his choices received lower scores than many of the proposals that he rejected.".^[2]

Flores was eventually investigated by the Inspector General, testified before the Oversight Committee and Government Reform, and then left OJJDP in 2009.^[3][4]

In regards to the matter, Chief of Staff at OJJDP, Michele DeKonty refused to speak with investigators from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform by asserting her Fifth Amendment privilege. DeKonty was then fired June 24, 2008.^[5]

References

1. "Assistant Attorney General Regina B. Schofield Announces Departure from Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs". Office of Public Affairs, United States Department of Justice. September 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
2. "Former Justice Official Says Juvenile Chief Misled Her".
3. "Senate Judiciary Committee demands answers on OJJDP policies and procedures". NewsInkling. Retrieved 9/1/11. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
4. "Administrator Flores Reflects on 6 Years of Progress in Juvenile Justice". OJJDP. Retrieved 9/1/11. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
5. "Justice Official Fired; Bypassed Grant Deadlines". Youth Today. Retrieved 9/1/11. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)